Modern Interpretations of old R&B Classics: Minnie the Scaramoucher

Folks here's the the story of Minnie the Scaramoucher.
He's a red hot... oh, he's gone.

Chorus:

Bye-de-bye-de-bye-de-bye...

Shepherds and Salespeople

Interesting article from Angela Tilby on the difference between the popular priests of fiction - in "Broken" and "Rev"  - as opposed to the missional model currently being promoted by the HTB style of bishop. I'm being a bit shorthandy and imprecise here, I realise, but I'm a busy archdruid and we've the entrails of a frozen chicken to inspect at Filling up of Beakers, so I'm not going to qualify everything I just wrote. Just assume I'm being a bit broad brush on the "HTB" and we'll be fine.

No longer a suitable candidate

Mind you, so is Angela Tilby. Maybe the reason the vicars in those programmes are so attractive is because that's what the writers want to make attractive. That's what fiction writers do. They write from a position, with an angle. They aren't presenting the world as it necessarily is. If the cafe church people are a bit queasy-making: is that what cafe church people are? Or is that simply because the writer wants us to feel sorry for Smallbone, in his vulnerability and general uselessness? And bear in mind that non-churchgoers tend to meet ministers in counselling / wedding / funeral situations, not when they're in a thought shower blue-sky-ing the latest missionary strategy.

Another recent Church Times article suggests that for churches to grow, you need leaders (if I can use that broad-brush term) who are risk-takers, strategists, and collaborative thinkers.

So if I were to be particularly vague and provocative - and why not, it's a social media world, after all - it appears the Church selects people who are introverted feelers; trains them in a way suitable for introverted thinkers; gets best results from extroverted thinkers; while Angela Tilby and today's TV viewers would like them to be a vulnerable mess with a strong suit in approachability and counselling.

Religious Ministers. Failing to be what people want since 30AD.

Sighs too Deep for Words

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 

And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:26-39)

Got stuck on the M1 yesterday. There was a crash between 13 and 14. Everything southbound was held up as they cleared the cars and debris from two lanes and got everything on the hard shoulder. Everything northbound was held up as people did so much rubbernecking, they brought the carriageway to a halt. All in all, everybody had an extra 40 minutes on their journey. I'll be honest. The feeling I had after half an hour that my life was at an end was a bit of an over-reaction. You know, despair is not designed for dealing with 40 minute delays. But we tend to do that, don't we?

Paul was writing out of a situation which we don't face. Sporadic persecutions, occasional legal - or illegal action that ended in the deaths of Christians. He's hunted from time to time, beaten with sticks, stoned. And not in a good way.

And yet he writes in this passage from Romans about God's closeness to us. And God's closeness in three different ways. But of course, God being triune, the three ways work constantly together.

First the Spirit. We don't all have fancy words for prayer. We can't all write collects for the Church of England for a living. And you know some people can pray for hours without ever getting much beyond "we just really want to say we loved you." And some are in such despair that all they can do is cry. But those who are Christians have the Spirit to do the praying with and for us. The Spirit searches our hearts - finds our deepest prayers - and takes them to the Father in prayers beyond our prayers.

Now this is really good news. After all, the Spirit inspired the Psalms. So the Spirit is really good at prayer. If what the Father needs to hear from you is a really well-crafted prayer, the Spirit can do that for you. If all you can manage are sobs, or silence, or tongues, the Spirit will wrap that into a tapestry of prayer for God - too profound for the human heart to utter. With sighs too deep for words.

And then Jesus, the Son of God. That Jesus who lived on earth for us. Who died for us. Who knows what it is to be a human - who carries our frailty, who inhabited our weaknesses. Who died and rose again.

That Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and sticks his oar in for us. He's not just up in heaven looking serene and counting angels. Which are countless anyway. So he'd be wasting his time. If time were even a thing in heaven. But I digress.

But if you're thinking God has deserted you - you're feeling a long way off - if you're thinking you've deserted God - Jesus is there for you. Not dragging you along like you're living out the famous tea towel, "Footprints." But saying to his Father - "yes, she's angry. But she's tired. Yes he's in a dark place. We need to be there with him. She's under pressure - she's suffering persecution or just being pressured or harassed or ridiculed for being part of God's family - she's being made in my image."

God can seem a long way off. For all of us, Christians, unbelievers or others - it's easy to assume we are just hopeless, lost. That things are meaningless. I loved Frankie Boyle's definition of us as a bunch of slightly evolved monkeys, clinging to a dying rock. Which is, after all, true. But deep in the image that God gave us, the image of Jesus into which we are constantly being renewed, we keep hearing whispers that that's not all we are.

Whatever we may think, whatever our perspective. Whether we're high on God's love or our own genius, or deep in a mental or spiritual hole, nothing can separate us from God's love. That jealous, anxious, worrying, forgiving, embracing, open love that forgives everything and hopes everything. Like a parent over a sickly child, or one waiting for their son or daughter to come home long after time - like the prodigal's father who looks from the window and runs to see his child - that's how the love of God is.

