What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • The Christian Year and Social Media

    I do love the way that the Christian Year is becoming more important to Christians because of social media.

    When I check my facebook and twitter feeds in a morning I can be pretty sure that there will be something there which relates to what season or more likely what day we have got to in the cycle of faith.

    Today for example, I checked my facebook feed and found a lovely description of St Margaret of Scotland posted by Kirstin Freeman.

    Today is St Margaret’s Feast Day and I can remember a time when most people simply wouldn’t participate in such a festival. Now, if you follow a few Christian bloggers and social media mavens you get little reminders of the heros of faith – comment and pictures and all kinds of good things just arriving before your eyes.

    Passive learning is a big feature of the new knowledge economy. I find it odd that lots of people in the church still don’t get it and still think that learning is about people coming to hear them spout. It can be far more dynamic and far more interesting, even if spouting is still part of what the church has to offer.

3 responses to “Thuribles of the week”

  1. Stewart Avatar
    Stewart

    The comments by JN1034 are very interesting especially considering the practice I observed in Hong Kong – see http://bonnyton.fotopic.net/p39681149.html

    Reply
  2. JN1034 Avatar
    JN1034

    V Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, dear sibling in Christ: Thank you for bestowing upon us your esteemed Theological Thurible Award, albeit we’re far from worthy. Though we’re overcome by surprise of your kindness and gratitude, we hope that which we caused you to ponder are good things, all to the glory of the Triune One and of God’s gods. Considering that censing is a multi-millennia-old religious convention, we’ve a deep appreciation of thuribles in our shared traditions, and for their practical mystical expressions in the daily lives of the faithful. Censing marks our homes and families, our weeks and years, our lives and hearts, our Church and God. Censing is a constant element of our histories imprinting a sensual memory of the life of the whole incarnate Church, both at home and in our parishes. When we smell it in our local parishes, our olfactory senses read the aroma as homemade; everything connects; nothing in our world seems detached from God and from us; we transcend spacetime and the universe is one at that fragrant ephemeral instant. And if we smell incense in another’s home, or at a different parish, it all comes together as an unified moment, and we are home wherever we are. We pray God continues to bless you with grace and mercy as you lead your community at St Mary’s Cathedral. Remember us in your prayers. Yours in the shared service of Christ our Lord, JN1034+++

    Reply
  3. Kirstin Avatar
    Kirstin

    Angels and thuribles, that reminds me, I have a rescue to plan. I wonder if my daughter left any camouflage paint!

    Reply

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