O Little Town Of Bethlehem

[poliphilo]

I have sympathy with the vicar who decided he didn't want to be singing "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" this year. He'd been to the real Bethlehem, seen what a shit-hole it is, got involved with the politics- and couldn't square his experience with the fantasy version in the carol. 

"How still we see thee lie"? Actually, no. 

It's the job of a priest to point this sort of thing out.

Christianity isn't just bubblebath for the soul.  There's also the social gospel.

Myth and ethics: a powerful- and volatile-  combination. 

Besides, there are plenty more carols to chose from.

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

And thus is paved the road to Hell - or at least irrelevancy.

I was raised United Methodist, even groomed for the clergy at one point, but abandoned them for the Episcopal Church. Then the Episcopalians, in that same sense of tone-deaf and misguided reform, forced "Rite 2" on us by fiat.

I think I'm a half-assed Chan Buddhist these days. I did a stint in the Gnostic Catholic Church, in which I was elevated to the clergy, but it emerged that their leadership were a bunch of clueless wankers as well.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think the churches panicked. They saw they were losing ground- and decided the way to win people back was to dumb things down. It was the wrong decision.