12th Night; All Angels, and some questions.
I hang around three parishes. St. David’s, Englewood; St. Boniface, Siesta Key Sarasota; and All Angels, Longboat Key. (A “Key” in Florida is a barrier island).
In very rough order by ascension I would describe the communities as middle income; rich; and richer. Or friendly; somewhat reserved; and very friendly. Or (theologically) moderate liberal, radical; and moderate conservative.
Tonight I was with the richer, very friendly and moderately conservative people at All Angels for Twelfth Night. I had a ball!
At 4:30 p.m. we enjoyed a concert with parish musicians Dale Hooey (Organ), Sylvia Thompson (Clavinova) and Joyce Hooey (Percussion). They entertained us delightfully with a great selection of music, ranging from Silent Night to Frosty the Snowman.
(A “Clavinova” is a digital piano).
They we adjourned to the Parish Hall for a fine pot-luck supper. Church food is usually good and tonight was no exception.
After supper Dale Hooey led us in spirited singing of Christmas songs (yes it’s still Christmas in the Church calendar) including a riotous rendition of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” in which each table was assigned one of the days to sing, and to enact. You should have seen the Lords a-leaping and the Maids a-milking. My table was the “Partridge in a pear Tree”, so we got to sing most.
Boy, these people know how to have a good time.
I was at Table with Rector David Danner (a colleague in Massachusetts); his wife Wafa (from Palestine) ; a naval widow who is the Regional Vice President for the Navy War College Foundation; a College professor and his wife; and two other retired couples. We had a lively an rich dinner conversation talking a lot about the intersection of the West and Islam, and noting that the West almost always gets it wrong. We are stubbornly and wilfully ignorant of Islam, or as we might rightly say “Islams”. Just as there are many expressions of Judaism and Christianity; so there are many expressions of Islam.
But we mostly want answers before we are ready to ask the questions.
Our conversation turned to Church matters, and one woman asked me “what do we mean by liberals and conservatives in the Church?” I muttered something inadequate about the place of woman and of gay and lesbian people in the Church, then I went outside for a smoke. There it came to me.
I came back to table and re-engaged the conversation. Here is my new definition which my questioner found satisfying. “Conservative Christians are sure that they have all the answers. Liberal Christians think that the questions are more important”.
This being 12th Night I went on to talk about the “Three Wise Men” (.a.,k.a. the Three Kings) and their appearance in the Gospel according to Matthew.
Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury shocked some, and delighted others when in a recent B.B.C. interview he stated that the whole Three Wise Men episode is a legend.
Conservative Christians got their knickers in a twist at the very thought.
Sceptics seized upon his statement as occasion to mock the Church.
Liberal Christians said “The Archbishop is right”, but there is an important question.
“Why is this legend in the Bible?” “What are its meanings?”
So there you have it on 12th Night from this liberal Christian. “What are the questions we should be asking: about Islam, about the Bible; about the Church; and about the world? The questions will be as important as any answers”.
In very rough order by ascension I would describe the communities as middle income; rich; and richer. Or friendly; somewhat reserved; and very friendly. Or (theologically) moderate liberal, radical; and moderate conservative.
Tonight I was with the richer, very friendly and moderately conservative people at All Angels for Twelfth Night. I had a ball!
At 4:30 p.m. we enjoyed a concert with parish musicians Dale Hooey (Organ), Sylvia Thompson (Clavinova) and Joyce Hooey (Percussion). They entertained us delightfully with a great selection of music, ranging from Silent Night to Frosty the Snowman.
(A “Clavinova” is a digital piano).
They we adjourned to the Parish Hall for a fine pot-luck supper. Church food is usually good and tonight was no exception.
After supper Dale Hooey led us in spirited singing of Christmas songs (yes it’s still Christmas in the Church calendar) including a riotous rendition of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” in which each table was assigned one of the days to sing, and to enact. You should have seen the Lords a-leaping and the Maids a-milking. My table was the “Partridge in a pear Tree”, so we got to sing most.
Boy, these people know how to have a good time.
I was at Table with Rector David Danner (a colleague in Massachusetts); his wife Wafa (from Palestine) ; a naval widow who is the Regional Vice President for the Navy War College Foundation; a College professor and his wife; and two other retired couples. We had a lively an rich dinner conversation talking a lot about the intersection of the West and Islam, and noting that the West almost always gets it wrong. We are stubbornly and wilfully ignorant of Islam, or as we might rightly say “Islams”. Just as there are many expressions of Judaism and Christianity; so there are many expressions of Islam.
But we mostly want answers before we are ready to ask the questions.
Our conversation turned to Church matters, and one woman asked me “what do we mean by liberals and conservatives in the Church?” I muttered something inadequate about the place of woman and of gay and lesbian people in the Church, then I went outside for a smoke. There it came to me.
I came back to table and re-engaged the conversation. Here is my new definition which my questioner found satisfying. “Conservative Christians are sure that they have all the answers. Liberal Christians think that the questions are more important”.
This being 12th Night I went on to talk about the “Three Wise Men” (.a.,k.a. the Three Kings) and their appearance in the Gospel according to Matthew.
Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury shocked some, and delighted others when in a recent B.B.C. interview he stated that the whole Three Wise Men episode is a legend.
Conservative Christians got their knickers in a twist at the very thought.
Sceptics seized upon his statement as occasion to mock the Church.
Liberal Christians said “The Archbishop is right”, but there is an important question.
“Why is this legend in the Bible?” “What are its meanings?”
So there you have it on 12th Night from this liberal Christian. “What are the questions we should be asking: about Islam, about the Bible; about the Church; and about the world? The questions will be as important as any answers”.
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