M.E.M.O.
Hymn sing: A secular liturgy for hymnal transition times
New hymnals, a.k.a. “Worship Books,” are forthcoming from numerous church bodies, including two Lutheran groups (among them my own ELCA). Having studied none of these books, I write with vincible ignorance about the details. Having studied church history, however, I write with invincible knowledge of how all of them will be greeted in some sectors of each church group. Those old enough to have savaged the books being replaced will now mourn their loss, just as they will—if they live long enough—grieve over the shelving of the ones they are now trashing.
Creepy: Pondering the question of insects and origins
There are 3,700 known species of cockroaches alone, and they will outlive us all. This statistic ought to disturb literalists who recall that Noah’s family caught and brought on the ark “of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female” (Gen. 6:8). Noah also had to avoid the hazardous secretions of these creatures, some of which produce repugnatorial secretions containing compounds that generate hydrogen cyanide.