Swirling Thoughts
In the past few days I've caught myself drifting into the realm of comparative religion... which is a rather dangerous place for me to wander. Pundits yelling over violent discourse and a lack of civility have sent me down a rabbit hole that currently has me comparing Christian liturgy to see which denominations emphasis sins of word and which don't, pulling out my Book of Common Prayer to confirm the Confession of Sins during the Holy Eucharist- which includes sins of word, which isn't part of most Evangelical faiths. I'm pondering how tenants of faith are reinforced in denominations that don't have common services. I guess it is diffused, fuzzy, varied from church to church, preacher to preacher. But mostly I'm wondering if sins of word are as central to other denominations as sins of deed and sins of thought.
Having been raised in my younger years as an Episcopalian, if you get me started I can recite the entire Mass. But since my mother converted to pentacostal when I was in junior high (then moved over to Baptist), I've been exposed to the Evangelical church too. The emphasis is very different. I've been grilling Hu about the Presbyterian church since it is more in the middle of the two. He doesn't recall much talk of sins of word- mostly avoiding 'sins of the flesh'. From tenants of faith it is more Baptist than Episcopalian. And maybe we do need to think more about what we even mean by sins of word. I said it every sunday for my entire childhood. But what did we mean by that? Sharp words? Strong discourse? Surely not? Words that can harm? Possibly. But even that needs a clearer definition. It is something to chew on this week.
Having been raised in my younger years as an Episcopalian, if you get me started I can recite the entire Mass. But since my mother converted to pentacostal when I was in junior high (then moved over to Baptist), I've been exposed to the Evangelical church too. The emphasis is very different. I've been grilling Hu about the Presbyterian church since it is more in the middle of the two. He doesn't recall much talk of sins of word- mostly avoiding 'sins of the flesh'. From tenants of faith it is more Baptist than Episcopalian. And maybe we do need to think more about what we even mean by sins of word. I said it every sunday for my entire childhood. But what did we mean by that? Sharp words? Strong discourse? Surely not? Words that can harm? Possibly. But even that needs a clearer definition. It is something to chew on this week.