Mrs Hnaef, reading the blogs over breakfast this morning, nearly spat out her organic FairTrade tea as she noticed a post on The Church Mouse blog. She gets on very well with the Archdruid, and was clearly very happy to see her getting coverage in a well-respected publication such as this, which I understand is read by a large proportion of the several dozen people Left Behind after the move to the Ordinariate. I assume she was happy. She didn't look happy. But she did immediately encourage me to "go out there and get yourself some media visibility, she's not the only one with a presence in this community, you know! If you're worth anything, you'll stand up and be counted ...", with a number of epithets that were troubling to me, some involving (somewhat ironically) comparisons with small rodents. Wanting always to do what seems best to my dearest - and valuing an easy life - I decided to embark on one of my successful and critically-acclaimed discussions on theology. But on what to theologise? What reflection should I seek? I looked for inspiration.
And, wonder of wonders, there it was, right in front of me, in the Morning Office: the second reading. Who, after an altercation with their dear wife, or a shin-kicking by their worship leader, has not been led to muse on the meaning of 1 Corinthians 11.2-16 (reproduced, of course, in the Authorised Version here)? Does this passage not tell us all we need to know about how churches - and other, less structured worship communities, of course - should conduct themselves? Spaul, as I believe he was known to his friends, has much to teach us about how we work together, who should do what, and other useful community-based instruction. And I, for one, take great comfort and instruction from that. In particular, I live by the very last verse, for I have no wish to be contentious. The Archdruid views contentiousness very poorly. Those who express thoughts - or are even suspected of thinking thoughts - which are lacking in contentiouslessness are gently encouraged - sometimes with metal toe-caps - to move from their state of contentiousnesslessness to a more holistic, tea-light- and pebble-centric view of the world. We, the Beaker Folk, live, in this verse at least, as Spaul clearly wished, and I am indebted to Mrs Hnaef for her loyalty and encouragement in helping me to express this important fact in a way that is both supportive and unchallenging, but still prophetic and enthusiastic, within the non-doctrinal belief system of the Beaker Folk behind and beneath our Great Leader, the Archdruid.
This post might have well be titled grovelling to the greater halves.
ReplyDeleteI understand that you live in terror of both Mrs Hnaef and Archdruid Eileen, but really!
You are entitled to your own thought and beliefs, no matter how contentious they might be - after all, you live in a country very proud of its freedoms (at the discretion of Europe of course).
We have even put the Human Rights act into law, where freedom of religion and freedom of expression are key core values - this should give you the courage to stand up for your rights.
It might be helpful to have some extra protection, Army surplus have some excellent body armour and helmets available, and your local sports store will have shin pads to protect against steel toe caps.