New Blog Address

Goodbye Blogger.

Hello Wordpress.

New address: The Occasional Opinion

Francis Marie Lyon 1929-2007

Attending a memorial service (funerals to some) ranks low on my list of joyful and fun events. Yesterday I went to the funeral of a dear elderly sister expecting the usual sad and depressing ceremony that so often seems to bring more sadness into the lives of the family than encouragement. Much to my surprise what I experienced was a wonderful celebration of the life of this Christian woman.

The event was a farewell party for a loving woman who had dedicated her life to follow Jesus through the rich as well as the lean years, and her family had no doubts where she would spend eternity. What a great testimony this woman has left for her immediate family, church family, and friends throughout the community.

She will be missed by all, but she is in a far better place.

Blog Dread

If this page appears as a total mess it's because I finally decided it was time to make the change from the old Blogger and switch to the New Blogger. For some time I have been dreading this, now I know the fear was justified; for something lauded as quick and easy...NOT!

Why can't someone develop a change-over that includes the tweaks, etc. from the old template, so a person can just hit the NEW BUTTON and everything dances along happily and orderly in the right direction? As soon as I get use to this new system, Google will change to something even EASIER, so once more I can start from scratch.

I Like the Church of Christ

Usually I post about things happening in the church that I don't agree with, and while I don't believe wondering openly about matters affecting the church is inappropriate, it may be time to present some things I believe are generally positive about the Church of Christ (well, most of them):

• ITS INDEPENDENT STANCE that refuses to tolerate any hierarchical church governments that issue laws and regulations seeking to conform the local churches to meet their personal scriptural interpretation. Since each COC is autonomous, it is not as likely to become corrupted by other churches.

• THE NAME, CHURCH OF CHRIST, certainly portrays the fact that we are the church, and we belong to Christ. Many churches have concocted names that often reveal what they believe, or what someone else calls them, but have little meaning in designating them as Christians. I prefer something as simple as, the church that meets at _______; the Lords church at ______; or something simple and meaningful without the usual ostentatious verbiage. At any rate the Church of Christ is a great name in my book.

• ITS SIMPLE ORGANIZATION utilizing elders and deacons instead of being governed by committee, or hierarchy, fits my understanding of the scriptures. Some in the COC have seen this as archaic, and went on to what they believe are newer and better means of leadership, but many of us old die-hards still hold to the elder/deacon approach. I know of one large COC that has elders, but no deacons. They rely on committees to run just about everything, but at least there are elders making the final decisions...hopefully!

There are many great reasons to claim the Church of Christ as my choice, but for now I'm basically comfortable with it's approach to following Jesus, and feel at home within its environs (probably because it's the only church I have ever known.) There are now so many different variations in the COC that it's almost impossible to generalize any specific COC belief, but warts and all, I still like it...