No one ever sits at the front

The three empty chairs in the photo were the only seats not taken at the carol service at Worcester Market. Why people don't sit at the front I don't know. They were crammed in like sardines at the back!

The evening was done jointly between Worcestershire Young Farmers and Farm Crisis Network. We dared to include a carol written by the Iona Community

Once in Judah’s least known city
stood a boarding house with back-door shed,
where an almost single-parent mother
tried to find her new-born son a bed.
Mary’s mum and dad went wild
when they heard their daughter had a child.

The service raised just under £360 for FCN

Busking for FCN

This Sunday (13/12) and next (20/12) there's an opportunity to busk some carols for FCN at Farmers' Markets.

This week it's at the Teme Valley Market at Knightwick. I've done it there before in previous years and stallholders and shoppers have been appreciative of the Christmas feel it gives.

The week after it's at the Angel Place Farmers' Market in Worcester. We held a Harvest Festival Service there when it was the first Farmers Market in the site in October this year. Henry Wormington, who organises Worcester Farmers Markets says "Group Members will be making an effort to give the Farmers Market a Christmas atmosphere."

If anyone wants to join in, then you're welcome.

St Nicholas in the Shire

I had the delight of preaching at Dormston Church. Tolkein used to stay in the village and there is a farm called Bag End Farm.
Dormston seems to have been part of the inspiration for "The Shire", that content tranquil home from which Bilbo Baggins and Frodo went off on their adventures.

The church is dedicated to St Nicholas, perhaps the world's best known and most misunderstood saint. Billions of people world wide have heard of Santa Claus but few know that Father Christmas was a bishop in ancient Turkey who loved children and was generous with his gifts.

This morning we thought about God's generosity in the people he gives to the church - Ephesians 4 is about that - and the ways in which we all can be God's gift to His church.

Ironic??

I was sent a link to the CofE on-line Advent Calendar. The site is called "Why are we waiting" and is about a positive attitude towards waiting.
It was ironic that as I clicked in the link my commuter went into a strop and sat there doing not a lot till it had been shut down and restarted. A lot of waiting!!!!  

We'll clean it up for you

That was the kind reassurance from McCartneys, the livestock auctioneers, about the cattle ring. They would make sure it was clean for the carol service there on the 15th December.
Thanks but it doesn't need to be spotless, was my response.
The carols are to celebrate the birth of Jesus and that event took place with the animals. I dare say the stable hadn't been scrubbed within an inch of its life. So a cattle ring is probably a better place to celebrate the birth than most churches!
If you want to join us it's
at 7.30 p.m.
on 15th December
at
McCartneys
Nunnery Way
Worcester
Worcestershire
WR4 OSQ

Learning and the rural church

The Arthur Rank Centre is trying to find out how good training is for people involved with rural churches. Are there skills/understandings that people need that they are not being provided. Is the training that is there giving people what they need?
There is a short survey here. Do fill it in.

Nuturing Rural Faith

I'm speaking at the Nurturing Rural Faith conference. My notes can be downloaded from here

clutching at straws or real hope?

Last night I was with a local NFU group which is in the centre of one of the Government's badger vaccination areas. To try and reduce TB in cattle there is a project to inject badgers against TB to try and stop the spread of the disease in cattle.
It's going to be a slow process and a long time before anyone knows if it will do any good.

• between now and next May Defra are going to recruit landowners in the target areas and survey where the badger sets are, and train contractors in how to inject badgers.
  
• between July and November next year their contractors will vaccinate some of the badgers
• between October next year and May the year after Defra are going to recruit some more landowners in the target areas and survey more badger sets
• from May 2011 to November the contractors will vaccinate
• and repeat vaccinations next year....
  

Badgers typically live 5 years and because the programme doesn't remove any infected badgers it will take that time before there is a reduction in disease in badgers - always assuming that the vaccination programme works. It's not guaranteed!

So a long wait for an uncertain benefit

Useful resources from Arthur Rank

This is to bring to your attention some of the worship resources related to harvest and other seasonal themes for the next month-and-a-bit that can be obtained freely from the ARC website. Some of them may help you as you prepare to for your own worship or as you resource others.
Remembrance Sunday
This falls on 8 November this year. We don’t have any resources ourselves specifically related to Remembrance although we can recommend the free material available from Churches Together in Britain & Ireland. (Click to access these)
However there are other material available from our website that bear on some of the themes of Remembrance Sunday, especially some in the category “Crisis & Loss”. The resources we have for this can be got from the Worship “search page” click here), by selecting “Creation & Loss” from the drop-down menu & clicking “Search”.
Stir-up Sunday< “Stir-up Sunday” is traditionally the last Sunday before Advent (this year 22nd November). Rather than spoil your surprise by explaining what it is here, you can see the material from Woodlands Junior School by clicking here.

