What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Postcard to Rowan

    Dear Rowan, wondered whether it had occurred to you that if you give an interview in one country, these days, it will probably be picked up in another country.

    Take this interview that you’ve given to the Telegraph this weekend. Did you have any regrets? Oh yes, not going to the USA to deal with the gay bishop thing sooner… etc

    Now, just a quick PR thought here. It might be a good idea to stop and think about what those comments might have sounded like on the other side of the pond. before making them. US Episcopalians are hardly going to take kindly to the idea that you could have come over and sorted them out sooner now, are they? Apart from anything else, so many of them thought they did the right thing in consecrating +Gene Robinson and even more of them thought they were entitled under their polity to make that decision, whether it was the right one or not.

    Dear, dear Rowan. You’ve made lots of statements like this in your time as Archbishop of Canterbury. They bewilder people because folk think you are wise and yet it looks so gauche.

    Please stop. Even in these last days.

    Enough already, as they say in some places.

    KELVIN

    ,

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

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