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.