Thanks for clearing up any misconceptions I had about your comments regarding grieving over the crucifixion.

I do agree that there were a lot of flag waving pep talks which seemed inappropriate in the context of the tragedy. The whole idea of making people feel good and the cult of up-tempoism is a little much to take at times. When one is hurting and someone asks how you are doing, do they really want you to unload on them, tell them that you feel rotten and are besieged by temptation and sin, or that you are so aggravated with your boss that you could punch him in his nose? Unfortunately, in far too many faith communities, the answer is no. This “don’t worry, be happy-look away from the bad things” mentality is as prevalent in faith communities with respect to sin as it is to relationships. Not many pastors are willing to take an adulturer in the congragation to task, refuse him communion and kick him out for persisting in the sin. So I guess it’s little wonder that the Church is often about feel good opposed to do right. Going back to 911 (after my hydra-headed screed),I can only guess that many Church leaders were numb and, to some degree, in shock, as you and I were, over the 911 events. Because of this it seems possible that these leaders did almost anything to avoid opening up the floodgates of sorrow and grief.

Likewise, I agree with your assement of the church calendar’s value as well as the range of emotions the seasons of faith ought to inspire. I very well remember my first Christmas after having become a believer a few months earlier. I was in a department store the week before Christmas in a mall near my home and a version “Oh Holy Night” sung by, of all people, Glen Campbell, came over the store’s background music system. For some reason, as I stood in the middle of cosmetics and fragrances, the overwhelming sense of God’s great gift became so real I could hardly breathe and my eyes filled with tears. This happened despite being in the middle of a temple of the great mid-winter retail festival.

I often wonder how can these great truths inspire the post-modern to seek the Kingdom of God (and enter in) if we in the household of faith are unmoved by them and are, as you so aptly phrased it, “emotionally constipated”?

For some reason I am reminded by the lyrics of a very short song by the late Kieth Green.

My eyes are dry, my faith is old,
My heart is hard, my prayers are cold,
And I know how I ought to be,
Alive to you, and dead to me.

Oh what can be done, for an old heart like mine?
Soften it up, with oil and wine.
The oil is You, Your Spirit of Love,
Please wash me anew, in the wine of Your blood.

So my question still stands (with modifications). How does the Church live out its faith and communicate to the post-modern precisely the magnitude of the price paid by Jesus and demonstrated in His crucifixion? How do we take devalued and misappropriated terms like atonement and propitiation and explain, in the context of a blood sacrifice, their merits as they apply to a post-modern? Presumably, they apply exactly now as they did for a Centurion or one of the Praetorians a good while back. My question is how do we make these truths current and impart a sense of urgency in the post-modern to listen and act upon God’s invitation?