I am very aware of the issue of clerical abuse. The amount of damage that has been done is significant. Predators go where the prey is — which is the damaged, the young and the simple. The Church does care for such, and it should, but that means there will be predators trying to join […]
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Day 14 lockdown.
Firstly, Boris Johnson is in ICU, which is not a good thing — particularly in the NHS. We are now half way through the initial lockdown, which is designed, in New Zealand, to extinguish the infection. To date, it is working… our number of infections have plateaued, and we have lost but one person. The […]
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Redemption Poem (Day 14 Lockdown)
Today we are half way through the first period of official lockdown, and it is poetry day. I’m turning to a poet of the modern era who is better known as a critic, theologian and novelist. But this poem is one of my favourites. It is a memory: of being an Edwardian schoolboy, in the […]
One of the things that is clear to many is that this is a time when we will have to be relentlessly positive, continually patient, and forbearing. We are shoved into what our doofus prime minister calls bubbles because she is too scared to offend by saying the truth: we are with family. You choose […]
I’ve just killed my kobo account. Please note that I like the Kobo e reader: it is a better thing than the kindle — but Kobo requires facebook. I prefer to have a horizonotal social medial profile. Once I had updated the Kobo I deleted my profile there and then deleted the facebook account. Completely. […]
`What our church did was put the service “on tape” and play it three or four times on Sunday. I’m not sure how many: in casa weka it was watched twice: firstly by Kea and me, and then by daugther two and the mother in law, who cannot go to her high church Anglican service, […]
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Sunday Poem
NO, not a Sonnet. One can break rules, and this is definitely worth it. If I have quoted this before, it needs not matter I was less encouraged when only a couple of kids liked George Herbert. After our customary discussion failed to kindle any admiration or awe, I stayed up half the night rereading […]
This is going to be a weird Holy Week, and we must pray for the liturgical churches. For most of them, this is the highlight of the calendar. Christmas was great — with carols, midnight service, and epiphany before the great feast, but Lent is where you prepare comminicants, then baptise them to partake in […]
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Lockdowned Music
The week is over: the lockdown continues. So a music post, because music.
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Realism in Hard Times: 4 April 2020
Over the last couple of days I’ve been looking at the social consequences of the current COVID situation. There are those that are better skilled financially than I am. I won’t make a huge profit out of this time: my aim is that my family and I survive the chaos. I clearly remember how the […]