One or the Other

I came across the following quote today from Penny Culliford in her book Theodora's Diary. It made me laugh. Theo is responding to her boyfriend's claim that he doesn't attend church because of the singing, especially the children's songs complete with hand motions.

I hadn't thought about it before, but, when you consider it, it is an extremely strange thing to expect people to do. In fact, the whole procedure of a church service is quite bizarre. A group of people from different backgrounds and of different ages, with very little in common, gathers once or twice a week in a draughty stone building. They talk, not to each other, but to someone who died 2,000 years ago. They sing about gathering at the river, putting on armour, washing in the fountain and the blood of the lamb. They sit and listen while a man in a long dress tells them how to behave. They read from a book no bigger than a James Clavell novel, the same book people have been using for hundreds and hundreds of years, sometimes in an obsolete version of English. Occasionally they queue up to sip a tiny drop of wine and eat a crumb of bread, given to them by the man in a dress. The only part that really seems to make sense is the coffee at the end. Thinking about it like that, it's a wonder that Christianity as a whole and the Church of England in particular have survived as long as they have.

I suppose it shows it must be true.

Either that, or all Christians are two quiches short of a bring-and-share.