Halloween

I thought I had pushed the boat out with my costume this year, but these Saint-O-Lanterns have got one up on me:


Credit to Catholic Cuisine.

Friday 23rd October - Question Time

It could be argued that I jumped on the bandwagon by flicking to BBC One yesterday evening. I was supposed to have an ‘early’ night – or at least a productive one – but I ended up having an eventful one to say the least, even if I only had Question Time and Twitter for company.

I learnt three things:
1. Nick Griffin will try anything to persuade the British public –and I use the word British in relation to residential status, not race – that he is not racist. We all know he is. He needs to just drop the BS and 'come out'. Although, I have to say I was slightly amused that he tried to hide such a fact by referring to 'whites'[1] as the indigenous people of Britain.

2. His generalisation of Christians worked me up. To associate ‘Christians’ as believing everything the BNP does is a downright insult. I was tempted to throw the remote at the television, stopped only by the realisation that it was bad enough not watching with a license, let alone getting fined for ‘damaging university property’.

3. I’m a fan of Bonnie Greer, I just didn’t know it until yesterday. She made some very good points including one on the early migration of the Africans to Europe, her argument being that we all descended from Africa. She didn’t take herself too seriously knowing too well that Griffin was probably not digesting anything she was saying. She even offered to take him around the British Museum to give him a real history lesson. How nice of her.

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[1] Stephen Biko: … I think white people are more pink and yellow and pale than white.

Wednesday 21st October - Essays

Proof I'm hard at work:

Although I'm not too sure about the 'hard' part. I'm suffering from writer's block -hence why I'm on here- as well as a terrifying mental image of the word 'DUE' flashing in neon lights every time I close my eyes.

Thursday 15th October - The 'Art' of Procrastination

I feel like I'm coming down with something (hope it's not hamthrax), annoyed at myself that I'm yet to start my essays and surprisingly tired all the time considering I probably don't deserve to be.

Can you tell?

Vintage

Monday 12th October - Oh Dear

The result of being half-asleep, listening to a recital of Mark 5:13 in my lecture and seven years of studying art:


He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

(I don't think eating a whole bag of Percy Pigs last night helped the situation)

Sunday 11th October - Liturgical Abuse

Spotted this post over at The Hermeneutic of Continuity:

This video has gone "viral" over the past few days as an example of really silly liturgical abuse. As I have pointed out before, when young people see this sort of thing, you have to bear in mind that they are not laughing with you, they are laughing at you.

It reminded me of something I wrote in an essay on worship and liturgical diversity:

Liturgical diversity can be a source of enrichment, but it can also provoke tensions, mutual misunderstandings and even schisms. In this matter it is clear that diversity must not damage unity. It must express only fidelity to the common faith, to the sacramental signs that the Church has received from Christ, and to hierarchical communion ~ CCC: 1206.

What exactly is the definition of diversity? Is it diversity from the worship of Catholics? If this is the case then Catholics are ‘unconsciously’ passing judgments upon their fellow Christians; further accentuating the differences in the way they worship. As a Catholic, I find this disconcerting. Whilst I found the Baptist service very different from what I am accustomed to experiencing, I believe that as Christians we should respect each others varying forms of worship despite them being (in someway) as different as chalk and cheese.

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Whether I still believe this or not, I'm not sure; my point being that for most, more eccentric ways of worshipping may be deemed 'abuse' but for many others it is simply their way of expressing and glorifying God (although I’m beginning to think I’m straying away from Catholic worship and more into a rant on Christian worship as a whole by saying this).

I know the above video is not exactly a great or typical (albeit amusing) example of the way a mass should be celebrated but perhaps this type of worship is a glance into a community’s culture; a way of life that is so embedded in their history that to worship any other way would be unfaithful to their identity.

To be fair, the featured video really does nothing for what I’m trying to say. I was thinking more along the lines of inculturation, and specifically the case of the Missa Luba in Africa.

Please note that I’m not endorsing happy-clappy worship, I’m just playing with the idea that what may be one society’s idea of worship is not the same as another’s. Not that it is carried out purposefully to cause offence, but because it is an expression of one’s identity and way of life. But as a lecturer once said, discussing different forms of worship is not focused solely on theology but more on the history of a people and how such a practice has risen out of cultural experience.

Gosh I’ve ranted quite a bit. I really should put these ranting skills to good use and actually start one of my (many) essays.

Tuesday 6th October - Happy Birthday

It's my mum's birthday today.

I can't be there with her on her special day, but she knows how much I love her and those who know me know just how much she's been a rock for my brother and I, so:

Happy Birthday Mum x

Saturday 3rd October - Wedged Between Plato and a Pig

My first week back at uni and I'm already snowed under a pile of books.

Neither my job nor tutorials have started yet and I already find myself staying up late into the early hours of the morning -with a fast disappearing bag of Percy Pigs- writing notes on why the phrase: Piety is what the gods love (Plato's Euthyphro) is deficient as a definition.

And to think I've still got thirteen weeks to go.


I do love being back.

Credit to knows-flower for the photo