Saturday, July 01, 2006

A badass lay service topic

My church needs a few more lay services and I'd like to do one, but am feeling rather uncreative and cranky.

Somebody give me a good idea.

CC

Ps. Miss Kitty gives good blog.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

How I learned to stop worrying about (fill in the blank)

and love the process of (fill in the blank)

A good sermon has some conflict that the preacher resolves. I once thought this, but I now think this.
I once was lost but now I'm saved.

There are other narrative ways to do tension/resolution of course, ask a question, list some solutions, critique the solutions, find a new answer that meets the critiques is favorite among intellectuals.

Do you own spiritual journey, be it ever so humble or adventurous is a time honored summer lay service. They get boring only when it is one damned thing after another, but you have shared enough interesting anecdotes on your blog to make it work.

But get some kind of tension in your story....and they'll stay awake to the benediction

Anonymous said...

Why not talk about what you think a religion should do/is for? That seems to be a thing you frequently talk about -- how we shouldn't be directly political but we should be..... Emphasize the positive. Give a prescription for a good religion.

Doug Muder said...

I've been trying to hand this topic off to so many people I should probably start thinking about doing it myself: Outrage. What do you do with it?

I keep running into people who are outraged with the state of the world in one way or another. In some ways that's good, because maybe it will motivate them to do something. But wandering around being permanently pissed off is just a bad way to live.

So, is there a middle way between apathy and outrage? What about the action-without-attachment stuff the Buddhists keep talking about? Can UU's do that? How?

PeaceBang said...

Hey Doug, I wrote a sermon I really like about outrage, using a lot of Buddhist ideas, including what I thought was a wonderful reading. Just say the word if you'd be interested in reading or using any of it.

Doug Muder said...

Peacebang,

I'd love to see it. Did you post it somewhere?

ogre said...

Outrage should be fermented, aged, and served.

Chilled, with a promise of a little vengeance to clear the palate.

Like this:
Impeach, convict, indict, convict, turn over to the International Court at The Hague to face war crimes charges.

No, that one isn't suitable for from the pulpit. Yet. I did say "aged."

Slightly more seriously, outrage is raw fuel for getting off one's butt and doing something to address the object of outrage.