Comments on: The Preface http://raphael.doxos.com/2008/07/08/the-preface/ We are Flesh-and-Spirit on a journey to Integral Unity with God. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:39:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Huw http://raphael.doxos.com/2008/07/08/the-preface/#comment-6044 Huw Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:25:05 +0000 http://raphael.doxos.com/?p=2835#comment-6044 I tend to agree with your read of the history - but I think the liturgical event at SGN is suffering from some backwards theological invention. "We close the doors... Therefore there must be a theological reason for it." In fact, at SGN, with the doors opening on a busy street... it is important at this moment to close the doors for acoustic reasons: even standing around the altar together, it's hard to hear someone when there are cars going by a few yards away. My guess is the whole "we have deacons close the doors" thing arose only because, sometimes, no one bothered to close them and some people got annoyed (but didn't close the doors themselves)! I tend to agree with your read of the history - but I think the liturgical event at SGN is suffering from some backwards theological invention.

“We close the doors… Therefore there must be a theological reason for it.”

In fact, at SGN, with the doors opening on a busy street… it is important at this moment to close the doors for acoustic reasons: even standing around the altar together, it’s hard to hear someone when there are cars going by a few yards away.

My guess is the whole “we have deacons close the doors” thing arose only because, sometimes, no one bothered to close them and some people got annoyed (but didn’t close the doors themselves)!

]]> By: Fr. Ernesto http://raphael.doxos.com/2008/07/08/the-preface/#comment-6042 Fr. Ernesto Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:12:10 +0000 http://raphael.doxos.com/?p=2835#comment-6042 Nicely written. I would make the very minor comment that closing the glass doors is not simply intimacy. It is also exclusion. As the text says, if you are not there in time you are left out. Shades of the unwise virgins with no oil! That is, even the liturgy proclaims that there are wise virgins who will make it in and unwise who will not. In this case, the intimate moment of fellowship also proclaims the limits. If you do not make a decision by this time, then you will be left out. In the Early Church it also proclaimed a, "not yet," to the catechumens. But, they were dismissed with hope, with prayer and with the assurance that nothing would happen to them, even though they were not ready to join in yet. The "not yet" was the "not yet" of the Holy Mother saying to her yet-developing baby that it needs to stay in the womb of the catechumenate a little longer so that it may be developed enough to survive in the outer world. Nicely written. I would make the very minor comment that closing the glass doors is not simply intimacy. It is also exclusion. As the text says, if you are not there in time you are left out. Shades of the unwise virgins with no oil! That is, even the liturgy proclaims that there are wise virgins who will make it in and unwise who will not. In this case, the intimate moment of fellowship also proclaims the limits. If you do not make a decision by this time, then you will be left out.

In the Early Church it also proclaimed a, “not yet,” to the catechumens. But, they were dismissed with hope, with prayer and with the assurance that nothing would happen to them, even though they were not ready to join in yet. The “not yet” was the “not yet” of the Holy Mother saying to her yet-developing baby that it needs to stay in the womb of the catechumenate a little longer so that it may be developed enough to survive in the outer world.

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