Loving Angels Instead (John 1.29-42)

Do you remember where you were when you heard that Robbie Williams had left Take That?

 

No, me neither. I was quite busy with a new job in July 1995. But I'm sure there were crying teenagers. 

But it's an interesting case. Robbie was the youngest member of the band. A band that had been formed around the singer who, even today, I always think of as "the other one". Manfred Orange or Ken Barlow or somebody. Anyway, he went off and it was all very sad. But Barry Marlow and co carried on making records. And Robbie went on to make some excellent music.

And yes, it's a bit trite to compare Robbie Williams to Jesus. Even though both in  their own ways bring in the Millennium. But consider how Larry Harlow responded. "I must become less. I am not worthy to do up his trainer laces.  Which have come undone." Which was in a very real sense a reflection of John the Baptist's attitude to Jesus.

So the moral of my sermon this morning, I think, is if you want to form a team around yourself, ensure they're not as talented as you are. Otherwise you may find the crowds going to them. And your former protege(e) saying to the crowds, "let me entertain you."

Commemoration of the Death of Thomas Hardy (1928)

1st Yokel: That Thomas Hardy's dead, then.

2nd Yokel: Aye, as we all shall be.

1Y: Ninety-eight years now.

2Y: I thought he'd been quiet.

1Y: Shall us to an inn, to wet our whistle with a drop of Dorchester's finest?

2Y: To the Dree Mariners?

1Y: Nay, they've been closed this 60 years.

2Y: To Peter's Finger?

1Y: I'faith, that's a made-up pub.

2Y: Spoons then?

1Y: Wi' all my heart.

Remembering William "Smasher" Dowsing

Who? You ask.

A man who did more damage to the beauty of this country's churches than anyone before the pew-removers of the 1980s, that's who.

William "Smasher" Dowsing would turn up at churches across East Anglia during the Commonwealth, to break down images, destroy rood screens, and generally make churches ugly. This was apparently for the good of men's (and presumably women's) souls.

If challenged, Dowsing would say "You can't stop us - we're on a mission from God." And start smashing.

He died, sadly not at the end of a length of rope, in 1668. And naturally nobody has commemorated his work.

Which we at the Beaker Folk felt sorry about.

Anyway, we've carved a nice statue with a big Puritan hat on. And we're burning incense in front of it each day before Angelus.

I'm sure it's just what he would have liked.

Mystic Moons of the Beaker Calendar

The Internet is full of Native American, Chinese, or whoever full moon names. Who doesn't love a traditional set of moon names? Wolf moon and blood moon etc. Very evocative and all the rest of it. Gotta love it, in this world looking for a bit of romance and mystery amid the fear and howling.

But they forget who got there first. Who built a giant stone circle on Salisbury Plain with 42! different solar and lunar alignments, as proved by Keith with his Excel spreadsheet? That's right. The Beaker Folk. 

And the Beaker Folk, being the people that invented the moon, had their own traditional names for each moon of the year. Which was passed down from mother to daughter through millennia. And which I'm glad to share with you now. You will never look at another full moon without remembering the Beaker Folk who named it.

January	Crumpet Moon
February	Button Moon
March	Daphne Moon
April	Moon Under Water
May	Moonraker
June	Cheese Moon
July	Moon on a Stick
August	Gibbon Moon
September	Thewholeofthe Moon
October	Mad, Mad Moon
November	Moon River
December	Killing Moon
(Second full moon in a month)	Keith Moon

Pictures low-res, hopefully fair use from Wikimedia commons, the BBC, some woman who takes photos of crumpets, RCA/Victor Mancini, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Waterboys, Ardman Animation/Nick Park, DC Publishing, BBC, Compton's Arcade manufacturers.