19 January 2020

Liturgy of the Common Man ~ A Hefty Buffet


Greetings Dear Reader,

In Virginia Beach, there is a seafood buffet called George’s Seafood Buffet.  It is vast, elegant, and the best buffet I have ever experienced.  One could not possibly try everything.  Still, I ponder returning to it to see if the repast matches my memory.

Buffets are one of my favorite ways to dine out.  It is not the volume so much as the variety that entices me.  I do not have to know what I want until I see it.  I can get a salad, meat, and vegetables in a variety that suits my mood of the moment.  Buffets are also one of the things that are dangerous for me.  They are temples to gluttony where one can worship or not.  Like so many things the idea of the buffet is a good one until one crosses the line overeating.

There are other buffets that have nothing to do with food.  There exist in our opulent society, many choices about many things.  Shopping malls host a vast smorgasbord of choices for clothing, jewelry, and electronics.  We are given enticements through discounts, buyer rewards, and sales.  There are even social buffets.

We live in a culture where every single day we are offered a bounty of things over which we can choose to be offended.  To see this clearly is to recognize that being offended is a choice.  Like every response, we may train our brains to be automatically angered or offended by something but it is still a choice.  That we choose often enough for it to become a reflex is always on us.

If we survey the bounty of offenses available in our culture, there is something for every faith, ideology, passion, and political position.  We can find something to offend us for every meal or mood.  We have become a society of the perpetually offended.  The difficulty is that we are never meant to dine at this buffet.  We are supposed to be people who are forgiving, loving, and merciful.

If we dine on offenses, we become angry, bitter, and hard.  When we are guided by our offenses, we must constantly feed them.  It is my obligation not to feed on anger or offense.  It is my duty to filter everything that comes at me through the love of Christ.  Even if something is offensive on the face of it, we are not obligated to take up the offense.  I must choose to avoid being offended as often as possible.  I must not visit the buffet of offenses offered daily but, rather, I must focus on being kind and loving with equal measure for everyone.


I can stand against injustice, prejudice, and hatred without being angry or hating.  I can offer a healthy diet of love, generosity, kindness, and grace to anyone who will dine with me.  I can offer samples of these things to entice others to feed on that which gives life by being lovingly unoffendable.  I can choose to ignore the Liturgy of the Common Man that entices me to feast on offense and instead take a seat at the bounty of love and grace.  You are always welcome to dine with me here Dear Reader.


Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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