Like anyone else, I often have many thoughts flying through my head at once. A lot of these are ideas, either ones that others have given me or that have come up with myself, that I have not yet been able to grok. Instead of keeping them my turbulent mind, I think it would benefit myself and others to keep track of ideas for consideration here.

A) Something I noticed this summer when I attended various Christian services is that they all seemed to have a heck of a lot less narration than UU services. I was reminded of it in a recent post by PeaceBang. So the question is, would dropping the narration in any way detract from UU services? I for one think our services would stand to benefit greatly in a number of ways by such reform. It seems the the service as a whole would feel less stilted and more coherent. And as PB noted: we already have printed orders of service.

B) I attended a panel discussion by rabbis from the three major Jewish movements (Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative) on women in Judaism. As anyone who is familiar with the differences between the three could imagine, it was quite a lively discussion! But one thing in particular stuck with me. The Orthodox rabbi spoke of how he loved his wife more than himself. When I was younger I always wanted to have just such a relationship, but as I’ve grown older I’ve thought of this as youthful naivete or a relic of an older generation. But here was a young man, probably no more than 15 years my senior, who was doing it. So is such love possible in this era, in this culture? I can see how it would be possible in a conservative subculture such as Orthodox Judaism, but is it possible for UUs?