What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • How did I do with last year’s predictions?

    Here’s a run down of how I did at last year’s predictions.

    • Good results for Nigel Farage following the English local elections in May. Terrible results for Conservative Party.

    Exactly what happened. YES

    • No progress towards the marriage of same-sex couples in the Church of England

    Exactly what happened. Indeed, I think things may have gone into reverse. YES

    • Turbulent year for WordPress, which powers about half of the internet.

    The year began with Automattic dramatically cutting its contribution to development leading to stagnation in development and much acrimony. Subsequently restored. Deep divisions remain about Gutenberg. I’m claiming this as a YES.

    • 2025 will be the hottest year on record.

    Final figures yet to be calibrated but all reports indicate that this, unfortunately is a YES.

    • No trade deal for UK with US. Increasing talk of re-aligning economy closer to EU.

    Well, there was a trade deal in May called the Economic Prosperity Deal but it doesn’t seem to much and some of the basics have already been reversed. I suppose I have to be honest and say I didn’t get this quite right so it is a NO. But…

    • Ceasefire in Russia-Ukraine war but no long term solution.

    Hard to assess this one. No long term solution, certainly. There have been a series of ceasefires proposed but none seems really to have been fully implemented. Partial YES.

    • “Assisted Dying” aka doctor assisted suicide becomes legal in at least one of the jurisdictions of the British Isles.

    I have to put this down as a  NO  as it completed its parliamentary journey in the Isle of Man but hasn’t received Royal Assent yet, so not technically legal.

    • Turbulent year for economy but stock market higher at end of year than beginning. (FTSE currently at 8,173)

    Stock market at 9,931 today and there was quite a lot of volatility in the first part of the year. So this one is a YES.

    • There will be fewer Commonwealth Realms (ie countries which share the monarchy) by the end of 2025 than there are now.

    This one is a NO though there has been significant progress in that direction in Jamaica and moves that way in Grenada.

    • Philip Mountstephen.

    Well, I was pushing Philip Mounstephen’s name as he appeared to be the only senior bishop in the C of E who actually believed the [absurd] position of the C of E bishops on same-sex relationships. But it is a NO – nothing significant to report.

     

    So – five and a half out of ten this year. Not as good as some years. A couple of near misses.

     

    ,

2 responses to “Advent and How Religion Works”

  1. Martha Underwood Avatar
    Martha Underwood

    In my Episcopal church, we observe all four Sundays of Advent and do not sing any Christmas carols until Christmas Eve services. One Christmas, when we had an interim priests, many church members asked if we could sing some Christmas carols during Advent and he said yes. I was not a happy camper. Our 1982 Hymnal has some wonderful Advent hymns.

    I used to be the Sunday school director and had always observed Advent in our Sunday school classes. When the parents wanted Children’s Chapel, I started thinking about quitting. I stayed, however, for five more months before stepping down. For several years another person did it. This year we had a new volunteer who was excited to teach Sunday school (it replaced the term Children’s Chapel). She refurbished the Sunday school class and the landing you come onto from downstairs before entering the hall to the Sunday school rooms. In the fall she had fall decorations up. The first Sunday of Advent, I went upstairs and low and behold, I saw in letters on the wall of the landing, “Hallelujah, Jesus is born.” My reaction was, “What happened to Advent? It is not Christmas yet!” I told my rector what I saw. although she prefers that Advent be observed in Sunday school as well as church, didn’t say anything to the teacher since we have a hard enough time getting people in our church to volunteer for children and teen’s Christian Education and she did not want to dampen the member’s enthusiasm by commenting on the lack of Advent. The children love going to Sunday school and their teacher and she loves them. That is what really matters. But in the back of my head, I still have to say, “What about Advent?”

    Reply
  2. Daniel Berry, NYC Avatar
    Daniel Berry, NYC

    Christmas is no substitute for Advent’s incomparable richness and the excitement of expectation its liturgical cycle ingeniously creates. As I’ve aged, I’ve dug deeper and deeper into Advent to find that I learn more from it every year. But it hasn’t much to do with Luke’s charming story about a baby in a stable. The message of Advent for me is to keep my household in order and to be watchful for the likelihood that the master will appear at a time and place I don’t expect. Meanwhile, jumping too quickly into Christmas strikes me as related to Bonhoeffer’s concept of cheap grace.

    Reply

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