During Lent, members of the clergy at St Mary’s are giving addresses at Choral Evensong on the theme “If I had just one more sermon to preach…”
Here’s mine:
In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
If I had just one more sermon to preach, I’d tell people that God loved them.
The truth is, (more…)
A friend of mine, blogging about Remembrance, remembered that: “[t]he Lancet estimated that over one million people were killed in our invasion of Iraq” (http://www.2ndcouncilhouse.co.uk/blog/2013/12/05/their-blood-runs-red/). There is no link between progressive values and the UK. We hide or deny our state sponsored genocide and torture, as British imperialism has always done. The Amritsar Massacre was not an anomaly but our modus operandi (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/23/british-empire-crimes-ignore-atrocities). Our much-vaunted kindness to animals, surely the most heart-warming of ‘British’ values, along with our famous fairness, is not compromised by fox-hunting rather, as we torture animals to death in every university it is seen for the sentimentality that it is. Those of us who are not naive to the real motivation of this animal torture (exactly the same as the human torture) know that ‘getting in-vivo experience on my CV’ (as a friend of mine put it) is attractive to those who seek the material gain and prestige accompanying advancement in Academia. The eventual aid to humans of a tiny proportion of this sadistically inflicted pain is convenient – and keeps the funding flowing. All these values we can wrap up in the Union Jack. And then set it on fire. when these values can no longer be associated with that flag and when the explicitly anti-RC Act of Settlement is repealed and when liberal clergy have successfully railed against the sectarian marches (http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/orange-order-and-glasgow-council-at-war-over-marches.20248665) so that citizens and visitors can walk down (and across) the streets of our cities any tine they like wearing any colours they like, then AND ONLY THEN is it the time to talk about forcing parents and guardians to pay a premium if the values they want their children to be educated in differ from those of the British state.
It is often noted that the Scottish Episcopal Church is very much in favour of the Anglican Communion. What is noted in public slightly less often but which is no less important to remember, is that it is not in favour of the Anglican Communion at any cost. Our dismissal of the Anglican Covenant showed…
It has been announced that some of the Red Road Flats will be blown up during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games. I think it is in pretty poor taste. Notwithstanding the fact that people like to watch the spectacle of tower blocks being brought down there is something about making this the focus…
I was prompted by someone yesterday on facebook to outline some of the things that I learned about churches and particular something about church growth that I learned whilst on sabbatical in North America. I came up with a quick list and thought that I would share it here too in a slightly expanded form.…
One of the consequences of decisions being made in different jurisdictions which don’t align with other geographical entities is that you end up with what we tend to call in the UK a postcode lottery. The most frequent use of the term is in describing a situation whereby someone can get treatment for a medical…
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