Friday, May 18, 2007

The Passion and The Pew


Growing up in the church, I came to believe that everything I longed for was somehow bad for my proper spiritual development. For most of my life, I thought it was God who posed the greatest hurdle to experiencing all the thrills of love and romance. And I would have taken great offence to someone trying to convince me that God should have a greater role in my love story. All the stern ''thou shalt nots'' He had so thoughtfully bestowed on me were quite enough, thank you!
For many years of my life, I struggled to find the right words to capture my agonizing frustrations. I was a young man fighting a constant inward battle between needing to obey God's ''thou shalt nots'' and yet longing to fulfill my passionate, sensual desires.
It wasn't until I stumbled upon the following story from Greek legend that I found the perfect picture to describe my years of torment. If you have unsuccesfully tried to mix ''the passion'' with ''the pew,'' there's a good chance that you will be able to relate to the hidden message in this Greek-tale-with-a-Ludy-twist.

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