-^-for posterity-^-

this website has been read by many more people than i would have ever imagined. thanks to all who have been following along with my adventures. please, feel free to email me. i have plenty of time to respond being quite alone. the larger size of my audience causes me to be delicate when describing certain things. i surely don't want to offend someone. one specific topic is religion. oh my. do i want to step into this potential mine-field? i will be careful and vague.

today i attended a church in central city saigon. it was at the saigon prince hotel. the hotel was ornate. pink and grand with marble steps and carpet. the service is held somewhere upstairs in a rectangular room full of plush seats and ice cold water in the back. i come from salford mennonite church. our style of worship would be classified as traditional. this service would be classified as contemporary. i'm not being vague with that description, only careful.

i sat down in the back and looked up at the cool glow of the overhead projector. we were singing praise songs. i'm used to four part harmony. songs like "praise god for whom all blessings flow!", and my grandpop's favorite "praise to god immortal praise!" (i think it's #91 in the blue book). i'm not as comfortable with songs that require a large band. i'm also not very comfortable when a piano is playing softly in the background when the preacher talks to add to the atmosphere. for all of my radical beliefs, i fall appropriately in line when it comes to church services. directly in line. right behind abe landis and right in front of earl frankenfield.

i also wasn't accustomed to the sermon. it started talking about peter and the boat and being fishers of men. jesus asked peter if he could get in the boat (boy, this would be embarrassing if it wasn't peter. maybe it was mark or john or judas even. i'm pretty sure peter.) well, jesus asked him three things and the final was to cast out his net into the water. he would be fishing for men. (i shut my eyes for a moment. i saw a net being cast into the water and, after a pause, it being hauled up into the boat. it was full of very small men (no women mind you) who were all slimy, flopping around and screaming.) my personal theology interprets the story being about faith, trust and helping us all understand the profound love of jesus.

the preacher kept referring to the audience as a net that was to be cast out into the city. i appreciate mcc because they don't require or expect it's volunteers to evangelize. i have enough questions of my own. read the first two sentences of this paragraph again and draw your own conclusion. (that was both careful and vague.)

well, the sermon ended with a call to inclusion. we needed to be more inclusive of people who respond to god in different ways. if people raise their hands, no problem. some people respond to god by falling down. (i'm not making this up) also, alter calls are not in the bible and so they should not be performed every sunday. (someone talked to the pastor and wondered why there wasn't one every sunday) it doesn't mean that alter calls are wrong, it just means that maybe they won't have one every sunday. like i said, i fall in line right behind abe landis and right in front of earl frankenfield. for anyone who doesn't know who they are, please, email my dad. davidray123@yahoo.com

we did have wonderful communion which i really enjoyed and the people there were also very interesting. a very diverse crowd.

i tried to use tact. i tried not to step on any land mines but, sometimes, even the best land mine sniffin' dog gets blown up. read between the lines. well, today is sunday. i'm going to bed and you're all getting up. enjoy the familiar and sing in beautiful, four-part harmony for me.