Sibboleth: To hell with symbols…: “Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the most portable person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.

That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”

I have to get acquainted with Flannery O’Connor.

I am presently avoiding writing a sermon; my mind doesn’t have enough energy to engage the issues – might have to be a ‘get-up-early-and-rely-on-the-adrenaline’ sort of sermon.

Had a lovely afternoon with a family from the parish that we are friendly with. One of those occasions when the question is ‘is this work?’ Of course, the answer is: clergy don’t ‘work’. We simply are.

Lots of blog posts rumbling around in the back of my mind, but haven’t had a chance to put anything up substantial:
– picking up on Neil’s comment about Sola Scriptura, and secularisation;
– a review of Daniel Quinn’s ‘Story of B’, which was very interesting, but seriously flawed in its understanding of faith (the mistakes are instructive);
– a bit more on ‘let us be human’;
– a sequence of posts called ‘Wrestling with George Herbert’ about clergy roles (expanding my throw away remark above);
– Why I love Wittgenstein;
– why I disapprove of the feast of Corpus Christi;
and one or two less well defined others.

And I thought I’d share this picture taken today. Apparently I look just like my dad.

I love this place.
I love this job.
I love my family.
I am a lucky man.

Thanks be to God.

Swing courtesy of Sam’s mum; assembled by Mrs Sam.

Preaching Peace: GW’s Theological Politics: “As Kierkegaard might remind us, There is an expression of Christianity that is not Christian. What does any of this new ideology have to do with Jesus? How can Jesus be exegeted out of the gospels as a capitalist, believer in a vengeful God, upholder of the status quo, all around good ol boy? Is this an authentic expression of the Jesus who is Lord of and in the church? Or, perhaps might we want to consider that Johannine metaphor ‘antichrist?'”