Interobang
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Life today is often "interobang" -- questioning and exclamatory all at once. Here we will
live into some of the interobangs of liturgy and life, worship and worldly experience.
On this page I will love and live the questions as they come, and post what has startled,
awakened, annoyed and toyed with my spirit.
If you'd like to know more about "interobang" click here.
live into some of the interobangs of liturgy and life, worship and worldly experience.
On this page I will love and live the questions as they come, and post what has startled,
awakened, annoyed and toyed with my spirit.
If you'd like to know more about "interobang" click here.
If you have an "interobang" experience you'd like to share, send it to me using at
strongcenteropendoors@yahoo.com or use the Contact Me page.
strongcenteropendoors@yahoo.com or use the Contact Me page.
1. It was the Easter Vigil, the night of celebration of the Paschal mystery. At the Eucharist, the priest's vestments snagged the
arrangement of lilies and halconias in front of the altar/table. They tipped over! In trying to catch them the priest tipped the paten
and the wafers spilled onto the floor, some soaking in the water (baptism?!) and some went rolling on the chancel floor! Yikes!
What to do? Interobang! The priest picked up the wafers, had "seconds" of the sacred bread he had already received and, though
embarrassed and chagrined (I am sure), he continue to minister the Eucharist to his people. Life happens! Gravity works in the
sacred space! So, does something going wrong (even embarrassingly, "sacrilegiously" wrong) have the power to finally spoil or
count as liturgical failure? Or, does it create a juxtaposition of things colliding in ways that crack our piety and unleashes some
new light in our liturgical darkness? Does God's grace take such things and awaken us from the dead?! (April 10, 2007)
2. I had a really strange funeral service yesterday. The family would not meet with me - the widow wouldn't talk to me on the
phone. The only thing I got from anybody about the guy was that he was "a biker by faith." Wow - what a subculture. The guy was
buried with a...um...illegal cigarette in his hand... Oh, and I was told that they absolutely only wanted a ten minute service. Well, it
was more like 15 minutes, by the time it was over. I'll tell you what, I had no idea what I was going to say or do until I went to the
funeral home and the Lynryd Skynyrd song "Free Bird" was playing. That became my anchor to their lives. Don't have time to go
into detail here - but God was really good to me - and to this biker family - yesterday.
(Quoted from a discussion room entry by Bill Beatty, pastor in WPA Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church (July 3, 2007))
Tertullian asked the question, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" in the second century. Pastors like Bill might ask, "What
has "a biker by faith" have to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ?" Bill took a risk. He went to the funeral. He could have said
no--and probably wanted to. Can you blame him: they tied his hands even before he said yes! But can you imprison the Word of
the Lord? (2 Timothy 2:9 and Bernstein's Mass). Was there a crossing point at this funeral? An intersection where the gospel
crossed into biker culture and made its invitation, its connections. Maybe Bill was a fool to go; a fool to go and be there where the
power of the gospel is foolishness to the biker subculture (1 Cor. 1: 18-25). Is it a fine line between casting pearls and not being
afraid to risk the faith we hold out to and for all--even those in a coffin with an illegal cigarette in hand?
arrangement of lilies and halconias in front of the altar/table. They tipped over! In trying to catch them the priest tipped the paten
and the wafers spilled onto the floor, some soaking in the water (baptism?!) and some went rolling on the chancel floor! Yikes!
What to do? Interobang! The priest picked up the wafers, had "seconds" of the sacred bread he had already received and, though
embarrassed and chagrined (I am sure), he continue to minister the Eucharist to his people. Life happens! Gravity works in the
sacred space! So, does something going wrong (even embarrassingly, "sacrilegiously" wrong) have the power to finally spoil or
count as liturgical failure? Or, does it create a juxtaposition of things colliding in ways that crack our piety and unleashes some
new light in our liturgical darkness? Does God's grace take such things and awaken us from the dead?! (April 10, 2007)
2. I had a really strange funeral service yesterday. The family would not meet with me - the widow wouldn't talk to me on the
phone. The only thing I got from anybody about the guy was that he was "a biker by faith." Wow - what a subculture. The guy was
buried with a...um...illegal cigarette in his hand... Oh, and I was told that they absolutely only wanted a ten minute service. Well, it
was more like 15 minutes, by the time it was over. I'll tell you what, I had no idea what I was going to say or do until I went to the
funeral home and the Lynryd Skynyrd song "Free Bird" was playing. That became my anchor to their lives. Don't have time to go
into detail here - but God was really good to me - and to this biker family - yesterday.
(Quoted from a discussion room entry by Bill Beatty, pastor in WPA Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church (July 3, 2007))
Tertullian asked the question, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" in the second century. Pastors like Bill might ask, "What
has "a biker by faith" have to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ?" Bill took a risk. He went to the funeral. He could have said
no--and probably wanted to. Can you blame him: they tied his hands even before he said yes! But can you imprison the Word of
the Lord? (2 Timothy 2:9 and Bernstein's Mass). Was there a crossing point at this funeral? An intersection where the gospel
crossed into biker culture and made its invitation, its connections. Maybe Bill was a fool to go; a fool to go and be there where the
power of the gospel is foolishness to the biker subculture (1 Cor. 1: 18-25). Is it a fine line between casting pearls and not being
afraid to risk the faith we hold out to and for all--even those in a coffin with an illegal cigarette in hand?
Perhaps the greatest interobang of them all
is the Paschal mystery--death conquered by
life!?. Here the cupola and cross of All Soul's
church appears behind the ancestral tombs
in its neighborhood, Chatan, Okinawa.
is the Paschal mystery--death conquered by
life!?. Here the cupola and cross of All Soul's
church appears behind the ancestral tombs
in its neighborhood, Chatan, Okinawa.
| Copyright ©2007 Daniel T. Benedict, Jr. All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. |