text: Thanks, Tom, but I read this essay as advice on how to adapt the Temple Priesthood Model to changing circumstances, when the model itself is the problem. There is no precedent in the gospels for large communities of people who "belong" by virtue of geography and "participate" by sitting through weekly services. That, in fact, is closer to the model Jesus is challenging us to replace, and he doesn't suggest we sit around and wait until the Temple Chief Priests can be convinced to let us have a say. That, in my opinion, is a new slant on an old failure model that leaves the Temple authorities in charge of our communities, precisely when the Temple is coming down all around us.
  
  Perhaps a better and more biblical model would be that of the so-called Temple Cleansing, where Jesus and his companions enter the Temple and beat people until they go away and let them take responsibility for their own faith and worship. Not a bad idea for Palm Sunday, now that I think of it.