What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • 10 Correct Opinions About Christmas Carols

    Public service announcement.

    The following opinions are all correct.

    1. The first carol on Christmas Day should always be Christians Awake Salute the Happy Morn. It should be sung lustily and with the last line repeated.
    2. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night may be sung to almost any tune. It must not, however, be sung to the tune Winchester Old
      • Acceptable tunes shall include:
        • Liverpool
        • Glasgow
        • Lyngham
        • Old Foster
        • Sweet Chiming Christmas Bells
        • Cranbrook – This may only be used once in every decade in any one place. There’s a limit to how entertaining it is.
    3. The best carol of all is It Came Upon the Midnight Clear and it must be sung to the tune Noel by Arthur Sullivan. There are many things in which the US based Episcopal Church is correct but it is incorrect in its choice of tune for this carol. It may also be sung at Michaelmas. The incorrect words “It Came upon a midnight clear” are anathema. They have as much place in the Christian faith as Sundays before Advent or Sundays before Lent – ie none whatsoever.
    4. Jingle Bells is not a carol.
    5. The carol Of the Father’s Love Begotten may be sung at any time from Advent Sunday until the Feast of Candlemas. It must only be sung to the words agreed by Mr Frikki Walker and myself. The verse about seer and sybyl must always be included as it is both profound and reminds us all of Sybil Fawlty. I have every intention of broadcasting this carol unto the nation at the earliest opportunity so that everyone else may copy the St Mary’s version of the words.
    6. 10 points may be claimed for anyone spotting a heresy in any carol. A bonus of 50 points is awarded to anyone who can come up with a heresy-free version that people will enjoy singing.
      • Your starter for 10 is “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see” which sounds like Docetism to me.
    7. Anyone claiming that carols should be sung “in the original version” shall be required to sing Hark How All The Welkin Rings at the next carol service they are at and will then be required to explain to everyone at the door what a welkin is.
    8. In the Bleak Midwinter may be sung, even though Jesus probably was not born amidst snow. However, it may only be sung by a good choir singing the Harold Darke version.
    9. O Come All Ye Faithful is a Jacobite rallying call and is most proper for Scottish Episcopalians to sing.
    10. Christmas cake should be eaten with cheese and not marzipan and icing.

    Thank you for your attention.

4 responses to “Explaining Blogging”

  1. Freda Avatar
    Freda

    Blogging
    Enjoy the whole process and let people know your url.

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Blogging – pictures
    As someone who enjoys the pictorial side do not forget Kelvin’s Photoblog at http://photoblog.thurible.net/

    A picture can communicate a thousand words.

    Reply
  3. Bishop David Avatar
    Bishop David

    Blogging
    I think what I enjoy is way in which you gradually develop a sort of parallel/virtual universe – disconnected in space and time – and invite other people to step inside it.

    On the more serious side, you need to be very cautious about people and situations. I note that, quite properly, Kelvin’s blog tells us almost nothing about how things are going at the Cathedral!

    Reply
  4. Brannon Hancock Avatar
    Brannon Hancock

    more advice
    Sorry for the late contribution here, but I could not appreciate blog culture until I realized the following, which I think every blogger should heed.
    1) Don’t take blogging too seriously – it’s not journalism, it’s not memoir, it’s not an academic journal (etc), it’s not an easy way to get your writing “in print” – it’s somewhere between an online confessional and a digitally-mediated small group conversation, especially when viewed not just individually but in relation to other blogs. And…
    2) DON’T TAKE BLOGGING TOO SERIOUSLY – either what you write, what other people write, what you comment, what they comment or what anybody comments! It’s not legitimate, intricate discourse, it’s pub chat online. It’s BS-ing around the ping-pong table in somebody’s basement.
    That’s all I’ve got.

    Reply

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