My church will be leading up to Easter with multiple services between Thursday and then.
On another topic: http://www.net-burst.net/guilty/humor.htm
Been there, done that, the number of t-shirts I have is probably comfortably in the triple digits.
You say I am loved, when I don’t feel a thing. You say I am strong, when I think I am weak. You say I am held, when I am falling short.
This may be just a Catholic thing, but why is it that the reading of the Passion of Jesus on Palm Sunday and Good Friday is set up as a play-type reading (with the priest reading Jesus's lines, other church officials reading the narration and individual lines from other characters, and the parishioners reading the lines of the crowd)? I've asked this several times but the response is always "thats how its always been done". It just seems odd to read lines like "crucify him!" out loud.
Catholic here (well, agnostic now. Does that mean I can't post here ? 
). I know what you're talking about J79, but... I don't really know myself why it's done. I found it very entertaining as a kid though, so maybe it's to have one Mass in the year that kids won't find deathly boring.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I'll admit that I'm probably not the best person to answer the question since I'm not exactly a full-fledged Catholic, although I am in the process of converting. So since this was the first time I ever went to a Palm Sunday Mass, I'll admit, I may not exactly be in the loop so someone will hopefully correct me if I'm wrong.
Our priest didn't explicitly say why that's the tradition, but I think he touched on it a little at one point. He mentioned that when Rembrandt painted The Raising of the Cross Rembrandt put himself in the picture in a way to kind of acknowledge that, in his own way, he's responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. So what I took away from that is we do a similar thing by saying things like "Crucify him," because it's kind of a reminder that, while we weren't physically there, in a spiritual sense, we're a bit responsible for it, ourselves, in a way.
edited 30th Mar '15 10:35:22 PM by FingerPuppet
From my experience, I don't recall the parishioners (the ones not performing any auxiliary duties in the mass, anyway) reading the lines of the crowd.
As for the whole reading in group thing, to me, it's just a way of getting the people closer in communion with the story and how important it is. It's a special ocasion, and special ocasions require special duties.
Don't you just feel upset/angry when conservatives in your religious group think you're not a 'True Catholic/Anglican/Methodist', just because you disagree with them on non-dogmatic matters?
Why are they so unaware or defensive that times are changing?
edited 2nd Apr '15 10:39:30 AM by Quag15
Collector Of Fine Oddities
I've dealt with that for years with my family (Belonging to an assortment of really fundamentalist pentecostal denominations over the years). My immediate family has called me a "godless atheist" ever since I started refusing to attend one of their nutty churches when I was in my late teens(I must have missed the part in the bible about Christ calling for a church to try to instigate a race war in the middle east). Since then I haven't been openly allowed in my cousin's place for years, since his parents think I'll be a "satanic influence". Really causes hell in small communities like mine. Word gets around fairly quickly in some circles; when inquiring about a job once the business owner replies "Oh, is X your aunt? She's told us about you. "
I honestly don't know how to respond sometimes. People like that don't tend to ever be open to opposing arguments, and attempts to set an example through actions are just shrugged off as being some sort of elaborate deception on your part.
Yes and it does get annoying (though honestly I get "not really Catholic" way less than "But Catholics aren't really Christian", strangely I wind up arguing about the second way more than the first for some reason too, like when they come up).
@Carbon That's too bad, because that church you were with sounds scary.
edited 2nd Apr '15 2:19:48 PM by phantom1
Sadly, fundy Christians(the kind of people y'all were discussing)often turn into fundy atheists.
Sorry to hear about that. I hate when those ultra-repressive folks interfere with our (and other people's) lives.
At least the first one can be a point of discussion. The second part is simply stupid. It's like saying Shia Muslims are not real Muslims.
Indeed. It's very annoying.
Or, alternatively, normal folks who were religious until they were pushed to the edge/brutally punished by their communities/families and ended up becoming atheists, while picking the worst personality/discussion-based traits from them
edited 2nd Apr '15 5:04:05 PM by Quag15
When I get confronted by the pharisaical churches (which has yet to happen to me), I think the best aproach is to ask them for scripture supporting the ludicrous claims, and then correct them on their interpretations as clear as humanly possible. Enunciate if you have to.
In fact, I'm reading a book called "Pharisectomy: How to Joyfully Remove Your Inner Pharisee and Other Religiously Transmitted Diseases", which deals with this exact same business.
