What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Teaching for the Diocese

    Oh, what a jolly afternoon yesterday, teaching a development session for folks from the diocese on how to use WordPress in general and the new Scottish Episcopal web template in particular. I’m not sure what it was that made me agree to the foolishness of such a teaching session on my first day back from holiday – must have been the difficulty of several diaries needing to play off one another. However, I’m glad that I did it. I’ve not been in a computer lab for years and there was something rather fun about doing it. My best moment for the afternoon was getting people to learn how to use drop-down menus in less than five minutes and see their faces light up with joy.

    The whole thing was very typical of the Scottish Episcopal Church, of course. I suspect that there are not many people in the Anglican world who run a Cathedral who would find themselves teaching webskills on a Monday afternoon to folk from the diocese. I actually like the fact that our church is a bit like that. Our church being like that makes for a very varied life and rewards the generalist who has a bit of skill in a lot of things rather than the specialist who is good only for a narrow range of skills.

    I was very interested that the gender balance of the group was 10 to 1 in favour of women. I don’t know what conclusion to draw from this. Could it be for any of these reasons:

    • Women do communication and men don’t
    • Women think communication is important and men don’t
    • Women are more ready to admit they don’t know something and go for training whilst men presume
    • Men are more likely to tinker and get something going themselves
    • Communication isn’t regarded as important and unimportant things are “women’s work”
    • Women are communication positive, men are information positive
    • Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus

    Anyway, I’m very grateful to all those who were there. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and I got a lot out of it myself. Just like when I did the pilgrimage days in the Cathedral a few months ago, I find myself realising how much I enjoy teaching – something I would never have guessed about myself when I was younger.

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3 responses to “Power needs to be baptised by love”

  1. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    A very good and thought-provoking sermon. I’ve always thought of the Ethiopian eunuch as a man of great power and authority, and of great learning and devotion too, which points me to your third interpretation. But what startles me about the story – partly because of my thinking of the eunuch as someone of great power and authority compared to Philip, and partly because of a tendency on my part to be dogma-bound – is the sheer simplicity of how Philip welcomes him into the Church.

    There is no complicated initiation process. There are no doctrinal tests. The eunuch sees water, and asks Philip in a businesslike way if there’s any reason why he shouldn’t be baptised. Philip’s answer couldn’t be more direct and straightforward: “If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptised.” And the eunuch’s response couldn’t be more direct and straightforward either: no lengthy creed, no question and answer interrogation, but simply, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

    No doubt the eunuch continued his studies after his baptism, being that sort of man. But in a complicated world and (sometimes) a complicated Church I often turn to this passage for reassurance that it needn’t always be so.

    Reply
    1. Father Ron Smith Avatar
      Father Ron Smith

      Thank you, Father Kelvin. What a lovely and refreshing new insight into the identity and provenance of the ethiopian Eunuch! Philip’s acceptance and Baptism of the Eunuch reflects the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 19:122, where he speaks of 3 types of eunuch; made so by others (the Ethiopian, castrati); those who become so for the sake of the Kingdom (monks, nuns, celibate clergy);
      and then, of course; those so ‘from their mother’s womb’ (intrinsic Gays).

      Reply
  2. Aleks Avatar
    Aleks

    Really profound. You’ve given me a lot to think about.

    Reply

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