"Now you'll never believe/What happened next/For I continued the reading/But departed the text"

(Ten-point, no-prize bonus to anyone who can source that without Googling)

I was the liturgist this morning, at a service heavy on the idea of serving others, setting an example to the world by actions rather than creeds.

Not surprisingly, though, we then read a creed. Dangerously, I got to lead it.  As these things go, it's one of the better ones:

The World Methodist Social Affirmation

It's short on dogma and long on obligation, including this line:

We confess our sin, individual and collective,
   by silence or action:
      through the violation of human dignity
         based on race, class, age, sex, nation, or faith;

Soon as I saw the end of that paragraph, I knew I was using an outdated version of the hymnal ::heh heh::, so I updated it to end in "race, class, age, sex, nation, faith or preference."

They've now asked me to preach an actual sermon in a nearby church in two Sundays. Unlike the potential client I mentioned the other day, clearly, what we have here is a fail-yah to EXcommunicate;)