What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Go! England and Wales! Go! Go! Go!

    It is a big day for those working towards more equal marriage law in the UK today. The second reading of the Bill which would allow gay couples to wed in England and Wales.

    I’ve been in touch with Ann McKechin my local MP to check she is supporting it and am delighted to report she is.

    And this isn’t a simple West Lothian question either – I’m one of her constituents. If I wanted to marry someone from Englandshire I might well want to get married there.

    Indeed, I might want to get married in a parish church there.

    But we will come to that later.

    ,

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

  • Epiphany Sermon – 2 January 2005

    Last week, I stood up in church to read the gospel, just before the Children presented us with their nativity play. For once, I felt that the Lectionary had let me down. The Young Church members were crowded into the front rows of the church dressed as shepherd, sheep or king or whatever ? ready…

  • The Usual Resolutions

    1 – Become young and skinny 2 – Become Prime Minister 3 – Double the congregation

  • What I've been reading

    Just finished The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst's Booker winner. He does have a capacity to capture with such wistful longing, situations which seem so unattractive in the cold light of day. The mark of a true stylist, I suppose.Well, that having been completed over the last couple of days, I guess that I had better turn…

  • Singing Detective

    I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the rerun of the Singing Detective on BBC4 this week. I’ve never seen it before – either I didn’t have a television when it was first on or I was not interested then. Last 2 episodes tonight.