Sunday, November 14, 2004
In Cloaca, Indeed
This cracked me up, and I'm speaking as a former Lutheran.
Once when I was a kid, I was using one of the lavatory stalls in the basement of our Sunday-school building on a Sunday when I probably should've been upstairs recreating the Book of Genesis via felt-board, or whatever the project of the week was. The stall door didn't have a latch on it; as a result, the door kept swinging inwards, banging me on the knees, whereupon I'd kind of lean forward and attempt to close it again.
At some point, a group of three or four older boys came into the lavatory. They thought my plight was hilarious. Later that day, I complained to my mother that these older boys had been making fun of me. "No," she told me after the merest pause to collect her wits, "they weren't making fun of you. They were making fun of the door."
Whether or not this had anything to do with my adult conversion to Methodism, I can't say. Still, one has to admire Luther's willingness to speak publicly of his toilet's theological significance. And one needn't be too imaginative to draw a connection between Luther's chronic constipation and his belief in faith over deeds.
Once when I was a kid, I was using one of the lavatory stalls in the basement of our Sunday-school building on a Sunday when I probably should've been upstairs recreating the Book of Genesis via felt-board, or whatever the project of the week was. The stall door didn't have a latch on it; as a result, the door kept swinging inwards, banging me on the knees, whereupon I'd kind of lean forward and attempt to close it again.
At some point, a group of three or four older boys came into the lavatory. They thought my plight was hilarious. Later that day, I complained to my mother that these older boys had been making fun of me. "No," she told me after the merest pause to collect her wits, "they weren't making fun of you. They were making fun of the door."
Whether or not this had anything to do with my adult conversion to Methodism, I can't say. Still, one has to admire Luther's willingness to speak publicly of his toilet's theological significance. And one needn't be too imaginative to draw a connection between Luther's chronic constipation and his belief in faith over deeds.
