Religion, and various random matters
Aug. 26th, 2009 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by responses to yesterday's post. Navelgazing is fun, n'est-ce pas? I'm not sure if I'll be able to convince myself to come up with direct replies to everything. We shall see. In lieu of that, here's something else I've been turning over and over in my mind. It might even be another hot-button topic. But I feel compelled to write about it.
My aunt Pam's funeral service was led by an Episcopalian priest. From what I have been able to gather, my aunt Pam and uncle Chris had attended a couple of services at the Episcopal church in Sheridan, and this is the reason for the decision about the service. In contrast, my father's family was raised Catholic, and different members of the family have interpreted this religious upbringing in different ways, from strict adherence to the rules and guidelines of the Catholic Church, to various looser interpretations or cultural affiliations with this religion. I have to state here that I believe there are as many different sets of religious beliefs as there are people in the world, and that I am grateful for an upbringing that has always encouraged tolerance of others.
When the time came for communion during the service, the priest took a moment to let us know that all people who had received first communion in any church denomination were welcome to receive communion during the service. Others who had not received first communion were welcome to come up to the front for a blessing. As I have mentioned before, I consider myself an atheist (my dad would probably prefer the term non-theist, which is fine), but I was raised in the Catholic church and received first communion as a child. So in my mind, at this point in my life, I see communion as a symbolic event that is predominately about coming together with loved ones to share a meal.
Not all of my family members followed suit, again, probably for a wide variety of reasons--some came up to receive a blessing, while others hung back entirely. I think the hard part of that, for me, is that I do not know if it is possible to actually engage in a conversation about such decisions with all of the members of my extended family. On the one hand, the cousin sitting next to me asked my opinion on the matter (I hope she doesn't regret that! I don't know that I'm any more qualified than anyone else to offer a meaningful opinion). On the other hand, another cousin declared utter shock at some of the ritualistic differences in the ceremony from the way the Catholic church treats communion (I sense that, in her mind, the experience was shockingly different enough to constitute not-communion).
Again, I am grateful for an upbringing that has encouraged me to listen and engage in conversations about belief systems, and to let my heart guide my actions.
In the car ride back to Ennis that evening, my mom (and I hope she doesn't mind my writing this here) told my father and me a story about Pam's positive influence on her life. When Pam and Chris got married, they had to get married outside of the Catholic church because Chris had been previously married and divorced (not sure about the technicalities behind this one--perhaps he did not have the wherewithal to get an annulment). My mom had been brought up strictly Catholic as well, and had been taught that one should not attend any religious ceremonies outside of the Catholic church. So it took courage for her to decide to attend Pam and Chris's wedding. I'm pretty sure she's glad that she did.
--
On to completely unrelated things:
Last night, I rode an amusing bike on the CRAP ride--it had a retro-direct drivetrain, which means that when one pedals forward, the bike is in one gear, but when one pedals in reverse, the bike is in another gear. So it's possible to travel forward while pedaling in reverse. This was all pretty fun, except the seat was down too low for much of the ride, and it took a bit of extra effort to get the bike to move.
On top of that, I had my second physical therapy appointment yesterday. They added a couple of new exercises that clearly demonstrated to me that my poor rhomboids and associated muscles are exceedingly wimpy. Last night and this morning, they're back to hurting again. On the other hand, now I know how to make them stronger. [For those interested in the technicalities, they have me doing seated rows, ha! But the seated rows are segmented such that the first part involves squeezing my rhomboids and then drawing in my arms just to the point where my elbows are even with my torso. They also have me lay on my stomach and do "Y's, I's, and T's," holding my arms and hands in various positions in such a way that I have to use the muscles around my shoulder blades.]
So I skipped rowing this morning. Blah.
My aunt Pam's funeral service was led by an Episcopalian priest. From what I have been able to gather, my aunt Pam and uncle Chris had attended a couple of services at the Episcopal church in Sheridan, and this is the reason for the decision about the service. In contrast, my father's family was raised Catholic, and different members of the family have interpreted this religious upbringing in different ways, from strict adherence to the rules and guidelines of the Catholic Church, to various looser interpretations or cultural affiliations with this religion. I have to state here that I believe there are as many different sets of religious beliefs as there are people in the world, and that I am grateful for an upbringing that has always encouraged tolerance of others.
