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Welcome to LAST SUPPER RED!!

What if laughter and hilarity are sacred? Might prayer be less about words and more about how we position ourselves before Mystery? What if God is less like Santa Claus and more like air? What if we are defined more by "Original Blessing" than "Original Sin?" Would Christianity flourish if we followed Jesus instead of worshipping him? What if "the Kingdom of God" has much less to do with the hereafter and is instead a here-and-now countercultural idea and reality with political and economic consequences?

Welcome to LAST SUPPER RED!!

Q again plunges his main characters into an extensive theological discussion. At least they don't end up alienating each other this time.

What do you make of Phyllis Tickle's idea about the church having a rummage sale on its doctrines every 500 years or so? (see Footnote 9 on Page 45.) If it's true, should it happen at all? Should it happen more often? Are we living in such a time today? If so, what do you think the church needs to get rid of?

Q now invites us to reflect a bit on this strange passage we call "life."

Snark gave Margaret some verses from the mystical (panentheistic) poet Rumi. Here is another of Rumi's poems:

Be with those who help your being.
Don't sit with indifferent people, whose breath
comes cold out of their mouths.
Not these visible forms, your work is deeper.

A chunk of dirt thrown in the air breaks to pieces.
If you don't try to fly,
and so break yourself apart,
you will be broken open by death,
when it's too late for all you could become.

Leaves get yellow. The tree puts out fresh roots
and makes them green.
Why are you so content with a love that turns you yellow?

Q also reminds us of Jesus' saying about our needing to become as little children if we are not to be "so content with a love that turns (us) yellow," but instead enter into a whole new life.

What do you think Jesus meant . . . and does Margaret have a good understanding of what Jesus meant?

Martin Luther's quote about this life is generous in its understanding that we will not be perfect. He saw that perfection is not the point. Rather, to refer to Rumi's poem again, it's to seek a love that makes us green rather than yellow. Is this the sort of idea you associate with Christianity? Or is Christianity rather a matter of being sure we follow the rules well and not ever stray from the straight and narrow?

What's your reaction to the quote from Peanuts that Advocatus ends with?