What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Pride Meeting Point – A Correction

    6630575919_77b0a72d1b_z
    This coming Saturday there will be a Pride march in Glasgow. There will be a gathering of Scottish Episcopalians (and friends) marching together in glad array.

    Last week I announced that we would meet at the southern end of the Wiggly Bridge (which is the Tradeston Pedestrian Bridge), which is not the Squinty Bridge (which is in fact the Clyde Arc).

    However, it has since been pointed out to me that there is no Wiggly Bridge (which is the Tradeston Pedestrian Bridge) in Glasgow. The bridge that we will meet by is the Squiggly Bridge and it is in fact called the Tradeston Bridge, not the Tradeston Pedestrian Bridge.

    We will continue not to meet anywhere near the Squinty Bridge.

    Is that clear?

    The muster time is 0915.

    [Photo from David Brossard – (c) Creative Commons – Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic]

    ,

4 responses to “Politics of Pilgrimage”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    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!

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Holy Water Taps
    Perhaps the water becomes holy when it is applied by the believer to the cat.

    Reply
  3. Joan Avatar
    Joan

    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.

    Reply
  4. Avatar
    Anonymous

    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.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Previous Posts

  • Dolls – National Theatre of Scotland

    To the Tramway last night for Dolls a production from the National Theatre of Scotland. It is perhaps singularly appropriate that a production adapted for the stage from a film turns into such a mixed media event as this. Not so much a play as a ballet with a few words. Not so much a…

  • The Love for Three Oranges – RSAMD

    The Love for Three Oranges is the strangest of works. Surreal in fact. So what could be more natural than a staging which took is visual reference points from surreal and pop art. Dali, Magritte, Duchamp and Warhol were all referenced in this wittily directed production. Indeed, it was a very visual production in which…

  • What are you listening to?

    Oh, thank you for asking. Its been a while since you did. (Just for your information, I’ve now stopped listening every day to the recording of me on Radio 4  – we all have to move on sooner or later). Right at this minute, I’m listening to Prokofiev 6 but simultaneously thinking about the brilliant…