Burning Thoughts

After the Rev. Cecil Myers concluded his evening sermon on the topic "You Can Start Right Over Now," the lights of Atlanta's Grace Methodist Church were dimmed. The choir sang softly, and members of the 1,200-strong congregation, each bearing a tightly folded scrap of paper, began to crowd the aisles. As each worshiper reached the altar, he dropped his twist of paper into one of a dozen burning urns; some knelt for a moment in prayer before returning to their pews.

Written down on the burning papers were the darkest thoughts, the most vexatious worries, the deepest hatreds that had come to the parishioners' minds during the service. As a way of starting the New Year right, Grace Methodist invites its congregation to "forget the past and face the future" by symbolically consigning hates and fears to the flaming urns. The unusual ceremony was introduced to Grace Methodist 15 years ago by Myers' predecessor, and in the past has been used by Methodist Youth Assemblies in Georgia.

Myers argues that thought burning has "tremendous psychological value." Last year a separated husband and wife went to the altar with their hatreds, and weeks later wrote Myers to say that they had been reunited as a "direct result" of the ceremony. The annual event is now so popular that worshipers from other churches attend Grace Methodist just to share in the thought burning. "The people line the aisles all the way to the outside doors waiting for their turn at the urns," Myers says. "You don't have to cajole them into coming." Last week it took an hour before all the bad thoughts were turned to ash.

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