Yesterday was the first time I stepped into a Catholic church in what...13 years? I have to admit - it's actually rather beautiful. This church happened to be renovated recently, and it blended modern designs rather well with their traditions and artifacts. One of the first things that struck me was how their marble chancel contrasted really sharply with the nave, giving it a kind of "hallowed ground" effect. If they had drums and amps along with their organ, it would have been perfect, but it's probably just me.

I have to admit - I struggled a little. Perhaps due to the fact that in my childhood I happened to read some matter that was really biased against the Catholic church and its beliefs, leaving me with a slightly misguided understanding of what they believe in. I decided to find out for myself, and so while waiting for the mass to begin I picked up a copy of this book they used for the funeral mass, and really, I couldn't find anything in their key doctrine that ran contrary to ours. They believe in the Holy Trinity. They believe that we are all sinners and that salvation comes through Christ alone. Perhaps I don't see the need to ask the saints and Mary to intercede on my behalf, and I don't think the books in the Apocrypha are divinely inspired, but at the end of the day, the essentials are there.

I also take back every joke I've made about Methodists being traditional and by the book. When it comes to rituals and traditions, we can't hold a candle (pun unintended) to the Catholics. The funeral mass was all so ritualised. Bells tolling at specific milestones as they brought coffin into the building. Draping the coffin with a white sheet, placing a Bible and crufix on top of it. Sprinkling holy water. Covering the coffin with incense. Singing hymns in response to various readings from the Word. Even their priests were dressed with more pomp than our pastors on Communion Sunday. It was all so...prim and proper. Really, it's probably what the average non-believer would think a church would be like. But to be fair the things they did were not simply done for the sake of being done - it was all symbolic of something and they actually bothered to explain each part of the ritual for the uninitiated. Kind of gave me a new appreciation for traditional rituals in worship.

I don't like it when churches follow tradition so stiffly that there's no room for the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit, but as I laid down my biasedness, I found that I could still worship. I looked at the congregation, and instead of bored, expressionless faces, I saw people who were seeking God. It was a nice reminder that perhaps some people do find comfort in going through these rituals, and this is their form of worship unto God. He is, after all, also a God of orderliness.

So anyway. I got my first blue screen of death with my ah beng lappie last night, and boy was it scary. I had no idea what happened - one minute I was talking to people on MSN, and the next thing I knew, the dreaded blue screen popped out. I actually stared at the screen for a few seconds in shock (Hey that reminds me of when I first saw Wendy's new do! This shock was alot less pleasant though.)

I think I was transferring and testing some videos from the hard disk that crashed a few months back, and I guess one of those files was corrupted so badly it threw Windows Vista into turmoil. Far fetched, but possible eh? I can hear all the Mac acolytes laughing away. I'm a little paranoid now. Shall I save the videos I spent months creating, and risk messing up my new lappie in the process, or should I just start afresh and let those videos live on only in memory?

Choices, choices.

posted by NEB at 10:18 AM

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