Sunday Sermon

The point of religion is ritual,
the point of ritual is to bind old 'superstitions'
to modern contradictions using old concepts
that puts both in a context where those
who share the ritual say, in shorthand to each other,
'We can live with this, please give us more.'
to the overarching authority they believe in.

Religion is the will to celebrate
in spite of what it is up against.  
It is also the will to find community
in spite of local division and enmity,
and last but not least it's leadership
has to be gentle and consensual
for the faith to be open the all.
even when inclusiveness looks like weakness.

Modern secular humanism is a brittle peace
built on the comforts of modern Capitalism
that shrinks away from obvious discomfort
whilst pursuing a Panglossian consensus
where everyone gets what they want
without having to think much to get it.

The world as conceived by humanists
is always the best of all possible worlds;
it has to be for them to want to live in times
where indecisive chatter is how choices are made,
the nearest they agree to be with ritual. 

The world according to those with faith in ritual,
and in life always falls short of what it was meant to be,
but by entering into the ritual they find again
the hope that something/someone will intervene
to make them the means that can remake it better.

In the long view we are all pilgrims
seeking the signpost for progress,
wary that the route thereafter
may be more circular than it first appears...