Forget Your Perfect Offering

[poliphilo]

We went to church twice over the holidays. Once in Brenchley on Christmas morning, early and the second time in Hadlow this Sunday.

Hadlow is the village where I spent my early adolescence. The church has a Norman tower and bells that still can ring. There are crusader crosses in the stonework round the door, 17th and 18th century hatchments in the nave and a set of clumsy, early twentieth century, stained glass windows- one with a knight in a dark wood and St George standing on the dragon's head. Being there felt entirely natural- not like a homecoming but as if I'd been gazing round at these things every Sunday of my life.

I'm tired. I don't want to argue about theology anymore.  I've tried all sorts of different religions and none of them was any better than the one my ancestors made. Anglican Christianity isn't perfect- I reserve the right to disagree on points of detail- but I think it'll last me the rest of this life.

Comments

Christian myths

[methodius.livejournal.com]

You might like this quote from Nicolas Berdyaev:

"Myth is a reality immeasurably greater than concept. It is
high time that we stopped identifying myth with invention,
with the illusions of primitive mentality, and with anything,
in fact, which is essentially opposed to reality... The
creation of myths among peoples denotes a real spiritual life,
more real indeed than that of abstract concepts and rational
thought. Myth is always concrete and expresses life better
than abstract thought can do; its nature is bound up with that
of symbol. Myth is the concrete recital of events and original
phenomena of the spiritual life symbolized in the natural
world, which has engraved itself on the language memory and
creative energy of the people... it brings two worlds together
symbolically."

Re: Christian myths

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes. Thank you. That's exactly what I think- only I couldn't express it with such lucidity.