Daily Archives: July 25, 2009

I’ll Take My Communion Untainted, Please

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Don’t want no boy cooties messing up my holy snack. So there, @ScottGunn!

I’ve been following the “two-track communion” story for a couple of days now, and since it’s caused no end of amusement to my atheist and agnostic friends and family, it seems like it’s time to chuck my two penn’orth in the plate.

Really? We’re the problem? | Seven whole days

Now, friends, it’s time for the shoe to go on the other foot. Word comes from England that Blackburn Cathedral has set up two-track communion whenever a woman (gasp!) is presiding at the Holy Table. On those occasions, God-fearing (or, more accurately, woman-fearing) men can receive consecrated bread that is “untainted” by female hands.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, ever since the whole “holy frackin’ cracker” issue was raised by PZ Myers. I’m not arguing with his position that religion is a scam and religious people are deluded – he may be right, we church-going folk may all be deluded. We just won’t know for sure until the end, and we’ll be dead and unable to Twitter back from the Great Beyond.

I’m a believer in what Jesus did for other people and how He tried to persuade them to be kind and care for “the least of these.” I’m a believer in trying to emulate that radical, welcoming love.

Somehow, as the early church fathers collated all the stories and texts about the Last Supper and turned it into a Sacrament, a meal commemorating one of the foundational stories of the Jewish people got turned into a magical feast. I don’t believe in transubstantiation (wine and bread turning into actual blood and flesh at a certain point)… no, I’m too much of a rationalist. I do believe that metaphor and symbolism is always being turned into dogma and literalism, which tends to get in the way of simply coming together to share a meal.

We’re all supposed to come together to share this mystery, which some may prefer to think is a magical bait-and-switch and others are content to see as a memorial re-enactment.

Meanwhile, back at Blackburn Cathedral, there are apparently about half a dozen people partaking of this “clean bread“, aided and abetted by some of the famously traditionalist clergy there. This is out of a congregation of about 200, which is a rather small crowd for a cathedral to my thinking. How awkward.

As it happens, I actually like taking communion from woman priests, although I haven’t often had the opportunity the last few years. Maybe I’ll kick up a fuss tomorrow and demand that I only take partake from some Reserved Sacrament consecrated by our female sojourner, who’s between parishes right now and worshipping with us. I’ll just refuse to take Communion if it’s been tainted by male hands, that’s what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll hold my breath, stick my fingers in my ears, and turn blue until I get my way.

Sound ludicrous? It is.

Mother Love, Daughter Rape

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Why it’s important that parents of gay children love and accept them just as they are, and why Utah is a deeply strange place:

A Gift, from the Homophobic Culture « One Utah

When we watch the LDS church claim they aren’t homophobic, and that common ground can be reached, even while they destroy bills that would help reach that ground, we are just watching a big, none too subtle, wink and nod at the culture of hate. When we see the single largest cultural influence in Utah raise money to take rights away from people based on beliefs they have no right to export onto others, we are simply watching the same long drawn out battle that has gone on with women, non white races, youth, counter culture, etc etc etc. We are watching fear and ignorance and a desire to hold on to power being turned into a poisonous brew that claims to be the culture of family values. And it certainly won’t be exported in the same way to everyone, but it is still poisonous.

Because in that culture, a culture that teaches people in a million subtle and not subtle ways that to be GLBT is to have something wrong with you, to have something that should be cured, or fixed, some people get the message more directly than most. And act on it.

And that is their “family values.” When your mother arranges your rape.

Going Postal

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When it absolutely, positively has to get there… sooner or later. Maybe.
Buzz Machine: The Death of snail mail and Sunday papers
I was actually waiting for some mail to arrive, and finally received it today. My eye doctor had promised to mail my latest eye prescription card 2 weeks ago today, but the office manager forgot to put it in the mail until a few days ago. My husband David was waiting for stuff, too, and had checked the mailbox 3 times today. Third time’s the charm; the letter carrier must have just gone by.

I rarely get mail anymore (note to self: to get it, you have to send it). And with Chicago’s shabby record with mail delivery chances are you might not get it at all. However, when the system works, it works well, as most person-to-person mail gets delivered the second day here in the suburbs. My prescription card came in an envelope postmarked July 23rd.

I don’t think “snail mail” will go completely away, but it’s already becoming more of an event marker than a communication method, aside from holiday postcards. The only time I mail something now is for holiday and (when I remember in time) birthday cards.

Back when our street was torn up and repaved, all the mail boxes were pulled up and a set of community boxes were temporarily installed about a block away, near the park. Picking up mail became almost a social outing, as neighbors that normally never saw each other walked or drove by to pick up their mail, usually in the afternoon or evening after work. I actually missed it when it was over and we had our nice new street back, along with the brand new mailbox (the old one had a rotted post).

The Washington Post reports that “in the past year alone, the Postal Service has seen the single largest drop-off in mail volume in its 234-year history…. That downward trend is only accelerating. The Postal Service projects a decline of about 10 billion pieces of mail in each of the next two years, going from a high of 213 billion pieces of mail in 2006 to 170 billion projected for 2010.”

No, physical delivery won’t ever die. (Like a good newspaperman, I lie in headlines to get attention.) Indeed, we’ll get more ever deliveries of more stuff that used to be on store shelves but are now ordered online. That’s what UPS’ and FedEx’ businesses are built for. But, as the Post says, we’re sending fewer messages to each other; we have much better means to do that now. And companies are trying hard to reduce their cost of dealing with us – billing, bank statements – by taking that online.