Here are the Good Friday addresses which I preached with the Rev Cedric Blakey today.
4 responses to “Politics of Pilgrimage”
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Living in Ireland – at one time not too far from Knock – it always astonished me when driving through the village how those who had just visited the shrine seemed to think that it had made them invincible! They’d wander into the middle of the road and totally ignore the traffic streaming around them!
A bottle of Knock holy water in the shape of Our Lady sits behind me as I type – next to a similar one from Lourdes and a knitted Orangeman bedecked with a collarette proclaiming him a member of LOL 1, Portadown! The juxtaposition is deliberate! (I wonder if + David has one on his shelves from the "support Drumcree" shop?!)
Which leads to the question "How do holy water taps work?" – theologically, that is! What is blessed to make it holy? Is it the reservoir (but that is constantly replenished and so eventually, after being diluted for a long time, the water becomes "unholy". Is it the tap itself and the water is sanctified by passing through it?
Discuss!
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Holy Water Taps
Perhaps the water becomes holy when it is applied by the believer to the cat. -
Holy water and questions about pilgrimage
Hmmm, yes I can see the dilemma…I guess the female ordaindees (not a word really, apologies for my attack on the English language) are excluded – though would it be possible to construct a small al fresco altar and hold a ceremony of your own? Pilgrimage places become so because people believe something, not just the ecclesiastical hierarchy, I think? If we don’t go then it is like saying ‘ok, you have that site of devotion then’. (Yikes I sound so serious, which I am, but I really do mean my statements to come out as questions…not commands.)
As to the cat, holy water, and the believer – maybe all the water is holy and we just think we play a role in making it so? Alternatively, maybe the cat is the believer and the water is transformed through a great mysterious purr.
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The Cat in Question
As for the cat in question, she is not a believer as such. Rather, she thinks that she is the only proper object of veneration.
Previous Posts
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Glasgow & Galloway and the Anglican Covenant
People keep asking me about how this diocese dealt with the Anglican Covenant and whether or not we passed it. Well, we were very faithful to the current processes of the church and engaged in quite a thorough consultation session at the diocesan synod on Saturday. I had quite a lot of input into how…
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On the STV couch
I was on STV’s Scotland Tonight this evening being interviewed by John Mackay. It was an enjoyable interview and gave me the chance to say that Christianity is about compassion and love, something that is sometimes in danger of being drowned out by the loud shrill antigay voices of the usual suspects. Today it was…
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Bishop’s Lent Appeal Video
This year’s Bishop’s Lent Appeal was launched on Saturday at the Diocesan Synod. This is the video that I produced featuring Bishop Gregor and Marion Chatterley to enable synod members to learn about the appeal.
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Sermon preached on 26 February 2012
Here's what I said on Sunday.
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