APRIL 2023
Me at the Hole
WRITING
I did two pieces of writing this month, both of them quite intense.
The first was my blog on Good and Evil, part of the chapter ‘What’s the Problem’ in my future book “The Church has a Past – Has it got a Future?’. In it I looked at how people could exhibit quite opposite characteristics, such as the kindness that Hitler sometimes showed, plus the formative early history of Homo Sapiens; our animal inheritance and the physical structure of the brain. My wife criticised the first draft of ‘The Problem of Good and Evil’ and I felt quite stuck. When I changed the title to ‘The Puzzle of Good and Evil’ , it all started to flow. I got some very interesting and approving comments about the blog.
The second was to take ‘Daily Prayers from the World’s Faiths’ a step further. This was to compose a brief description of Hinduism – it’s a bit like trying to eat soup with chopsticks. But when I got down the various Hindu books I had acquired during my two months in South India in 1983, and had read the diaries I wrote at the time, I felt able to do it. The key was appreciating all the different aspects of Hinduism without trying to have them make sense with each other. But it took 800 words, not 500. I will ask the Indian head of the Bhavan Cultural Centre near me for his comments, and I hope to be able to reduce it somewhat. One big plus is that it brought back to me the spiritual riches which I found in India forty years ago.
Chapel at Kurisumula Ashram, Kerala
EASTER
Linda visited her father in Plympton over the Easter weekend, while I was busy with church in London. Holy Trinity, Prince Consort Road, by the Albert Hall, was still without a vicar, so I did all the Easter services, from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday and the two-hour service on Good Friday. I did something for the first time, which was to take all the words of Jesus on the cross, but without trying to make them chronological. Instead, I kept the sayings of each gospel together. It gave a very different feel to the solemn remembering, especially as I ended with Jesus cry of despair in Mark “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Challenging stuff.
At Easter itself I took part in the all-night vigil at St James Piccadilly, sitting in a cold dark church, locked in from 10.30 pm to 5.00 am. It ended with a marvellous dawn eucharist at 6.15 outside in the church garden followed by a visit to Eros with easter eggs and then back for bacon butties. Three hours later I was preaching at Prince Consort Road, which was followed by several large glasses of Tio Pepe sherry!
EMPTYING A FLAT
Linda’s long-time friend Kristin sadly got dementia and moved into a nursing home very near her old flat in Whitechapel. Linda as her attorney is responsible for emptying the flat and handing it back to the Housing Association. I often went with her to help, getting keys cut, carrying stuff to charity shops etc. and now meeting eager people who answered offers on Freecycle. The flat is now almost completely empty of everything. A good result.
BIRTHDAY WEEKEND
Linda organised a weekend away for my birthday (Sunday 23rd) but would not tell me where we were going. We got a train from London Bridge which passed through Edenbridge, Kent and put us off at the tiny station of Cowden. Then a twenty minute muddy walk to a sweet 15th century cottage in the middle of the woods, suitably called ‘the Hole’. No TV, no WiFi or mobile coverage, and 25 minutes walk to the nearest road! But a good log-burning fire. As a previous guest wrote, “Muddy and lovely – and wet!”. Fortunately the road was next to a church, pub and fantastic farm shop. We had a lovely and very quiet weekend, including a charming family service at the church. Very friendly people everywhere. Definitely not a birthday I will forget.
P.S. The Hole is part of the Landmark Trust, which rescues amazing small buildings and hires them out as holiday cottages. Worth checking out.
FILM
Two excellent films this month. ‘Cairo Conspiracy’ is an Egyptian thriller about appointing the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, the most senior Muslim cleric in the world. Al-Azhar was founded in 972. All sorts of factions are interested in who gets appointed. Very tense, set in a strange religious world.
‘The `Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ is the film of a wonderful novel, with extraordinary performances by Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton. Very moving.
And on TV we have been following ‘Blue Lights’, a dramatic serial about three new police officers in Northern Ireland. Do check it out on I-Player.
Wishing you a lovely May