Nourishing the Soul, Cleansing With Blood

THIS COMING SUNDAY, 8/17/25, the 239th birthday of Davy Crockett, I shall go happily to church, and to the discussion group which precedes it. Afterwards, a bit of seventy year old tennis in ninety five degree heat. Wish me luck. That, surely, is sufficient excitement for nearly anyone on a hot August Sunday... Monday, its up and attem for ten o'clock gospel singing at the senior center, but only after a coupla cups of coffee after feeding the cats, which comes first. Bottom line, I enjoy every single one of these activities and responsibilities,and am inclined to compare and contrast them; The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship service on Sunday, and the gospel singing group using Baptist hymnals on Monday morn. So far, I have attended only two of the UU services, and have participated in singing four of their hymns. I loved every moment of it, and fully intend to go back for more, to become a regular. I find their hymns to be beautiful, sublime, enlightened. I noticed that they have a big, thick hyman book;I am eager to learn as many of these lovely songs as possible, and to sing them with gusto. I have participated in Monday morning gospel for nearly four and a half years,and I know a great deal more about the Baptist hymnal. To me the more mainstream Baptist hymns tend to be simplistic, childish, obsequious, barbaric, and bloody. I love the song "How Great Thous Art", the rest of them, you can have. I remain in the singing group because I like to sing, I am told I am good at it, and that I contribute to the group, and, well, in any event, when in Rome, correct? Anyone who chooses to believe that our sins are forgiven by our accepting as our lord and savior the son of God, by his being tortured to death and shedding blood wihch washes away our sins, is welcome to it. To me, all this crucifixion theology is primitive, cruel, barbaric. The washing away of sins with the blood of Christ, whether meant as a symbolic metaphor or a factual, accurate description fo reality, is to me beyond disgusting. Bad enough to accept or even give any consideration to this ridiculous human fantasy, much worse to rejoice in it, to be joyful that someone else has bled and died for your sins. Shouldn't we who embrace this nonsense instead feel ashamed, cowardly, and irresponsible? Perhaps we would, if we really believed in it, rather than merely pretending to, in self deceit. The bloody metaphor is disgusting enough, but becomes even worse when the overly zealous revel in it, magnify it, describing the blood letting of Christ on the cross as a "cascading flow" or "torrential river" as they all too often do. Shouldn't this event be mourned, and not celebrated? Even stranger is wen the devout attempt to do both,simultaneously. "Living In the Shadow of the Cross", as the hymn goes. In other words, hiding. Your spotless white robe, formerly stained with sin, was cleansed in the blood. Anyone who believes that never tried to get the blood stain out of a white T shirt after a sand lot football game. You can always tell where it was. I am glad that I am open minded and tolerant enough to take part in activities which do not necessariy reflect my personal beliefs. It makes life more interesting. And besides, thirty minutes after singing the prasies of standing next to the cross and getting drenched by cleansing blood for an hour, the senior center serves a damn good lunch.