Comments for PUT ME IN A BOX

Comment on Is “Religion” Useful? Is it Best? by Audra

Audra — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:58:02 +0000

This is from a few months ago, but I saw a link to it today…as if in rebuttal to the previous argument. Goes back to the idea of community that Lynnea and dvd commented on under the Spark post.
http://www.wondercafe.ca/features/why-i-go-church-most-time

Comment on Communion by Lainie

Lainie — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:38:33 +0000

Yeah, I was thinking of the foot-washing. My mind was boggled when I heard about that, but I’m also someone who doesn’t like having her feet touched and I once quietly snuck out of a meeting when they mentioned we were about to wash each other’s feet.

I wonder if you’d like the communal way we usually do it at our church. We all go up to the front and stand around the altar, so we’re standing in a sort of circle around the priest and the Eucharist items. Then we go into line and take the Eucharist. I am not always sure I like that we drink from the same cup, but it’s a neat communal thing, too. (Or sometimes two cups when more people are there.)

Comment on Communion by Audra

Audra — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:08:27 +0000

I’m not sure what you’re hoping for here, Lainie, possibly my upbringing as a “foot-washing” Baptist? (Although I never knew that term as a descriptor until much later in life.) My church had communion only once a year. (Memorial Day weekend if I remember correctly. I wonder if it had any connection to that holiday? Never thought of that before.) It was held after the church service and was only open to members. Because of the foot-washing component, we lined up in chairs across from each other, men and women separate. I don’t remember being terribly moved by the spiritual significance of it because, as a teenager, there were much more important concerns like who you were sitting across from (a friend or an old lady?) and the pre-communion preparations like removing pantyhose. In later Baptist church experiences I got that message that Lynnea got–examine yourself and refrain if you need to. No instructions on what that actually meant. Communion is not central to my spiritual life and practice, but I like the communal (as in community) aspect of it. I told Lynnea in a previous conversation how much I loved communion time at one of my previous churches. There were four stations, but no rules about when and where to go, so people just got up and went whenever and wherever with some musical interlude. I always thought it looked like beautiful chaos. We had a friend at that church who later died of MS. I particularly remember another friend bringing the elements to him in his wheelchair–my most poignant communion memory.

Comment on Christ Follower–Not Christian, Can it Be? by PUT ME IN A BOX » Blog Archive » Is “Religion” Useful? Is it Best?

PUT ME IN A BOX » Blog Archive » Is “Religion” Useful? Is it Best? — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:36:09 +0000

[...] a perennial question, but I see it being asked more and more (like in Lynnea’s post about Anne Rice). One of my favorite authors, Diana Butler Bass, is working on a new book about people who say [...]

Comment on What do you think? by Lynnea

Lynnea — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:20:37 +0000

What a great article. Thanks for the link Sarah.

Comment on What do you think? by Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:30:28 +0000

Here is a very modern answer to that question: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129528196

Comment on Spark by DVD

DVD — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:04:37 +0000

wow, couldn’t agree more with Lynnea.

Comment on Spark by Lynnea

Lynnea — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:04:10 +0000

I would say community is the hope. Church should be community. Concentrate on building a meaningful community, the rest will follow. I may be naive.

Comment on Christening Update! by Lynnea

Lynnea — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:26:42 +0000

I thought you did a blessing or something before you moved? Maybe that was in my imagination.

If you are raising in a particular tradition, I think it makes sense for them to be apart of it. I just don’t think that “dedications” have anything to do with my Baptist tradition. I don’t care what all the other Baptist baby dedicators do.

Comment on Communion by Lainie

Lainie — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:11:18 +0000

I hope Audra hops on here and shares her unique perspective and history with communion.