You can download a full liturgy for a Stir-up Sunday service - including a mystery recipe revealed as the service unfolds – from our website Word version

There are a few free resources for the season of Advent available to download from our website. In particular, we have the full liturgy for a procession & service for Advent Sunday itself (this year 29^th November), which lends itself to all-age involvement.

(Word version )

Other resources we have for Advent can be got from the Worship “search page” (click here), by selecting “Advent” from the drop-down menu & clicking “Search”.

Befriending the wolf

With Harvest Festival falling on St Francis' day and with the preacher being Bishop David - a Franciscan- there was a certain inevitability that Francis would feature in the sermon!

We were told of Francis visit to the city of Gubbio, a walled city that was suffering famine not because of drought or flood but because the townspeople were frightened to go out of the city to look after their fields because of a ferocious wolf that was attacking them.

Francis realised that what drove the wolf was hunger and he persuaded the people of Gubbio to feed the wolf. Loving the wolf brought reconciliation and a restoration of the proper created order.

Thanks

The Three Counties Agricultural Society asked if I wanted any of the amazing vegetables that they had on display at their autumn show last weekend. I've said "Yes please" and a massive pumpkin, two enormous courgettes, a colossal cabbage and enormous celery are now in Worcester Cathedral as an advertising display for this Sunday evening's Harvest Festival.
Even in an imposing building like the cathedral, they still look spectacular.

Varying welcomes

I took part in the Worcestershire Historic Churches Cycle Ride. Photos are here. What struck me was how some churches make a real effort to welcome visitors, even if they can't staff it. Others seemed to treat visitors as potential criminals!

Harvest Festival is coming

and here is a briefing about what you need to know about this year's harvest in Worcestershire

An alternative reality???

Somehow or other I have agreed to play the part of Feste in a local amateur dramatic performance of Twelfth Night. Feste is the the Fool. It's typical Shakespearean comedy with women dressed as men & all kinds of subertuges.
Feste, the Fool - though arguably the only character with any real sense - at one point impersonates a vicar. So this production will feature a vicar impersonating a fool impersonating a vicar.
One of the subtle bits of the script is that it has the fool saying "nothing that is so is so!" and when impersonating the vicar saying"that that is so is so...."
Is Shakespeare suggesting that reality is not what it seems, that there is an alternative, but that the church is too blind to see?????

On a more prosaic note, the performance is in Martley Village hall on the afternoon and repeated in the evening of 26th September - tickets £5 for an unforgettable experience!

On yer bike

12th September sees the Historic Churches Cycle ride and I shall be seeing how many churches I can visit by bike.
If anyone wants to encourage me, then you can sponsor me. Proceeds are shared between the local church (Lower Teme Valley) and the Historic Churches Trust.
And I should loose several pounds (of weight!!)

Can you help?

How are the psalms used today in rural churches' worship? There is a letter here explain how this question is being researched and a questionnaire here

Stress and Loss

“I feel there is a constant dark cloud of uncertainty over me, causing stress, anxiety and fear. I feel weary, mentally and physically which results in pain in my body"

Farm Crisis Network have just published "Stress and Loss" - a report on research into the human and emotional cost of bovine TB. It's is available from the FCN website
This disease, which is endemic in this area, brings with it an enormous human cost along with the financial cost to both farmers and taxpayers.
Bovine TB is a disease in cattle and wildlife. There are stringent controls in cattle. Nothing is currently happening to tackle the disease in wildlife - it's endemic in badgers in this area. Government hopes are pinned on the hope of developing a vaccine. There is currently nothing available for cattle but the hope is for an injectable badger vaccine next year (though how it will be injected poses problems).
Cattle suspected of having TB are killed.
“The worst thing was that cows very close to calving had to be shot on farm. We could see the calves kicking inside as they died."