Paul writes from the point of view of a persecuted church, and he could think the world's against him and God has forgotten them. But instead he pushes on to share the Gospel, well aware that if you follow Jesus's path, it leads to a cross.

And he does it because he knows what the Spirit wants to bring to us, what Jesus enthroned at the side of Majesty constantly prays for, what the whole Trinity works together to give us:

Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Independent - Can we Really Trust it as a Source of Ultimate Truth?

Thanks to Mike Peatman, who has reminded me that there was a previous Independent article, by Lucy Pasha-Johnson, in which the truth of the Bible was doubted on the grounds that King Solomon's Mines have never been found.

King Solomon's Mines is a book by Rider Haggard.  Not a book of the Bible.  I can see how the Independent and its weirdly ahistorical researcher friends might get confused.

According to the Bible, Solomon was very rich. But according to the Independent's expert, "Successive generations of theologians and archaeologists have scoured the Holy Land looking for his capital city, palace, temple and wealth without any success."

Here's some clues. The capital city was Jerusalem. It's on the map and I believe you can even visit it. The temple was destroyed, and then rebuilt. It's under the Al Aqsa mosque - feel free to ask if you want to excavate it. His palace was made of cedar, so it's probably burned down or rotted by now. It was in the middle of a city that has been continuously rebuilt for 3,000 years, so good luck with the post holes. And his fabulous wealth? Apparently all the gold had been replaced with bronze, and that was even before the Babylonians destroyed the city and the temple and took away everything of wealth.

If you're looking for Solomon's wealth, it ain't in Israel. And if you're looking for King Solomon's Mines, they're not in the Bible.

If you want some sensible archaeology or biblical history, don't waste your time with the Independent.

The Independent: Wrong on a 3,000 Year Old News Story

I mean, goodness knows it's hard enough, with the lack of finance, for papers to get breaking stories right.

But hats off to Ian Johnston in the Independent, who's managed to get a 3,000 year old story wrong. Despite the story being clearly written down in a document called "The Book of Joshua".

According to the Independent, the Bible says that all the Canaanites were wiped out by the invading Hebrews. And the fact that people living today are descended from Canaanites proves the Bible wrong.

Except that's not what the Bible says. By the end of the Book of Joshua, despite all Joshua's genocide, the Gibeonites are still alive having conned the Hebrews. In Judges we discover Canaanites being subject to forced labour rather than slaughtered. The Jebusites apparently held onto Jerusalem until King David conquered it - and even then they were forced to serve, not annihilated.

So it appears the Canaanites hung about, even in the formed Canaan. But what makes the article less credible even than that, is that the DNA the investigators used to compare to modern Lebanese people was from remains uncovered in Sidon.

That's right. Sidon. The Phoenecian city. Now the Phoenicians may or may not have been Canaanites. But they certainly weren't living in an area where the Hebrews were slaughtering and taking over. And when Jesus goes to the "Land of Tyre and Sidon", he meets a Syrophonecian woman. Who is apparently completely unaware that, according to the Independent, her ancestors had all been wiped out and she doesn't exist.

I guess the moral of the story is this. " People living today descended from people living in the same place in the past" is interesting but not a big story. "Science proves Bible is Wrong" - now that's click bait.

50th Anniversary of the Decriminalization of Something We'd Rather Not Think About

Statement from the Druidical Synod

So obviously we're glad that 50 years ago something we'd rather not think about was decriminalized.

We're not going to dwell too much on the thing we'd rather not think about.

But, you know - we're all sinners aren't we?

Some moderately adjust their tax returns.

Some say words they regret. Rude words we won't repeat.

Others might slightly exceed the speed limit or maybe, let's face it, park where they shouldn't and hope they get out of the shop before the traffic warden notices they're on a double yellow

And some people do things we'd rather not think about.

And obviously it's good they're not illegal any more.

But we'd still rather not think about them.

We'll just randomly say 'sin' again. No reason.

Response from Beaker Mainstream

Obviously it's right that the thing we'd rather not think about is not illegal.

But in saying they're glad the thing we'd rather not think about is illegal, the Druidic Synod missed off a load of other things that aren't actually illegal but are definitely sins.

Sins. Sins. Sins.

There's a lot of sin about isn't there? If only the Druidic Synod had noticed.

I love saying "sin", don't you?

Sin.

In Parables #notgb17

I was thinking about that bit where Jesus tells his disciples the explanations to parables, but "the crowds" only get half a story.

And I realised for the first time (for I'm a little dim) that the two groups don't have a Donald Trump style wall between them. These groups aren't as Lazarus and Dives who have a gulf set between them. Rather, they're potentially dynamic. Someone wanting to know the second half doesn't need to sit in eternal darkness, wondering who the goats are or what darnel represents. They just have to move themselves from the outside to the inside group. Then they can have the explanation.

