Irenic Thoughts

Irenic. The word means peaceful. This web log (or blog) exists to create an ongoing, and hopefully peaceful, series of comments on the life of King of Peace Episcopal Church. This is not a closed community. You are highly encouraged to comment on any post or to send your own posts.

1/09/2006

The Religious Significance of Partying



Last night's Burning of the Greens was a huge success with roughly 100 people in on the fun. The photos are now online so you can see for yourself.

When advertising the event, I am always careful to say that it has no religious significance. an overview indoorsI say this because it looks like some sort of pagan party if you just see the people by firelight. But the statement is not completely true. It is true that this is not a religious festival. But I also feel that any time we gather as the Body of Christ, it has some religious significance. Getting to know your fellow church goers matters as this is how one can come to bear one anothers burdens and share one anothers joys.

And great things come of times like this. For example, two years ago the dream of a scout troop at King of Peace was born by the light of the fire at The Burning of the Greens. Since that night, Boy Scout Troop 226 has taken shape and thrived.

Sharing a digital photoSo no matter what the pictures look like (more photos are here online), we were celebrating no pagan festival, but we were enjoying the chance to share in koinonia, which is the New Testament Greek word for "fellowship" and "communion." That communing with one another is to take place not just at the altar, but in other less formal settings as well.

sharing the loveIn the archives, you will find the sermon Koinonia—a deeper connectedness.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor +
King of Peace Episcopal Church

posted by King of Peace @ Monday, January 09, 2006  

3 Comments:

  • At 1/09/2006 6:54 AM, Blogger FRIDAY'S CHILD said…

    I am a Catholic but I don't see anything wrong with your pictures. For me I see people enjoying the festive moment, enjoying the meeting and acquaintances of people and the most important thing of all the getting together.
    I may be a Catholic but I do respect other religion and what they believe in.

     

  • At 1/09/2006 9:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    The photo reminds me of the Nathaniel Hawthorne story "Young Goodman Brown." Very good photography. I agree that a gathering of believers is always a special and blessed occassion.

     

  • At 1/09/2006 9:29 AM, Blogger King of Peace said…

    Interesting connection. Here's a quote from Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, "At one extremity of an open space, hemmed in by the dark wall of the forest, arose a rock, bearing some rude, natural resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an evening meeting. The mass of foliage that had overgrown the summit of the rock was all on fire, blazing high into the night and fitfully illuminating the whole field. Each pendent twig and leafy festoon was in a blaze. As the red light arose and fell, a numerous congregation alternately shone forth, then disappeared in shadow, and again grew, as it were, out of the darkness, peopling the heart of the solitary woods at once."

    The full text of the story William referenced is online here: http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/158/

     

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