What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Francistide at St Mary’s

    Today is St Francis’s Day – love and blessings to all Franciscans out there and a special thanksgiving for the ministry of the new Pope.

    Last year I was in St Francis’s own city – not Assisi, but San Francisco and was blessing animals on the labyrinth of Grace Cathedral with Gene Robinson. (No, really, there’s a lovely macaw out there somewhere who can tell you it is all true).

    The focus at St Mary’s this year for Francistide is tomorrow (Saturday).

    We’ve an animal blessing service at 11 am tomorrow. All pets and their humans are welcome.

    Then in the afternoon, we’ve got a Choir Concert – free entry, donations at the end. This will include a performance of Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo starring the Young Church as the animals.

    They’ve been working on this, I gather:

    noah

7 responses to “The Antisemitism Notice”

  1. Gordon Avatar
    Gordon

    Helpful, thank you

    What is the concern with the reproaches? I’m not familiar with them

    Reply
    1. Kelvin Avatar
      Kelvin

      They can be interpreted as being directed at us the listeners. But they can also be interpreted as speaking to Jewish people as all the imagery is from the Hebrew Scriptures and doesn’t reference the experience of those who actually were around Jesus during his life on earth.

      For example:
      “I led you out of Egypt, having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea:
      and you have delivered me to the chief priests.”

      Who is being addressed here?

      Reply
      1. Nick Drew Avatar
        Nick Drew

        That’s interesting, because whenever I have sung the Reproaches I have always felt them as being expressions of personal repentance rather than accusations thrown at the listener.

        Reply
  2. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    I must admit I had always read the Reproaches as directed to the listener. That the Egypt from which we are delivered is the Egypt of the modern world, the slavery of ghastly jobs (I’ve had a few, in fact a lot) and the oppression of terrible political systems. But I come from a totally different thought world to that of most people today, and I absolutely see they wouldn’t commonly be read that way.
    But I think it would benefit everyone to find a way of expressing BOTH what faith can offer in terms of freedom AND the mess we do make of the world, and sitting with that tension.
    And I think the church as a whole urgently needs to find a compelling and deep reaching way of doing both.

    Reply
    1. Kelvin Avatar
      Kelvin

      You might be interested that we’re looking at Isaiah 59 as a helpful text for this year, given the current ways of the world.

      Reply
    2. Christine McIntosh Avatar
      Christine McIntosh

      I’m of much the same mind. (A mind that is still blown away when I hear them sung)

      Reply
  3. Dan Floyd Avatar
    Dan Floyd

    Thank you

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Quiet Days book review

    Creative Ideas for Quiet Days by Sue Pickering – from Canterbury Press – £14.99 Many folk in churches are picking up on the idea of a day retreat or quiet day. These are particularly popular during Advent and Lent. It is common for retreat houses and religious communities to offer to organise and host such…

  • Blogging

    Just watched a fascinating documentary on political blogging in America. I’m not sure whether precisely that kind of blogging will work over here. I tend to the presumption that people are generally turned off by negative campaigning here, but who knows? The internet changes everything. Within the controversies of the church, there are blogs with…

  • Quick Links

    Kimberly and the congregation(s?) overseas are blogging at http://wonderfulexchange.wordpress.com Mother Ruth has become part of the madness at Madpriest’s blog. They seem to have been sitting around twigs at the St Andrew’s clergy conference. (One day someone will do a PhD on the influence of IKEA on Christian worship). St Saviour’s has a new priest.…

  • At the risk of saying something political…

    At the risk of saying something political, two cheers for the Union. 300 years of peace between two traditional enemies is no small feat, however much people on either side of the border might carp and moan from time to time. The heather is always greener on the other side of the Tweed, as the…