Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00385)

Hey, 

I went to church yesterday, Chesapeake Avenue Methodist in which I 
was baptized 40 years ago. Had been to Christmas and Easter 
services for years and taken communion. But now they have a new 
minister, and instead of making broad welcoming invitations to 
everyone to share in a sacrament, he specifies only those who accept 
Jesus as their personal savior to come.

So I sat there while the whole pew climbed over me, feeling myself a 
rock in a stream of consensus. But this new preacher had talked 
about Satan and Jews in ways that scared me, and it was as if from 
being Unitarian-flavored this Methodist Church had gone Southern 
Baptist.

The thought occurs to me that communion being open or closed to 
those who don't follow a party line is metaphoric of the positive 
and negative aspects of Christian attitudes toward others.

Paul