What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Sermon preached on Trinity Sunday 2014

    The truth is, I’ve not preached on Trinity Sunday. I think I have preached on Trinity Sunday in my time at St Mary’s but certainly not many times and certainly not for a number of years.

    You see – I’ve been in charge of the preaching rota.

    But lo. Here I am having spent a couple of weeks off sick, now back to work. I’m grateful to colleagues for picking up various bits of work whilst I was indisposed.

    One of those bits of work that I had to ask someone else to pick up was devising the preaching rota….

    …and here I find myself – first Sunday back at work, preaching on the Holy Trinity.

    Am I fighting fit? Yes!

    Am I cowed by having to preach on the Trinity? Certainly not. (more…)

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

  • The Jury is Out

    Now, the question is this: if you were accused in court of doing some nefarious deed, would you want to see me on the jury bench? Well, that is not quite the question. The question is really whether or not you think that clergy should have an automatic right to be exempt from jury service…

  • West End meets Maryhill Road

    Don’t miss Layclerk’s story about what happened to him on the way to a choir party over the weekend. An excellent account of what happens when the West End meets Maryhill Road. Layclerk lives in what I think is called the Outer West End of the city. Once you’ve read his tale, head on over…

  • Morning Prayer, anyone?

    Remember the post I made about liturgical typography? It still gets plenty of readers. Even though it was a bit of a rant, it did spur me on to produce quite a lot of wee bookies for morning prayer, to make it easier for those coming for the Daily Office at 0930. It is a…

  • Still snuffling

    I’ve spent most of the last week snuffling. Many tissues have been expended, much lemsip has been consumed and all the while, I’ve not been moaning. “Do you have a man-cold?” I’ve been asked on more than on occassion. I’ve denied it so far. After all, I think it is far better to leave man-colds…