Surely not again

For the third year in a row rain is threatening to disrupt harvest. Talking to a farmer at Saturday's rather wet (though still excellent) Tenbury Show he told me that he had n't had three consecutive dry days in the whole of last month. The crops are standing ready for harvest and the quality is going down with each day that passes. Last year he had to abandon crops because he could gather them. It was the same the year before that.

Add to the equation that cereal prices have weakened and the cost of diesel, fertiliser and other essentials have gone up and it's a gloomy picture.

The old Book of Common Prayer from 1662 has a prayer for fine weather. It goes,
For Fair Weather. ALMIGHTY Lord God, who for the sin of man didst once drown all the world, except eight persons, and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again; We humbly beseech thee, that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and waters, yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather, as that we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season; and learn both by thy punishment to amend our lives, and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I wonder if it might help.

Healing Soil

Wednesday evening I (with others) visited Top Barn Farm. Along with "ordinary" agriculture they have an established training centre for people with learning difficulties. Trainees work with horticulture & agriculture. They vary in age from teenage to 70s.
Also on the farm is the "Good Soil" project, working with some of Worcester's most prolific offenders - many of whom are dealing with serious drug habits. A typical drug habit will cost around £100 per day in heroin. Mostly that is funded by crime and, because stolen goods usually realise about 1/10th of their face value a "typical" drug user will steal around £1,000 worth of goods per day. It costs significantly less than that to keep someone on the project, and a lot less than prison so even if the project made no difference to any of them in the long run, it still represents excellent value for money.
The most recent innovation on the farm is a unit for excluded pupils.
For all these different people working with God's creation helps bring healing.

That concept of contact with the earth bringing healing is the idea behind Care Farming. More information about Care Farming here. This lunch time saw the launch of the West Midlands Care Farm Network. Money from Advantage West Midlands is being used to try and develop another 20 care farms in the region.

The launch took place at The Fold at Bransford and the photo is of the farmer explaining the cropping plans for the vegetable and how the order of horticulture will bring order into the lives of those who participte in the project

How does that add up?

At a recent meeting of diocesan synod (the body that governs the church) I outlined some figures in respect of parish share- the amount parishes pay towards the cost of ministry.
Since then I have been asked for the figures by a number of people, so here they are.

Last year rural parishes were asked to contribute just over £48,500 per paid post. Urban parishes were asked for just under £34,000.

There is no "rocket science" in them. I have simply allocated parishes as "rural" or "urban" (mainly following government descriptions). I have added up the amount paid by rural parishes and the amount paid by urban ones.
I have used the electronic diocesan database to add up the number of stipendiary (paid) posts in urban and rural. I have divided the amount paid by urban parishes by the number people paid to work in urban parishes and likewise for rural.

The difference is significant and thought needs to be given to where stipendiary posts are allocated. That's not to say that only parishes that are rich enough to pay should have a vicar, but urban churches should realise the extent to which they are being supported by the rural. And according to the Commission for Rural Communities, disposable incomes are less in rural areas.

Every vicar should be here

That was the view of one of the trainees at the Three Counties Show. The only excuse they would allow was if officiating at a wedding prevented coming to the Show. Otherwise, all the clergy should be there because there was so much that was so important happening!
Or at least, that was what one trainees thought. They were clergy, lay readers and diocesan workers who were given an introduction to some of the issues currently facing agriculture. They had a morning being taken round the livestock lines and introduced to rural organisations, accompanied by a farmer so they were getting it "straight from the horses mouth."
They heard about EID, SFP, bTB... They met with the NFU, CLA, FCN. Behind all those TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) were very real issues affecting the quality of life for many people.
As well as sending trainees about and about, the church had a hospitality tent to offer refreshment and an oasis of calm in a hectic show. We had visitors from as far north as Fife and as far south as Australia.
We also had people out and about in the showground. In that role I had fascinating conversations about the ethics of Genetically Modified crops, in-vitro fertilization, Global warming,soil conversation, regulation, ... The list seems almost endless.
It was a good, but exhausting, weekend.

What's the gospel for Reggie Perrin?

I loved the first version of Reggie Perrin with Leonard Rossiter. The new version with Martin Clunes is, in my view, equally good. Both have encapsulated the pressures of modern living. Both are disturbingly accurate portrayals of contemporary society - even if now the Rossiter version is dated. It reflected life when it was made.

The programmes have raised, for me, the question of what the Church and Christian faith have to offer for the countless Reggie Perrins at work today. What would happen to Reggie if he ventured through the door of his local church?