Speaking of defense, here's something for the Pharisaicals to chew on, regarding the Satanic influences of Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings and other fantasy stories:
If Marvel Comics publishes The Mighty Thor, does that mean Stan Lee worships Nordic gods?
@Quag Yes which is probably why it would be smarter to argue with the first, but I'm much worse at choosing my arguments wisely in the real world, and will tend to argue with the ones that make me most angry, even though they are probably not going to care what I say, or how much I point out that Christian means follower of Christ and we are just different Denominations.
Zzzzzzzzzz
^^ I think I need to get that book.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Collector Of Fine Oddities
@Comics and related matters, that's a serious belief held by the fundamentalist groups that I observed. Every disagreeable thing is a satanic conspiracy; even someone like Rowling who identifies themselves as a christian to them is merely lying (or brainwashed by diabolical forces).
@Book, that's certainly an amusing title ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
. Though, personally I try to stay away fro certain realms of criticism against denominational beliefs. While I may or may not be actually falling into it, I'd rather not come off as a No True Scotsman type or in another way I'd be falling into the same fallacy that they're falling into.
What seems to alienate me and quite a few others here in my home region is that I absolutely draw the line at churches actively shunning and throwing people out. You have no idea how many times I've seen people that don't appear to be the WASP-type norm get shunned, insulted, and told to leave lest they corrupt the children. Most churches here are rather small save for the First Baptists, so they keep to themselves and form tiny, insular communities of like-minded individuals that are very hostile to outsiders. The Baptists themselves are another story entirely; they're still heavily rooted in the slave owning southern aristocracy and function more like a religious-themed political party with a very solid (and cold) hierarchy.
I don't know I'm from a Church where excommunication is a thing, but it still seems a sensible line to draw (not liking them to do that). Especially in such a small town. What do you mean by not fitting the WAS Py ideal, like I assume you don't mean kicking them out for being black, or German or something?
Collector Of Fine Oddities
Each seems to have it's own -thing- that they particularly don't like.
Race is an element of it to some. Certain local Pentecostal and Baptist denominations have a history of discrimination in the area (Assembly of God being the biggest in recent memory, with them burning Black-dominated churches up until maybe the early '70's and promoting the idea of instigating race wars in the middle east to hurry on the end of days), and when someone of a different race visited they'd be reminded that "their kind" usually attend X church down the road, or if they were Hispanic they'd be told to come back to the alternate Spanish service later regardless of their ability to speak English. Often they really don't like children and teens who don't fit the norms. The whole goth/emo thing was and still is to some extent a popular fashion in the local highschools, and even if they're adamant Christians they'll be quickly run out with snide/snarky insults by the church elders/congregation.
The First Baptists have an unofficial dress code and social hierarchy, since they're the church of the wealthy locals, so they have an "image" to maintain. No one will be directly told to leave but after a service is concluded the elders will inform the offending person that they're dressing "inappropriately" with heavy implications that they aren't wanted there. They strong-arm them in a sense, since most of the elders are also tied to local businesses, politics, and the police force; refusal to adhere to their standards can have far-reaching consequences if you're ever found to be on the wrong end of someone tied to them.
The homeless have it rough with them in some odd ways; First Baptists are the biggest supporters of homeless shelters in the area, holding massive food drives and fundraisers, but god forbid the homeless show up in the congregation on Sunday (they have separate days during the week where the homeless are invited and given food/aid). There's also been some more nasty incidents that invited federal investigations over them profiteering off of homes and property donated to serve as shelters and temporary homes for the needy.
Oh wow, I guess you did mention the race war. That sounds kind of corrupt.
Collector Of Fine Oddities
The idea itself seems to be a driving wedge between the denomination's high elders that borders on a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality at least to myself. It ultimately led to many of the denomination's Deep South churches fracturing into perhaps as many as a dozen splinter groups over the last few years with the supporters of the most violent contingent labeling themselves as Messianic Zionists.
On a lighter note, today marks both Good Friday and the beginning of Passover, so cheers and good wishes to all who partake in the holidays 
In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good.
edited 3rd Apr '15 9:49:14 AM by Antiteilchen
Ah.
Well, I think the fronds were just used for the procession at the beginning of the service and not everyone had one unless I was just being unobservant.
edited 29th Mar '15 9:10:04 PM by CorvusAtrox
"life is just a series of increasingly canon-eluding ao3 tags" ~ everydunsparce "Keep your hellfruit away from me, tempter" ~ also Every