Sunday, March 15

What a glorious day, with the hint of spring, and, for me this upcoming week, spring break! I was sorry to miss this morning's get together, but it allowed me to pick up Brenda at the airport and hear about her service trip to Mission San Lucas Tolima in Guatemala. It is a remarkable work that bears all the signs of God's blessing, and lots of hard work for over 40 years.

Well, what about the wonder and power of Christian liturgy?

Since I did miss the conversation I will just add a few comments from my reading of Chapters 10 & 11.

Chapter 10: "Just when we're trying to transcend the body, the liturgy keeps pointing us back to it. Here we find religion that traffics in the body, that even celebrates the flesh." p. 84.

True enough; let's just be careful here with our understanding of words - flesh as in "incarnation", not to be confused with flesh as in "sinful flesh" or "walking after the flesh."

Flesh as in "When we visit a prisoner or give drink to the thirsty or put clothes on the naked, he says, we have met him spiritually and physically." p. 86

Flesh as in engaging all the senses in our worship of the Most High. p. 85

Flesh as in loving our neighbor as our self, not in word only, but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Chapter 11: Liturgy and learning. Learning in the "merry-go-round of community." p. 94

"One way to participate in this communal educational experience is to participate in liturgy. Here the education imparted is not primarily about grasping ideas - though it does include that. It is knowledge that comes by participation in the community of God." p. 93

Learning "things that cannot be taught." p. 96

Upcoming conversations: Chapters 12 & 13 next week, followed by Chapter 14 and wrapping up the week following, including an "instructed Eucharist" during the 10:15 A.M. service.