When the time came for communion during the service, the priest took a moment to let us know that all people who had received first communion in any church denomination were welcome to receive communion during the service. Others who had not received first communion were welcome to come up to the front for a blessing. As I have mentioned before, I consider myself an atheist (my dad would probably prefer the term non-theist, which is fine), but I was raised in the Catholic church and received first communion as a child. So in my mind, at this point in my life, I see communion as a symbolic event that is predominately about coming together with loved ones to share a meal.
Not all of my family members followed suit, again, probably for a wide variety of reasons--some came up to receive a blessing, while others hung back entirely. I think the hard part of that, for me, is that I do not know if it is possible to actually engage in a conversation about such decisions with all of the members of my extended family. On the one hand, the cousin sitting next to me asked my opinion on the matter (I hope she doesn't regret that! I don't know that I'm any more qualified than anyone else to offer a meaningful opinion). On the other hand, another cousin declared utter shock at some of the ritualistic differences in the ceremony from the way the Catholic church treats communion (I sense that, in her mind, the experience was shockingly different enough to constitute not-communion).
Again, I am grateful for an upbringing that has encouraged me to listen and engage in conversations about belief systems, and to let my heart guide my actions.
In the car ride back to Ennis that evening, my mom (and I hope she doesn't mind my writing this here) told my father and me a story about Pam's positive influence on her life. When Pam and Chris got married, they had to get married outside of the Catholic church because Chris had been previously married and divorced (not sure about the technicalities behind this one--perhaps he did not have the wherewithal to get an annulment). My mom had been brought up strictly Catholic as well, and had been taught that one should not attend any religious ceremonies outside of the Catholic church. So it took courage for her to decide to attend Pam and Chris's wedding. I'm pretty sure she's glad that she did.
--
On to completely unrelated things:
Last night, I rode an amusing bike on the CRAP ride--it had a retro-direct drivetrain, which means that when one pedals forward, the bike is in one gear, but when one pedals in reverse, the bike is in another gear. So it's possible to travel forward while pedaling in reverse. This was all pretty fun, except the seat was down too low for much of the ride, and it took a bit of extra effort to get the bike to move.
On top of that, I had my second physical therapy appointment yesterday. They added a couple of new exercises that clearly demonstrated to me that my poor rhomboids and associated muscles are exceedingly wimpy. Last night and this morning, they're back to hurting again. On the other hand, now I know how to make them stronger. [For those interested in the technicalities, they have me doing seated rows, ha! But the seated rows are segmented such that the first part involves squeezing my rhomboids and then drawing in my arms just to the point where my elbows are even with my torso. They also have me lay on my stomach and do "Y's, I's, and T's," holding my arms and hands in various positions in such a way that I have to use the muscles around my shoulder blades.]
So I skipped rowing this morning. Blah.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-26 08:16 pm (UTC)Replies to replies are optional. A certain amount of time spent in the realm of meta-consciousness makes sense.
Hrm, this talk of religion and altruism is making me think of The Man of La Mancha, especially http://www.lyricsdownload.com/man-of-la-mancha-soundtrack-i-m-only-thinking-of-him-lyrics.html.
... but I don't mean that in a cynical way. I don't think it's a bad thing that personally selfish, culturally selfish, and altruistic motives mingle in a complex tango. Heck, like The Man of La Mancha, it's strange and wonderful. Often there are symbioses between selfish and altruistic motives.
Religion is one way we humans sort ourselves and our friends out. Tolerant religions are one case of that. I took communion at my brother's wedding. I liked his pastor a lot. She was insightful but well grounded and had a good mental grasp of the importance ritual has to humans. This wasn't a flavor of religion that had to isolate itself from the world to function, and I'm thinking of certain ex-friend here as I write that. I guess anything non-trivial done mindlessly is an affront to me.
-s
no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 03:30 pm (UTC)