What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Bible Study – Turning Over a New Fig Leaf

    We had a good bible study last night at the LGBT group here at St Mary’s. I thought I’d post the basic questions here and see whether people wanted to have a go at answering them here too.

    First of all we read most of Genesis Chapter 2. (You can find the text at the Oremus Bible Browser)

    Then we had a go at these questions

    • What strikes you about the text?
    • Does the text tell us more about how people think about God or about how God thinks about us? Why?
    • What different patters of partnership can you think of from the Bible?

    And then we had a look at this picture (Willem Vrelant, 1460s illuminator Flemish, died 1481—Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.)

    Adam and Eve

    And tried to answer these questions:

    • What strikes you about the picture?
    • What influence does this story have on you today?

    I’d be interested to hear any responses on here. (Why can’t we do bible study on a blog post?)

    And here is an extra question for those answering today:

    • What difference do you think it might make studying the story of Adam and Eve in an LGBT group to any other group?

    Don’t be shy…

    , , ,

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

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