Which goes against 50+ years of Church making itself accessible by simplifying; of dumbing our theology to God as our dad and Jesus as our boyfriend. Of simple theology and burying mystery and hard stuff. Of floating paper hearts in paddling pools at All Souls when we should be considering the Fear of Israel and praying we are saved from the wrath to come. We can just put things in our own way, half-explained. And if people want to know more they can ask

To that end, this year's Beaker Folk stream at #notgb17 will be "Preach the Gospel. And don't worry if they don't understand it." The keynote speaker will be Drayton, who will be speaking on the hymn "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood." Vespers will be in the Syriac tradition. And in keeping with this conceal/reveal model of parables, people proving by their donations that they are true believers will receive an English translation.

Just giving page for #notgb17 in aid of Big Issue Foundation

The Vicars are Revolting

Gavin Ashenden, formerly one of 783 or so chaplains to the Queen, is threatening a "Vicar Rebellion" against assorted wrong things - according to the Telegraph.

But 23 clergy of some kind is hardly a "rebellion". That's more on the level of a minor upset at a chapter tea party. What's the collective term for a small number of upset clergy? A schismette?

Let's face it, Reverend G and his 22 friends ain't gonna 'hold the streets" in the worst clergy riots since the Popish Plot.

The article quotes the Revd Dr Sanlon of Tunbridge Wells. It doesn't say he is "disgusted". But I bet he is.

Still, I'm now anxiously awaiting them to drive some tanks in appropriate liturgical colours on Synod.

"What do we want?"

"Traditional Biblical sexual morality."

"When do we want it?"

"1523."

Leaning Into God

Today's Big Topic in the Moot House: "Leaning into God - What does it mean if we fall over?"

Leaks in the Church

A Folkstone Church discovers the cause of its leaky roof - a World War II bullet.

Worth watching to wonder why it didn't occur to the congregation at the time - there being a war one. But I suppose they could have been distracted by the Home Guard amusingly getting caught up in the bell ropes while shouting "Don't Panic".

Which reminds me - for those of Anglo-Catholic persuasion especially  - isn't the verger's attitude towards the vicar spot on in its portrayal? And shouldn't it have been stamped out back then?

I digress. The piece also has a niche bit of subtitling failure, as "flèche" gets rendered "flesh". You just can't find a subtitler with an interest in church architecture when you need one.

But it does remind me of when we had a similar problem with leaks. Took us months to find out the source. Then it turned out to be Denzyl on the Pastoral Committee, sharing what he shouldn't down the White Horse. We soon plugged that.

"Any Answers" - the Nation Speaks

Anita Anand: Welcome to "Any Answers". And we have a call from Eloise from Ealing.

Eloise: Hello, Anita

Anita: Eloise, you had something to say about the changes to the pension age for women?

Eloise: Yes. I'm just the age that will suffer from the latest Government change. And I think it shouldn't apply to me. It should affect people slightly older.

Anita: Thanks, Eloise. Anything else?

Eloise: Yes. I think people named after songs by The Damned should get extra pensions.

Anita Thanks.  And now we've got Arthur from Acton.

Arthur: Hello, Anita. I'm in Acton. And I've noticed that houses in Acton are more expensive than those in Herefordshire or parts of Alfreton.

Anita: OK Arthur. So what should happen to deal with this?

Arthur: I suggest a massive subsidy for people in Acton, to restore the balance.

Anita: Thanks Arthur.  Rodney from Rockingham?

Rodney: Like all the people in Rockingham I live on a hill.

Anita: So what do you think the Government should do about this, Rodney?

Rodney: Oh, nothing. I just thought the nation deserved to hear my beautifully modulated tones and incisive analysis.

**** Nation turns to Radio 5 and wishes the football season had started again ****

Service Commemorating the Obsolescence of Microsoft Paint

Archdruid: Woe are we. For the simple tool for drawing is no more.

All: What shall we do? Where shall we go?

Archdruid: No more shall we make graven images.

All: And save them in a variety of poor-quality formats.

Archdruid: For we don't want to pay for Photoshop.

All: And we don't like googling "GIMP", though it is free, because it's hard to pick the right page without having to wipe out our browser history afterwards.

Archdruid: How shall I tweak images just enough that they still look roughly like they're supposed to, but not so much I get in copyright trouble?

Trekkies: How shall we spend hours creating detailed pictures of the Starship Enterprise, one pixel at a time?

All: Don't you lot all have Macs?

Trekkies: Oh yeah. Good point. Just ignore us.

All: We usually do.

Archdruid: And so shall I resort to creating pictures in Powerpoint.

Charlii: And exporting them as PNGs.

Archdruid: Or JPGs.

Charlii: Or GIFs.

Archdruid: Or WMFs.

All: Enough of the different image formats already!

