Symbol of Glory
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/13011
I just had to link to this column by Andree Seu; it made me feel unalone, which is always nice. I myself generally respond to inquiries about the doilie I wear to church with, "It's just a personal conviction," accompanied by the sort of dismissive smile that indicates that is all I have to say on the subject. I have sometimes thought it a rather cowardly response, as if I am afraid to defend my own convictions, not wishing to appear too fundamentalist, or - horror of all horrors! - legalistic. And yet, it is a thing so utterly not worth making an issue of.
The truth of the matter is that I wear it because it makes no sense to me. And I am not good at obeying things I do understand. Perhaps those who are more mature have no need to pin their symbols to their heads; but I so easily slip into self-sufficiency. If I dismiss I Cor. 11 as an obscure and indecipherable passage, really only related to first-century culture, how can I say others are wrong for doing the same with the passages they don't like, such as the ones about homosexuality? Either God is the authority or my own understanding of him is. So I pin lace to my head, at the risk of appearing the pious, submissive homeschooled girl I have never been, in order to remind myself that I don't make the rules about how I approach God.
Is it really worth explaining that to the fellow churchgoer who politely inquires whether I'm a Mennonite?
I just had to link to this column by Andree Seu; it made me feel unalone, which is always nice. I myself generally respond to inquiries about the doilie I wear to church with, "It's just a personal conviction," accompanied by the sort of dismissive smile that indicates that is all I have to say on the subject. I have sometimes thought it a rather cowardly response, as if I am afraid to defend my own convictions, not wishing to appear too fundamentalist, or - horror of all horrors! - legalistic. And yet, it is a thing so utterly not worth making an issue of.
The truth of the matter is that I wear it because it makes no sense to me. And I am not good at obeying things I do understand. Perhaps those who are more mature have no need to pin their symbols to their heads; but I so easily slip into self-sufficiency. If I dismiss I Cor. 11 as an obscure and indecipherable passage, really only related to first-century culture, how can I say others are wrong for doing the same with the passages they don't like, such as the ones about homosexuality? Either God is the authority or my own understanding of him is. So I pin lace to my head, at the risk of appearing the pious, submissive homeschooled girl I have never been, in order to remind myself that I don't make the rules about how I approach God.
Is it really worth explaining that to the fellow churchgoer who politely inquires whether I'm a Mennonite?
posted by Deborah | 4:29 PM
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