What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Christmas Day Sermon 2012

    Many of you will be aware that I recently have returned from a big sabbatical trip to churches in Canada and the United States.

    I was there to learn and reflect and grow and I did that by making contact with the most interesting folk I could find in church life on the other side of the North Atlantic.

    Inevitably I spent quite a lot of time poking around churches over there and coming from this cathedral, I was interested in what cathedrals over there were up to.

    Which is how I found myself in the National Cathedral in Washington DC just a day or two after the American Election in November.

    It is a mighty building. Far bigger than we are but when I saw it, it was not looking its best. Still recovering from an earthquake which wobbled all its stonework, they have netting strung all across the nave to catch falling fragments. So you stand in this enormous church unable to look up and appreciate the great spaces.

    Unable to look up, instead I went down. For underneath the nave is a maze of twisty passages which lead (more…)

One response to “For the Bible Tells Me So”

  1. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    Personally, I’ve never had a problem with churches – my last church knew my son as a person and if anybody did have reservations they were not going to voice them about one of their own to one of their own – most members of the congregation were totally OK as one would expect.

    What I have occasionally had problems with: the occasional Christian saying something which made me yearn for a pick axe, like ‘but one day we will cure homosexuals’ (over my dead body do you cure my son of being himself. Take this literally for the good of your own health.)
    ‘Most of this congregation are wholly accepting of gay Christians. Of course I can see it is more difficult if it is your own child’. (Only different in so far as it is better, sonny)

    It should not be an issue. Except perhaps outside the church. I clean for a lovely elderly couple. Mrs is eagerly awaiting further news of my outfit for son’s civil union in the summer – she lives in terror of Mr saying something crashingly tactless. I wish I could say something to reassure her that I know Mr is just about as tactful as I am, and he is forgiven beforehand. No offence meant and none taken as ’twere.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Previous Posts

  • Conference yet again

    Yes, I know that you don’t want to hear any more about the conference. There is nothing more boring than people going on and on about a conference to people who were not at it. (SEC21, I am talking about you!) But indulge me a moment. This is what I have submitted to the Scottish…

  • Muddled links sorted

    I've sorted out the links in yesterday's post. They got mangled as I tried to enter them in a hurry. Both books recommended for anyone trying to understand what o­n earth is going o­n in the minds of those who tinker with liturgy.

  • New Book

    A treat. Richard Giles has another book out – Creating Uncommon Worship. It does for the liturgy what Re-pitching the Tent did for Church Buildings. It is deliciously caustic, wise and very funny and there are lots of pictures. Here is a taster (on whether or not to sing the Collect of the Day): “There…

  • Sunday's sermon

    In response to a comment by e-mail – no, the sermon posted o­n the website is not quite what I preached o­n Sunday. I had written it before going away o­n Thursday last week and before the Russian school atrocity.