Trekkies: Actually, we think you'll find JPGs are as dead as DVDs.

All: We thought we were supposed to ignore you?

Trekkies: Oops.

All: Isn't your "Paint Gravestone" just the same idea as the BBC one only not as good?

Archdruid: Yeah, I copied it then changed it a bit...

All: ....to avoid getting done for copyright.

The Church of England - Ahead of the BBC since 2013

The BBC has announced its salaries, and it is apparent that it systematically pays women less than men for their "talent".

There are some valid objections you could make and they go like this:

"Talent at the BBC gets paid too much" - you could make this argument, and the counter to it is that the BBC is competing in a market where it needs to pay what is appropriate. You can choose which is right - you could argue (in my opinion rightly) that I could read an autocue just as well as the average BBC newsreader. But there's a counter to it.

"The men at the BBC should be paid less, not the women more" - you may be right, see my comments about the market, above.

"Nurses deserve more than Charlie from Casualty" - you may be right, but we can't afford to pay them it. There's thousands of nurses and only one Charlie from Casualty.

"It's wrong that men should earn more than women for doing the same job." Yeah, that's unarguable. Consder this. The Church of England pays women bishops the same as men bishops. They pay women priests the same as men priests. More women are Self-Supporting, which opens up all sorts of disussion, and there's still catching up to do in numbers for bishops, but for the same job, men and women get paid the same. Likewise the Methodists and the URC. And the Methodists have been ahead for years. I'm sure that once the Catholics have a woman as Pope, she'll get paid the same as the male Pope.

The BBC, in short - that bastion of equality, progressiveness, fairness and all the rest - is way behind the churches. Just as it was behind the Anglicans (and miles behind the Methodists) in having a female bishop / superintendent / Time Lord. The Church of England - ahead of the BBC in equality since 2013.

Reasons why the Congregation is so Small Bingo

You may be a visiting preacher, you may be a visiting worshipper, or you may be the Bishop of Little Brickhill.  But one thing you can be sure. Wherever you go to church, the congregation size will be, according to the welcomer, vicar or steward, a bit smaller than could normally be expected.

Well, if you're a regular visitor you'll need something to relieve the sense of wondering why the congregations all seem to be avoiding you. So feel free to take this cut-out-and-keep "Reasons why the Congregation is so Small Bingo". When you have five in a line, shout "Half Empty House of God!" 

* Replace "Joan" with "Elsie" as appropriate
+ Or appropriate nearby holiday location. Especially appropriate in residential retirement home communions.

"Bossy Woman"

Quite an evening yesterday as Marston Moretaine, at our Micro-Moot, said he was fed up with Charlii being "bossy".

Naturally Charlii asked for specific evidence as to bossiness.  Which Marstone told us was a specific example of bossiness. Took us quite a long while till we found out what he really meant.

When I say quite a long while, I mean: until now.

Turns out that when Marston said Charlii was "bossy", he meant she has opinions which she is prepared to support with reasoned argument.

We've had to put him in for re-training. This could take a while.

Gather them in Barns to be Burnt

Bad news for Young Keith, as just in time I discover his planned physical illustration of tomorrow's Gospel of the wheat and the weeds.

I mean, full marks to him for planning ahead and planting so long ago - to make the illustration so much more realistic.

Again, well done for bringing it bang up to date: a contemporary twist that maybe some people could relate to.

And full marks for creating a fully interactive event that everybody could take part in.

But "The Cannabis and the Tomato Plants"?  I'm sorry. It's not gonna happen.

Cod Only Knows : The Guardian Reader's Conscience

The Guardian asks the all important question - can we eat cod with a clear conscience?

And I guess the thing is, if you're the Guardian there's actually nothing you can encourage your readers to do with a clear conscience. Or there would be no point being the Guardian. No food is clean enough, no relationship good enough, no attitudes progressive enough to have a clear conscience. If the Guardian were around when Jesus fed the hungry by miraculously  multiplying fish and bread, Polly Toynbee would have  popped up to tell him that the bread was not accredited GMO-free, and asked why Jesus hadn't handed it all over to the Roman authorities for more equitable distribution. George Monbiot would write an article complaining that the uncontrolled disposal of fish bones was artificially changing the fertility of the local soil.

Then Andrew Brown would write that, while clearly the whole loaves and fishes thing was fictional, Jesus was using the miracle to distract our attention from the pressing need for a more inclusive 1st Century Church.

This among a load of dating ads for "Rich men looking for slave girls/boys."

So no of course you can't eat cod with a clear conscience. You can't do anything with a clear conscience. The law of unintended consequences means there will always be some downside, that you can't imagine, that the Guardian will make you feel bad about later.

But still, bright side. You may not have a clear conscience. But at least you'll know you're still morally superior to the people who don't read the Guardian.

Extraordinary Form of Worship

For real traditionalist Beaker Folk, we're pleased to say that tonight's Filling up of Beakers will be in the "Extraordinary Form." We've heard this is quite popular these days.

