Something for Sunday

" I had always believed in a Power greater that myself. I had often
pondered these things. I was not an atheist. Few people really are, for
that means blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe
originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes no where."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 10~

I have no great resentments toward the church I grew up in. On the other hand, I've not had much luck finding God there. Nice people- really really nice people- always willing to compromise themselves by way of reaching a compromise. When I was a kid, the great debate was whether or not Negroes should be given the same rights as real people. Then there was the great debate as to whether women should be given the same rights as real people. Right now we, the members of a church with a closet big enough to hold about half the church, are debating whether or not lesbians and gay men should be given the same rights as real people.

There are some fine people involved in this discussion. Check out my friend at Hagar's Daughters, or Jack at The Mustard Seed. If you'd really like to understand the compromise position you can read my own Father Matt's blog, The Hopeful Priest. I like Father Matt, but he's got a political job and I'm not enjoying watching him put himself through these contortions.

Meanwhile, Jesus continues to exhort us to love and serve the poor. He just doesn't seem to care very much about what kind of sex we happen to like. Lucky we've got religion to set us straight where Jesus gets it wrong.

None of this offers much comfort to my heart. It is Sunday morning and I could use a little comfort. In that spirit, here's some music that speaks to the heart.



Not quite so uplifting, but still a treat for the ears, here's a little old time church music. I should add that it is definitely not old time Anglican church music. I might be a bit more of a faithful parishioner if we could puh-leeze put the Anglican hymnal out of it's misery.