Would he be told that coming to church would give him what his leaflet wielding "counsellor" at work can't? Would it help, or would it just add another source of pressure, of things that he should do to his already hopelessly overfull diary?

Would he be signed up an a Christian Basics/Alpha/Emmaus/... course? But in his process driven world would being processed in this way make any difference?

What Reggie needs is a community in which he can behave like a unique human being and be treated like one. Wouldn't it be good if churches could provide that!

MP's expenses

It seems to me that the Telegraph is milking the story as hard as they possibly can and in so doing is damaging our democratic process. I would rather that MPs were doing the job that they were elected to do – running the country - rather than decorating their homes or looking after their gardens. If that means there needs to be allowances paid so they can get on with their job, that seems eminently reasonable to me.

I also appreciate that to do MPs' jobs mean they need residence both in the constituency and in London and there needs to be a system so can happen.

I find it very disturbing that MPs who have kept within the rules are being criticised. Whipping up a hysterical witch hunt may boost the Telegraph’s sales but is, I believe, damaging to our society which needs to work on a principal of trust if it is to work at all.

The Telegraph’s actions might be less hypocritical if they published the amount they paid for the leaked information, published the pay rates their "journalists" get and published full details of journalists expenses

unsung rural hero?

Do you know an unsung rural hero who quietly gets on with keeping their church alive to serve the community?
If so, then nominate them for the award being run jointly between Country Life magazine and the Church of England.
More information here
Entry forms here
The closing date is the end of this month, so don't hang about!

What to ask for

Jesus told his disciples to ask. “Ask”, he said, “and you will receive.” “You may ask for anything in my name,” he said, “and I will do it.”

The sixth Sunday of the Easter season was traditionally at time for asking for God’s blessing on the crops. In an era more closely connected to farming than we are when shipping food round the world was not an option, asking God to bless the crops was really important. If the crops failed then hunger or starvation followed. So Rogation (from the Latin “to ask”) was a really important time.

But how should we use Rogation today? Farmers throughout the world including in this country need our prayers. Many are under stress. Isolation is common. Average earnings are low – less than a vicar’s! Suicide rates remain stubbornly about twice the average.

We depend on farmers just as much for our food today as we ever did. WE may be distanced from them by a complex lengthy distribution system. Never the less they are God's answer to our prayer "Give us this day our daily bread."

So what to ask for when we pray for farmers? The simplest idea is to ask a farmer what needs he (or she) has!

To enable that to happen CARL has arranged a Rogation service at Yew Tree Farm on Monday 18th May at 7.00pm. The "service" will take the form of a walk round the farm stopping at various points to hear from the farmer what happens and what issues he faces. There will be a reflective reading, a prayer & and a hymn. It will all be followed by a pig roast.

All are welcome, but an idea of numbers would be useful.

Subversive broad beans

The photo is of rare purple flowering broad beans. The variety was once fairly common but is now rare. EU regulations don't help. To try and ensure consistency of quality of seed, all seed types have to be categorised and checked.
Because these beans are rare it means it's not worth anyone's time & money to get them categorised, which means that the seeds can't legally be sold in the EU, which means they get rarer, which means....
But I can keep beans from this year's plants and use them next year. And I can give them away.
Whoever thought growing beans would be subversive?

It's really good

It's not often that anyone gets out their mobile to tell their friends to get to the church activity because it's really good, but that was what happened at Countytastic yesterday. The event was a children's country show organised by the Three Counties Agricultural Society www.threecounties.co.uk . So what were we doing that was so good?

We had hot cross bun decorating, we had egg decorating, we were playing in the soil and planting in the soil, we were making pancakes - starting by grinding grain in an old flour mill.

Why were we doing it? Because it was fun and the children enjoyed it and because it's all rooted in the Christian faith.

PANCAKES
Pancake day, Shrove Tuesday, is the day before Lent starts. That is a time Christians remember Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness. During Lent Christians give up 'special' foods, and so before Lent it's time to party using up the rich foods. Known as 'Fat Tuesday' - Mardi Gras - and 'Goodbye to Meat' - Carnival - it's a time of special food and celebration.


PLAYING IN THE SOIL
That is the picture of what God is doing in the story of human creation. The original word for soil is 'adamah' and the word for human is 'Adam'. Playing in the compost, God makes a person he calls ‘Compo.’