We're hoping we're on the right tracks here. Hnaef and Burton will be leading from inside a pantomime unicorn costume. Keith will be juggling guinea pigs. And Charlii will be using a cane to encourage the congregation to respond in a more holy manner.

We reckon that's pretty Extraordinary.

Any Port in a Storm: At the Sandemanian Meeting House

Now, don't get me wrong. It was nice of the Sandemanians to invite me to their meeting last night. Bit of ecumenism.

But it was a bit dull. I spent all night wondering when the Port would come out. Maybe that's only for their full members.

Collect for the Bicentenary of the Death of Jane Austen

God, who first set Jane Austen to work in what was thought to be a man's field: park, we pray, all our pride and prejudice, and so set our minds that we may in all places - whether South or North, hangar, abbey, dress shop, wood house or wherever we may work, use both sense and sensibility in the persuasion of all peoples to be as witty as Jane Austen, as clever as her heroines  (except Fanny Price - she's a drip) and as honourable as Mr Darcy. Not the one in Bridget Jones. The real one.

Amen

Gallifreyan Synod Report

The motion that the Doctor should be able to be a female (or vice versa) was passed on an electronic vote by houses. Two-thirds majorities were achieved in each house of the Gallifreyan Synod.

It was recommended that, if the Doctor should be able to transition from male to female, a liturgy should be available. The Supreme Council to be asked to consider whether a liturgy should be provided. Something ironic about more radical changes to the Doctor's anatomy than normal would be suitable.

Some complaints were raised that not enough theology was done before agreeing the Doctor could be female. It was suggested that the issue be kicked into the long grass for a few years in order for the subject to be discussed in more detail. Perhaps by letting Richard Ayoade be Doctor for a while.

The Gallifreyan Anti Feminisation Convention has announced that they will appoint a male Flying Doctor. Who will, by definition, be Australian.

The Daily Male has said that it's not the appointment of a female Doctor. It's more that now is not the right time. He doesn't know what the right time is. But it's not now.

On a Male Doctor

Apparently the TV Series "Doctor Who" has appointed a new Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, who is a woman.

I of course stopped watching the series when it became clear that the writers, entire cast, all the characters and most of the aliens were gay. Indeed some of the aliens were of no obvious gender at all. The so-called "Cybermen", for instance, would be more accurately described as "Cyber-eunuchs", they having no genitalia and therefore, for this reason alone, would be unacceptable in the Old Testament Temple. In the new dispensation, they might be accepted - they are emotionless androids who want everyone to be like them, but then nobody is perfect to start with. And they might fit into some church congregations I know on that basis. Or, indeed, become pastors.

However now the worst of all things has happened. It has been announced that the new Doctor will in fact be a woman!

We have to consider the sheer failure of imagination involved in this. If the Doctor is a woman, how can she represent all of us? She will always be a woman-alien, and I cannot see how she will be saving the world on my behalf in that chromosomal configuration. No, the world she saves will be for women only.

Unable to enter the Assembly of the Lord (Deut 23:1)

And let us consider that a woman is wholly unsuited to the demands of space travel. Emotionally unstable, she will be liable to wipe out entire civilisations just because she can. Like the War Doctor did. But because it is her week when she is liable to irrational behaviour - not because destroying the Time Lords and Daleks in a massive conflagration is the right, considered thing to do.

And that very title leads onto the next problem. I suppose the next thing that will happen is that the BBC will be renaming the Time Lords to be the Time Ladies. The next thing you know, there will be a female Master. And imagine the damage that could be caused by an evil genius alien who is also capable of wrapping impressionable males round her little finger. Honestly, how can the males of the universe be safe in these circumstances?

Dedicated Whovians react to the announcement

Make no mistake. I have not watched this so-called entertainment for years.  And from now on, I am not going to be watching it again. Until the BBC reinstates a straight, male doctor with a straight, much younger, female assistant in a Biblical but slightly unnerving relationship, I will not reconsider.

---

Note: I showed Eileen an early draft of this post, and she started to laugh at the title and could not be made to stop, charm I never so wisely. I still cannot see what she finds so funny. I think the strains of her role - female as she is - may be getting to her. Maybe she should let a man do her job.

Cybermen: (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41760618

Fields of Gold

Still suffering the fallout from this morning's "Seeds and Sower Service".

You're gonna reap what you sow

Gladwell had such a creative idea to recreate the parable of the seed and sower, in a real field. Maybe doing it in the style of Theresa May, and tearing through a field of nearly-ripe barley, was not her greatest idea however. Especially followed by 50 Beaker Folk, all skipping through the crop while shouting "we want to be those seeds for you, Lord!"

The sound of a shotgun being unleashed above their heads in its turn sowed quite a lot of panic. Quite a lot of stubbed toes and nettle scratches as they panicked and ran through the hedge and into the brook.

