THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday May Religion- IWedding customs cause chaos By JIM RYAN Sixth Sunday of Easter John 15 Mayl A Love S lory My cousin is getting married a month He called me a week ago to ask if Id propose a toast to his mother and father at the recep tion Sounds easy right Wrong Driving through the wedding customs of today is about as ficult as steenng your craft through the clashing rocks of Scylla and Charybdis wedding customs seem ageless though actually less than a hundred years old are out of touch with the reality of to day marriages How do you toast a mother and father when they been separated for era years And as you probably know separations aren always amicable Sometimes they bordercn the psychotic My cousin s mother my aunt called me yesterday to try to sort out the matter Her solution to abandon the tradition your cousin talk about Religion and Reality by Jim Ryan him Don mention us It too embarrassing No more than that it s just too painful I don want people looking at me my reactions Since I can t toast my cousin s Mom and Dad in public at the wedding I II do it here in the privacy of this column This is a love story This kind of love is called slorge by the Greeks parent child love Unconventional Love This is not your conventional love story My cousin was adopted He had been in several foster hornet He d been abused there were cigarette burns on his body dirt was caked in the folds of his Art reflecting reality By REV Lutheran Church Georgetown An interesting coincidence of art reflecting reality occurred in the last few Weeks On the same day this newspaper reported the police raid on the Adults Only Video store there was an in episide of Night Court on TV This episode seem ed to reflect well my own feelings about how to respond to filth obscenity at any level and enter tainment that is more degrading than anything else The episode centered around a comic noted for being crude in suiting and degrading toward women and minorities being charged with obscenity While posing some interesting twists as to who should defend tlus man and who would prosecute him it was more interesting as to the method Judge Harry Stone used to deal with the issue His desire was not to prosecute because that could be used by this sick comic as publicity which would increase his following Yet the judge also wanted to convey the idea that this man and his material was not to be tolerated Through a specially arranged performance the true nature of this brand of comedy was brought into the light both literally and figuratively Almost all of the characters thus realized that it appealed to the worst parts of our nature It would be very nice to expose the whole range of pornography erotica and even some of the more accepted material being shown on TV in a similar way Regardless of how permissive our courts or public censors have become all of the material found at Adults Only Video and a lot of what can be found at any other video store in town should draw the same response from us the consumer Rather than label it in a way to make it seem somewhat okay we should realize that this type of art only degrades in suits and pollutes a precious gift from God Most of us appear to be very worried about pollution of our physical environment but pay no attention to how we have polluted our moral environment or allow ed others to do so But where does the clean up begin and how It has been the desire of the clergy not to raise a storm of protest over this issue since that would generate more sales for this undesirable business Much bet ter would be that those who have been patrons of this material realize how much better their lives would be without it That is the clergy of Georgetown would like to see this video store and the material like it in other stores disappear because of lack of interest But we also know that such will not happen unless the people have a change of heart or those who have had a change of heart in fluence others Turn on the lights and see how foul this really is and dispose of it properly This is the verdict Light has come into the world but men lov darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God John 3 wrists and legs he screamed constantly and banged his head against the wall He wasn t a lovable child He still bears some of the scars of that past his hands break out In punful eczema and he sometimes thinks he s But he come a long way And it s because of his Mom and Dad It s as simple as that They loved him It easy I am their witness I lived with them for over ten years when my cousin was growing up But they learned to do it My aunt tells this story My cousin had only been with them a year My aunt had tried very hard but he rejected her again and again He still screamed he still banged his head on the wall He wasn t a conventional lovable child The breaking point came for her when she realized that she hated him It happened in the bithroom her epiphany She lo in the mirror and saw the truth She d tried so hard had been rejected by this three year old so often that she hated him That was the point of crisis It was also the watershed the point of resolution Don t ask me how it happened I don t know But from that mo ment of honesty and revelation she and my cousin moved into a relationship based on love Meaning My aunt was now moved out of the conventional role of motherhood She stopped being the conventional mother caring for the conventional child and became herself loving her child One of our customs whether in parental or marital love is to idealize love We make it too tidy too clean and neat How can it be like that We know that our lives like that our lives messy and untidy My aunt learned about love through her adopted son She also learned a lot about herself We should do as Well This is my toast to my aunt and uncle News Love must be enfleshed doesn exist in the air or in space II lakes on flesh And cording to John anyone who claims to love God had better struggle love heir neighbor RENOVATION CLEARANCE SALE InStock Items CRAFT SHOP 11 MAIN STREET SOUTH ACTON 8533949 SAVE CALL FOR FREE ESTIMATES SUPPORT YOUR HOME TEAM ON HEATING AIR CONDITIONING COSTS ORDER LowE Insulating Glass With Triple Seal CasementAwning Windows Receive FREE Argon Gas Offer Valid Until May 31 ENTERPRISES CHURCH DIRECTORY ir local merchants try their best every day to provide quality merchandise and services at the lowest possible prices These merchants deserve our support and our business Sup port your home team and every one here will be a winner Keep the dollars you spend in HALTON HILLS DENOMINATIONAL PENTECOSTAL ALL PEOPLES CHURCH DELIVERANCE CENTRE 41 Blvd Corner Bible Study Worship Deliverance Sunday 10 30 a m 7 Wednesday 8 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