GROWING IN THE SOIL
The earth produces our food. Jesus uses the image of sowing and growing to explain our relationship with God. The word of God, he says, is like scattered seed. Some falls on the path and is eaten by birds. Some falls in shallow ground and has no root. Some is choked by weeds. But some lands in good soil and produces a rich harvest. St Paul uses the picture of seed being planted or buried in the ground to illustrate the Christian hope for eternal life

HOT-CROSS BUNS.
The cross on the bun is a reminder of Jesus being executed on Good Friday.

EGGS.
Have long been a symbol of new life. For Christians they are a reminder of Jesus raised from the dead and bursting out of the tomb.

Milking the recession???

Unlike the UK government, the Irish are tackling the recession by trying to reduce government spending. This means there's more Irish cheese on the market because there's less money to keep it in storage to produce "mature" cheese.
With the Irish and UK market having an oversupply of cheese there's been downwards pressure on the farm milk price.
Add to that the increase in the dairy herd on New Zealand's south island and the reduction in demand for dairy products from China.
That all adds together to mean that farm prices are down to between 20-24p a litre at a time when costs are going up. Complying with NVZs (Nitrate Vulnerable Zone regulations) are increasing expenditure for dairy farmers.
Experts say that the situation should sort itself out in the next 6 to 8 months as more UK producers give up the struggle or decide that investing for the future isn't worthwhile. Whether in the future we'll have the capacity to produce the milk we need is another matter. But we can always get powdered from New Zealand.
And the price of milk at the supermarkets? Tesco and Sainsbury are both currently charging 86p for 2 pints. That's the equivalent of just under 76p per litre!

An insult to farmers

That was what the NFU called the government proposals for sharing the cost of animal disease control between the livesttock industry and the government. I can understand why.
The proposals work on the basis that if the industry has to pay a greater share of the costs to keep itself free of disease, that this will provide an incentive to farmers. This is insulting to farmers for many reasons.

1. Farmers already have substantial costs to bear from disease. The compensation for Foot and Mothh, bird flu or TB only meets a small part of the costs. Increasing costs for farmers wont increase motivation
2. Farmers aren't in the business just for the money! If they werre they would be doing something else! Most farmers have a genuine concern for the welfare of their animals
3. A lot of disease controls are not in farmers hands - they're in government hands. Foot and Mouth (except when it leaks from a Government laboratory) is an imported disease. Farmers have no control of border crossings or scrutiny of portss and airports. That's in government hands.

Yes, you can ... Yes, You can... Yes, You can...

I spent Sunday morning at the National Weddings Exhibition. The photo is of colleagues on the stand.
I had lots of conversations with brides to be, grooms to be, mother-in laws.... Most of what I was saying was "Yes, you can."

• To the couple who wanted to get married in the church the bride's father had been part of, the answer was "Yes, you can."
• To the couple getting married abroad but talking about a church blessing when they come back, the answer was "Yes, you can." And when told that one of them had been married and divorced, the answer was still "Yes, you can."
• For the couple where one is an Anglican and the other a semi-lapsed Roman Catholic wanting to know if they can get married in a CofE Church, the answer is "Yes, you can" - and you can ask that the Roman Catholic priest can be part of the ceremony too.
• Can we get married at 5.00pm? "Yes, you can."
• Can we have modern music? "Yes, you can."
• We're not sure if we believe in God or any particular church, can we get married? "Yes, you can."
  

It was great joy for the couples. What worries me is how the Church has got itself into a situation where people assume the answer will be "No, you can't"

And if you want to check what you can do then www.yourchurchwedding.org will tell you

Reading the signs

What does a blue arrow point to? In Portugal yellow arrows show the way to Santiago de Compostela - blue ones to Fatima . So if you were in Portugal and saw a blue arrow like the photo you could be pretty well certain that to follow it you would end up at Fatima.

BUT, if you followed this blue arrow you would end up in a mess. It doesn't point to Fatima. It's just down the road from here. I took the photo when I was walking the dogs. It points to a water main in need of attention.

It's sometimes to easy to look at signs an assume that we know what they mean.

Next to the land rover is...

...the guide who took us round Porto Santo. We had the half day "off road" tour seeing the sites of this small island just north of Madeira.
The guide's name was Carina Jesus.
She was knowledgeable, intelligent, fun...
I found myself comparing her to the narrow, judgemental "Jesus" of some churches.
I'm sure the Jesus of the gospels was more like Carina, even if he did n't drive a landrover!