We're now having a special collection to repay a few hundred pounds worth of crop damage. Though Charlii is taking a certain amount of grim amusement from applying TCP to wounds. The parable seems to be, if you skip through somebody else's crops, you will pay a heavy reckoning. 

Feast of Saint Swithun

Hnaef: Was that a drop?

Daphne: No, don't think so. Oh what's that?

All: A rain drop?

Celestine: Wain dwop!

All: Aaah. Sweet.

Charlii: No, not a wain dwop.

Young Keith: Oh! What was that on my back?

Charlii: Let's just say the pigeon was glad to get rid of it.

Young Keith: Nnnng.

Archdruid: OK. What's going on.

All: Checking for rain! For if it's wet today it will rain for...

Charlii: Forty days.

Daphne: Thirty days?

Hnaef: I think you will find it says in the original Anglo-Saxon....

Archdruid: You do, Beowulf Boy, and I'll turn the riot hose on you.

All: But what's the problem?

Archdruid: It's unscientific, silly legend. And I'd planned to take next week off. And I don't want to know it's gonna rain all week.

Hnaef: Well, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

Archdruid: Hang on, what was that? I felt a drop....

Celebrity Theology

Someone I hadn't heard of apparently approved of equal marriage.

And now he doesn't.

I don't care whether a celebrity Christian (who I'd never heard of till yesterday) believes in equal marriage, or has changed his mind. Because it doesn't matter. If I made my mind up based on what celebrities said I'd change my name to Kardashian and have been eating Steve Cram's favourite breakfast cereal since 1986.

Sure, listen to other people. Sure, weigh their views. But never care what famous people think, just because they're famous. You'll find another famous person to think they're wrong. And they're probably both wrong anyway.

You've got a mind. Use it. And don't just use it because I say so.

Even if I am right.

Liturgy of No British People Being Left in Wimbledon Singles

Archdruid: Well, they're all out.

All: Even the Scottish one?

Archdruid: Yep.

All: And the Australian one?

Archdruid: Yep. She's out as well.

Nigel Farage: Would never have been in, if I'd had my way.

Archdruid: You here again?

NF: Rather! Under my rules, a Brit would win Wimbledon every year. A proper Brit, from a British background, born in Britain.

Archdruid: Get out.

NF: That's normally my line.

Nathan Hits Twitter

Hot on the heels of the news that the "OurCofE" account is taking a break, Revd Nathan of Great Tremlett has set up his own account.

Revelations so far are that he doesn't believe in God, and he lives on Hula Hoops. @NotTheCofE. Telling it as it is.

Facebook Theme of the Day

Sunday: Kittens

Monday: Hoax hackers

Tuesday: Food scares

Wednesday: Petitions

Thursday: Love Island

Friday: Shots and cocktails

Saturday: Hangover Cures

Cut and Paste: Do not Share

Reading Sally's comments on the Jayden K Smith friendship request hoax. And I have to say I don't agree with Sally. This is not an uncommon experience, and there's no hard feelings. I don't think we agree on most things, so that's fine.

Sally's take on people sharing this sort of scare is that it comes down to vulnerability. The fear that someone could steal one's Facebook account and start "Like"-ing Ed Sheeran, for instance, on our behalf is a very real one, in this day and age. And we should not take it lightly. Frankly, if singing Galway Girl isn't some very real sense a form of treason, it should be. But I digress.

I guess I'm not as kind as Sally. I don't see it as a sign of vulnerability. I see it as a kind of generalised sense of public duty, combined with a certain intellectual laziness. Through 360 and such like petition sights, through the RT'ing of the latest fool that things Jeremy Corbyn is the Messiah, we have grown used to the idea that we can change the world, if there's enough of us, without too much effort.

And so a scare story pops up that Archibold Nemesis, King of the Newt People, should he send you a friend request, will make you a Manchester United fan, hack all your friends and turn them all into newts, and give your wooden leg woodworm. And you feel - well, it could be true. You could check a hoax site, or give it some thought, but that would take effort. Or you could pass it on. The worst that could happen, in one isolated example, is that you've bothered a few friends with an untrue piece of advice. But should that friend request indeed pop through from King Archie, you'll have saved them a lot of embarrassment. So you send it on.

No effort, the instant warm feeling of protecting your friends. Who have received the same warning from 300 other lazy-but-vaguely-kindly people.

And I must add, as the sort of smug get who likes to tell people they're forwarding on spam, there's no fun telling them. I had a friend telling us to write and complain about a blasphemous play coming to England. I did the research (of course). I let him know that the play wasn't planned for England - had played a few years ago and nobody had noticed - and wasn''t even blasphemous. And his response? "Well, I'm glad I passed it on, anyway." And the virus of well-meaning laziness had spread again.

Do us a favour. Next time you get a warning, check. Then hideously embarrass the peson who passed it on in public. Then message all your friends telling them never to accept a friend request from said person, as s/he will only fill their inboxes with spurious messages.

