Wandering Elder

A few days ago, I was talking with a friend of mine when he recommended a particular cd to me.  He didn't just out and out start the conversation with the name of the band/cd (Liquid Tension Experiment 2, by the way), but it came from a conversation about the bass player Tony Levin who plays on that cd. That made me somewhat nostalgic for record stores. When I was in my teens, the local mall had two record shops, one of which was a national chain called The Record Bar.  There was also the new kid on the block, Cat's Records, Tapes, and CDs which showed up in town about the same time as the all new Blockbuster movie rental store.  What I was nostalgic for wasn't so much the stores themselves, though I do miss them, but the conversations  at the stores. Before the Internet, one of the great ways to learn information with the same level of reliability as the Internet was to talk  to people. "Hey, when is Pink Floyd going to put out a new album?" "Well, I h

One of the aspects of the Christian faith I have always been drawn to is that of ritual.  Growing up United Methodist, I have been a part of a tradition/denomination that places a particular degree of importance on methodology (Method - ists), form, structure, and liturgy.  The church year, which is divided into particular seasons such as Advent, Easter, Pentecost etc. follows a cyclical nature that repeats and in so doing tells and re-tells the basic points of Christian belief. I find that calming. I also find that within our larger rituals are particular ones that mean more and more to me.  In particular, Holy Communion, which is one of our two sacraments in the UMC, baptism being the second.  Holy Communion is a vital part of our faith and practise and established much of our theology.  From the profound moment of declaring that "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," to the lines in the Great Thanksgiving which outline the basics of faith to the congregationa