What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Egrets? I’ve had a few

    image

    A few years ago something happened that set all the birdwatchers in the UK atwitter. A snowy egret blew in on an ill wind and landed on the island of Seil. I happened to be there at the time and saw it in the flesh. It looked more than a little lost and was probably wondering who turned the sun off.

    Recently I found myself on a beach in the Gulf of Mexico and lo, a snowy egret swooped in and landed right next to me just as I had my camera in my hand. That’s it in the pic above, looking a good deal more perky than its cousin who made it to Argyll.

    Proof that I’ve not spent every single day of the last few weeks chasing around the cathedrals, big churches and cool Episcopalians in North America.

    Almost, but not quite.

    Of which more 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

  • Sermon – 11 July 2004

    It seems difficult, at first glance, to see how anyone can preach anything worth saying about the story of the Good Samaritan. It does not seem to matter how often Jesus?s words are repeated, they lose none of their power. The problem for the preacher is what to say. For this is o­ne of those…

  • Tie a yellow ribbon

    I cannot find my ECUSA Hymnal ie the hymn book that they use in the States. I’ve been through my bookshelves twice, but cannot find it. I wonder whether I have loaned it to someone. In the course of looking for it, I did discover my American BCP and the two psalters, Anglican Chant and…

  • Archers

    “You can't marry him Emma, we've got to tell him what happened, and if you won't tell him, I will.”Oh for goodness sake! As if life were not hard enough for the world without another love triangle and disrupted wedding in the Archers. Who ever thought of a radio soap opera anyway – it will…

  • Viruses

    My internet supplier is warning me repeatedly today of attempts to send me e-mails containing viruses. I normally just delete these as a nuisance and ignore then, but I did notice that the e-mails in question apparently eminate from someone with an ednet account. Now, I don’t know many people with ednet internet accounts, but…