And whatever you do, don't accept a friend request from Archibold Nemesis, King of the Newt People. He's a hacker. And you'll end up as a Man Utd supporting newt.

The Synod Vestments Vote: How the Markets Reacted

As the clergy of the Church of England are allowed not to wear vestments to lead communion services, many of the evangelicals are asking themselves - what are vestments? And a few are wondering what a communion service is.

Meanwhile Alistair McHaffie told Synod that his father seldom left the house without wearing a tie. I'm hoping that's not all he wore. The 60s were a strange time.

Liturgy of Not Passing on Social Media Scares

Hymn One Shall Tell Another, and he Shall Tell his Friend

(Anthem to the tune of "Hallelujah Chorus")

Archdruid: Jayden K Smith

All: He's a hacker! He's a hacker!

Archdruid: Jayden K Smith

All: He's a hacker! He's a hacker!

Archdruid: They say if you accept his friend request he can also hack all your friends.

All: And their friends.

Archdruid: And their friends.

All: And infect them all with squirrel pox.

Archdruid: And steal your credit card numbers.

All: And delete your entire past life so you don't know who you are or what you're doing there. Like that bloke in Talking Heads.

Archdruid: And he's secretly a dolphin.

All: Which is why he's trying to corner the entire world mackerel supply, by taking Britain out of the Common Fisheries Policy. By becoming friends with Portugese fishermen.

Archdruid: Like a Fisherman's Friend.

All: But evil.

Archdruid: So please pass this on to all your friends.

All: And their friends.

Archdruid And their friends.

All: Even unto the friendtieth generation.

Hymn: O Snopes, Our Help In Ages Past

Running of the Fools

Three men injured at the bull run in Pamplona. One man was gored in the scrotum. So he was lucky not to suffer serious brain damage.

It's a real moral challenge though. We bring up and cosset these uncontrollable, angry creatures,  basically only fit for breeding and fighting.

And then we let bulls chase after them.

Beaker Moot Agenda: Saturday

1. That this Moot demands the G20 recognises Beakerism as a world religion, having as it does more members than the Ba'hais.

2. That the people of Camden, having voted to Remain, should have their own referendum as to whether they should leave the EU, or whether street food should receive funding from the Arts Council

3. Something confusing about sex. The Archdruid will tell us what to do anyway. Hopefully without diagrams this time.

4. A demand that, in the light of the recent upsurge in antibiotic-resistant sexually transmitted diseases, Fisherman's Friend sweets should be used as a way of putting people off sex altogether.

5. Freedom for Tooting.

6. Quieter doors to be fitted in church halls.

7. The Government be asked to put extra funding into identifying who is the Lone Ranger.

Holland and Barrett Discount Scheme: One in a Million

Intrigued by Holland & Barrett's appearance in a list of the worse companies to work for. Then the penny dropped. If you'll excuse the obscure, multibuy-based joke.

At Xmas, H&B double the amount of discount they offer their staff, for products including their extensive homeopathy range.

Ridiculous thing to do. If they reduced staff discount to 0.000000000000001% the staff would all clearly be massively better off.

On the Wearing of Pointy Hats

Burton Dasset has questioned why I wear a pointy hat. Pointy hats, he points (haha) out, have been associated with oppression and social control since the Wicked Witch of the West.

But I believe Burton has pushed his case too far. After all, others have worn pointy hats without ever oppressing the inhabitants of Oz. The Pet Shop Boys and Grotbags, to name but two. What Burton has done is confuse the wearing of an item of clothing with a form of behaviour. To take an example, Doc Martins Boots can equally be worn by skinheads, IT project managers and female vicars from Wiltshire. And of those three, one only needs seriously to fear the latter.

So I will wear my pointy hat with style. For did St Kirsty herself not wear a pointy(ish) hat in the video for New England? I'm not trying to change the world. I'm just trying to keep the Beaker Folk under control.

Let Down at the Funeral

"Thousands may be let down by funeral plans", the BBC tells us. Which, ironically, is one of the services a funeral plan is supposed to provide.

People using these plans "could find their relatives faced extra costs after they died", says a consumer group. I would say that, in an earthly sense, that's pretty unlikely. The finding out, that is. Not the extra costs.

"Many customers buying such plans are elderly or vulnerable, and will not be around to check whether the product met their expectations, Fairer Finance said."

I think it's fair to say that all of them will not be around to check. But this is a serious issue despite the poor wording. As the article notes, these are financial products so should be policed appropriately. Or, failing that, there's always haunting?

The Unbearable Brightness of Being

Quite a profound time of considering "God, the Universe, and Everything."

We thought of the death of stars bringing life as heavy elements were cast across the universe like thistledown. Of the yawning aeons of time before this world coalesced. Of the unimaginable depths of God's being, before the worlds were forged in the heart of stars.