Power Cut?

"Has there been a power cut?" that was the question asked by practically every worshipper as they arrived for worship on Sunday.

There hadn't been a power cut. It was Candlemas when, according to the Churchwarden's diary, the candles that would be used in the coming year should be blessed.

So we started the service in the morning gloom. We thought about light that brings hope and the possibility of seeing a way through life. We heard the account of the child Jesus, recognised by Simeon as the light of the world.

We blessed the Easter candle, used in baptism services and prayed that we might be faithful to our baptismal call to be lights in the world.

We blessed the communion table candles. Candles were first used in Christian worship when the church went underground (literally) to the catacombs and we remembered Christians persecuted for their faith today. In some traditions one of the communion table candles is called the "epistle" candle, the other the "gospel". I never can remember which is which, but they remind us that scripture is a light for us.

We light a candle from the Diocesan Assembly and were reminded that we are part of something bigger than the small group gathered that morning.

And we heard some words from a book by Lesslie Newbigin. They're so good that I think they're worth repeating here.
"I think that a very good and valid symbol of our mission is to be found in an experience with which those of us who have lived in India are familiar. When we have to go to a distant village in our pastoral duty we try to start very early in the morning, so we do not have to walk in the heat of the day. And it sometimes happens that we have to set off in total darkness; perhaps we are going towards the west so that there is no light in the sky and everything is dark. But as we go, a party of people travelling the opposite way comes to meet us. There will be at least a faint light on their faces. If we stop and ask them: "Where does the light come from?", they will simply ask us to turn round (do the U-turn - repent) and look towards the east. A new day is dawning, and the light we saw was just its faint reflection in the faces of those going that way. They did not posses the light; it was a light given to them. The church is that company which, going the opposite way to the majority, facing not from life towards death, but from death towards life, is given already the first glow of the light of a new day. It is that light that is the witness" (Mission in Christ's Way World Council of Churches p21)

250 years ago

It's 250 years since the birth of Robert Burns. In Wichenford we had a Burns supper to celebrate. It helps that the curate is Scottish.

Why should the Church remember Burns? He was a drunkard and a womaniser and left a string of illegitimate children across the country.

But as well as that he was a thorn in the side of the Church of that time. He had recognised the hypocrisy of an organisation that was concerned about respectability rather than faith. His poems "Holy Willie's Prayer" and "The address to the unco guid" lambaste the two-facedness of the Church. "The Cotter's Saturday Night" tells a story of a real faith that doesn't need the Church.


There's a story (I read it on the internet so it must be true!) that at one time the local church had a notice on it saying,

"All are welcome here with the EXCEPTION of Robert Burns."

Underneath was Burn's reply,

"He who wrote this wrote it well, but the same shall be writ on the gates of hell."

The Church in every age does well to listen to the criticism of Burn's. Are we interested in faith or respectability?

Swords into ploughshares and ploughshares into swords

At today's plough Sunday service, Sarah Brush reminded us that the bible uses the image of swords into ploughshares and vice versa. Changing circumstances require change.
Members of the congregation had been given pipe-cleaners and were invited first to shape them into something that represented current (agricultural) reality. Then they were to shape them into something representing future hopes.
So What did we get?


This young farmer had hopes of a large ring, not that she she said that she wants a husband - just the jewellery!!













She would like to be rich. She says she's looking for a rich farmer to marry. The way things have been with agriculture over recent years, that might be somewhat optimistic!












His future is to include a spanner



















and hers a beer glass.









As for Lionel, as the "oldest young farmer in town" his pipe-cleaner was shaped into a Zimmer frame. But he's still smiling. It must be the company

Quotable quotes

My sabbatical, now sadly coming to an end, has included a lot of reading and among all I have read have been some real gems. Here’s one of them.

“Why are so many Christians so obnoxious and mean spirited? It seems like Christianity’s mostly about being judgemental, narrow-minded, and having an infuriatingly condescending attitude towards anyone who isn’t a Christian. Christians are so busy being smug about being Christian that they forget to be kind.”

That quote is from “Penguins, Pain and the whole Shebang” by John Shore, quoted by John Drane in his book “After Mcdonaldisation”. I must say that I have met a number of Christians are who are not smug obnoxious and mean spirited, but (at the risk of being judgemental) I have met a number who are.