• The Past Tense

    Sometimes museums are terribly annoying. I found myself getting all worked up about this thurible.

    image

    Well, It wasn’t exactly the thurible that got me worked up but the card next to it.

    image

    The caption uses the past tense. “Censors were used…”

    Censors are used. It somehow felt so frustrating to look at an object that I could pick up and use in my daily work and which seemed to me to be in as good a state as when it was first made and yet see the caption speaking about the use as being something in the past.

    As I looked around the same gallery, all the references to anything liturgical were expressed in the same way:

    “Music was important in the Christian liturgy…”

    There’s no was about it.

4 responses to “Sermon preached for Lent 1, 2013”

  1. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    For what it is worth – the story behind the Pentateuch and Judges is probably not historic. In fact, the Hebrews were either always in that Land, or just kind-of sidled in, quite harmlessly. It was largely AFTER they had been themselves brutally treated in the Exile that they retold the story, bigging themselves up. But that is another sermon…

  2. Suz Cate Avatar
    Suz Cate

    Amen, amen, and AMEN!

  3. Pam Avatar
    Pam

    The congregation I am part of (and love being part of) is itself part of the possibly most conservative diocese in the Anglican sphere – the Sydney Anglicans. We follow a traditional pattern of worship, reciting either the Nicene or Apostles Creed each week and I do find great relevance in this form of worship. I long for changed attitudes in a number of areas but walking away from the people I’ve grown to love isn’t an option. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! 🙂

  4. AnnaMarie Hoos Avatar
    AnnaMarie Hoos

    I found very helpful the idea of “discovering the different, diverse, and bountiful ways in which we do believe the core doctrines that are shared by all those who count themselves as God’s beloved.” I hadn’t really thought of their being different ways of believing in doctrines before – even though I am constantly speaking up for different ways of acting/moving/leading in worship. I wonder where there is room (or if there is any use?) for talking about this more. Where, or who, would I ask “How do you believe in one God?” etc. — not to get at assent to the doctrine but at action flowing out of that belief. Hmm.

    Thanks for posting.

Leave a Reply

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

Previous Posts

  • Tell the PM

    The news is full this morning of the story that a prominent cleric has written to the government threatening to close adoption agencies if the government proceeds with its perverse idea that everyone in the UK should be treated equally. So, unless the government does what he wants, he will take actions which will cause…

  • Shoes again

    I somehow knew that the Brown Shoes topic would generate so many comments. Debate continues here: http://thurible.net/20070119/brown-shoes/

  • Sermon – Epiphany 3

    It is just about a year since I came here to meet the vestry for us to discern together whether I should offered the call to be the Provost here. A day had been arranged for a number of candidates to meet the vestry, to chat to the other clergy, to meet the office staff…

  • Brown Shoes

    I received the holy mysteries yesterday from someone who celebrated wearing brown shoes. The shoes in question were beautifully polished and the feet that they were on were of the most reverend quality, (the Most!) but it still bothers me 24 hours later. Time we rewrote the canon on clergy dress, I think. Tell me…