In Leonard Sweet's new book he conveys this little story:
"a distinguished older gentleman rose rather decorously. I later found out everyone knew him as a respected medical doctor who was the head deacon in the church that hosted the event. His comment was in perfect English. When the wind blows through the church, he noted, and the church is narrow, it makes a weird sound. From his view, the narrower the church gets and the stronger the wind blows, the more the church can be heard fighting the Spirit, and the sound the church makes when it’s fighting the Spirit sounds like the church is farting. He then sat down."
In all the work that we do in the Church to define with great specificity what we believe (and what we don't), what is orthodox (and what is not), what differentiates the denominations, dividing over LGBT issues, and drawing lines of who is in and who is out - could this all just be an exercise of narrowing the Church. And as the Church narrows, the stronger the wind blows. And the stronger the wind blows the louder the, um, noise?
