Curate Conundrums

  " There may be trouble ahead, but while there’s moonlight, and music, and romance, let’s face the music and dance!” Or something like that anyway. So we’re here, the first Sunday of Advent, or as I like to call it, clergy meltdown season… In our modern commercial world the season of Advent often gets sucked up into the pre-Christmas excitefest! And yes Advent is about preparing for the coming of the saviour. But Advent is a season in its own right. Here’s what Times and Seasons, the Church of England seasonal liturgical handbook, which I’m sure you’ve all read cover to cover, says about Advent. “Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, as the Church prepares to celebrate the coming (adventus) of Christ in his incarnation, and also looks ahead to his final advent as judge at the end of time. The readings and liturgies not only direct us towards Christ’s birth, they also challenge the modern reluctance to confront the theme of divine judgement.” Or to put it ano...

I’ve been watching on Netflix a show called ‘F is for Family.’ It’s a cartoon comedy set in the early 1970’s and revolves around the lives of Frank and Sue Murphy and their three children Kevin, Bill and Maureen.   Of all the characters Bill, he’s 11 years old, quite shy, physically weak and is characterised as being a bit of a ‘wet blanket’, I won’t use the word they use to describe him in church, but it’s another word for a cat. Bill is by the standards of the early 1970’s not a proper boy, he doesn’t stand up to people, he’s no good in a fight. He gets picked on by a much bigger boy. Due to a series of unfortunate events, and Bill’s innocence and lack of support he’s lead to a point where he thinks why bother being good? What’s the point, all of the bad things happened to him despite being good. Because of this lack of support, it leads him down a deeper and worse path, he starts to steal things, and ends up in a mess all of his own doing. All because he wa...

Lost sometimes amongst the twinkling lights of this festive time of year is the season of Advent. A season when the church traditionally looks at meaty subjects such as heaven and hell, the eschaton (that’s the last things to me and you) and the judgement. As human beings the thought of eternity scares us. Some of us have probably got some idea of what eternity is like, if you’ve ever been to deanery synod for example. That seems to go on for an eternity. I joke of course. The theme I’d like to explore with you today is just that, the theme of judgement. Judgement often brings about a sort of, hand wringing embarrassment in some Christian circles. The judgement has been used as a tool to control people for centuries. Before the Reformation English Churches, like this very one would’ve been covered in pictures for the illiterate to see. Many would’ve contained gruesome images of what awaited those who didn’t believe the right stuff after death, or even worse, those who d...