We cast our minds across a teeming universe of life - the colour and variety of our world, and who knows what wonders beyond. The thrill of intelligence - the sheer wonder of self-awareness springing from insensate origins.

We imagined the low, dark scream of the heat death of the Universe, as entropy drains the vitality from stars, worlds and even heavy elements - for a billion billion years.

And then we sang "Bind us Together." It seemed right.

Liturgy for Flying Ant Day

Archdruid: Oh, look! A flying ant!

All: Ugh!

Archdruid: And loads of other flying ants!

All: Ugh!

Archdruid: And... wow - look at those flying ants!

All: Ugh!

Archdruid: And a big flying ant! That must be a queen!

All: Ugh!

Archdruid: After mating, the males crawl away and disappear.

Women: Yeah we've all been there.

Tolerance and the Clash of Religious Idiots

Blooming annoying, the whole Community being woken up like that.

Beaker Folk of more regular habits may not be aware that we have two dedicated prayer groups. The Late Night Prayer Group meets after Filling up of Beakers to pray for the good of the community as a whole. While the Early Morning Prayer Group, its "lark" equivalent, meets before Pouring out of Beakers with the same purpose.

Of course with these short nights, the groups' meeting times move closer together. And the late night bunch went on a bit late last night - right up to the point, at 4am, when the early morning crowd arrived intending to have an extra-long pray for the Festival of Stones and Tea Lights tomorrow.

Well, when two groups of devout but sleep-deprived pilgrims meet up in the small hours in the same space, a kind of spiritual Pauli Principle occurs. So a massive fight broke out for possession of the Moot House.

Anyway, we've treated all the song book and prayer bead injuries. And they're all going to bed. I guess they need to put in a few more prayers for world peace tomorrow.

Filling up of Beakers at Leicester Forest East Services : Aqua Sarum

Woe is me for I am a clergy of very little brain.
For behold I am but a pilgrim on the way
From Salisbury Diocese to the clergy conference at Swanwick.
And lo the command went out
"Bring thine living water from the River Avon
or the Froom, most-blessed of Hardy's bournes
or the other Avon, that one near Stonehenge, the one that isn't the Avon that floweth through Sarum fair.
Or the Piddle, that river the Victorians sometimes called the Trent
because Queen Victoria might not be amused.
Or the Axe or the Wey
Or the sea at West Bay
or another Avon. There's probably a few more."

But I forgot.
So here am I, at Leicester Forest East.
Peeling the label off a bottle of Evian.
Which is rich in many minerals.
But comes from a land of people that speak in strange tongues.
And though I'm sure no-one else will notice
God will.
God's like that.
God cares more than is strictly necessary.

Testing Abraham

God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And Abraham said, ‘Here I am.’ God said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning,
saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt-offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.

Abraham took the wood of the burntoffering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘Father!’ And Abraham said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ Isaac said, ‘The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?’ Abraham said, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ The angel said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt-offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place ‘The LORD will provide’; as it is said to this day,
‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’ (Genesis 22.1-14)

And so our natural tendencies can be applied to this passage. The one who sees God as an irrational projection of our minds - as a meme used to enforce a patriarchal, oppressive society - reads into the passage the ghastliness of an all-powerful, monotheistic deity. A God that demands total obedience. A God that, like Rose Tyler in Doctor Who, hands out life and death as he sees fit.

And then the one who sees God as the one to be followed sees this differently. In this, God is always infinitely just and right. God is by definition able to tell Abraham to sacrifice his son. Abraham in his turn is right to fear God and do what he is told. As he marches, wet with sweat, full of apprehension, up Mount Moria, he must hate the thought of killing Isaac. He must wonder what the point is - God, after all, promised that through this son Abraham would bless all people. And God's intervention - once Abraham's faithfulness has been shown - is to save the son and provide an alternative.

There is a third, post-modern view on all this. In this reading, God's saying - OK, you've followed my call. You've kept accepting my promises. Now then, how far can I push you? At which point Abraham's like, "Sarah, hold my beer..." And it's only when God realizes that Abraham is only gonna go and do it, that he says - OK. This nonsense had better stop. I played chicken and turns out Abraham is better at it than me.

Whatever the motivation, Abraham didn't sacrifice Isaac. God did provide a substitute. And Abraham's children through Isaac went on to become a great nation and, through their worship of the true God, the Light to the Gentiles.

Much later, out of mythic time and into a historical world, on another morning, one of those descendants of Abraham came to a hill. He like Isaac was carrying the wood of his own sacrifice. He too climbed the mountain, and was readied for death.

But this time there was no substitute, no Doctor Who style get out of jail, no ram or even Barabbas to take his place. This son of Abraham went to a cross, shed human blood, broke down the walls of death and went on to live again. And in that man, God had come to live among us. To share our lives and deaths, become like us and make us like him. A second time, on a hill, God provided the sacrifice. But this time, it was God himself.