The Covenant - "An Idol Of Global Proportion"

TheMe at Conscientisation on the covenant:

As with MPs sermon I suggest that covenants, as well as communion are the prerogative of God and not of men. Their terms are of the universal given. They are given by god and not negotiated by men. The biblical covenants concluded by god are not ones in which we negotiate on terms and conditions for our own advantage. It is not by our demand or effort that grace is achieved, but solely by the open offer of god. The covenants which are struck between men are doomed to failure as we do not possess the universal capacity for the love of difference, that we understand in god, and there is an almost arrogance in presuming that we can. In its existing form, the alleged covenant is a fetter, a manacle that will bind both those inside its provisions and those outside and inhibit communion, not strengthen it.

And I am not simply arguing for a name change here, I would like for our noble leadership to recognise that they are saying something very profoundly unsettling about our faith with this proposal. That the Anglican communion is an homogenising institution where people all think the same, pray the same, eat, drink, play, fart and shag the same way. This is absurd. So is the covenant. An idol of global proportion.

“The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognise God’s image in someone who is not in my image, whose language, faith, ideals, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made god in my image, instead of allowing him to remake me in his.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Read the entire post, please. In my comment, I said:

Grandmère Mimi said...

TheMe, this is excellent writing, well-reasoned and quite right in it's conclusion.
18 August, 2009 19:12

to which TheMe responded:

themethatisme said...

Thank you Granmère, I'm not sure it's that well reasoned, some study and deeper thought, then perhaps.

So. He's not done with thinking on the covenant, yet, and we shall hear more from him on the subject. I look forward to his further thoughts, but I still believe that what he has written is quite good.

The Desecration Of Jane Austen

Unfinished drawing of Jane Austen by her siser Cassandra

From the Independent:

With their smouldering heroes, beautiful heroines and exquisite observations of the social mores of the Regency era, all encapsulated in some of the finest dialogue ever created in the English language, Jane Austen's novels might appear to have everything. Everything that is except zombies, vampires and mutant sea monsters.

The new trend for adding a touch of blood and gore to the genteel world inhabited by the likes of Elizabeth Bennett and the Dashwood sisters is set to reach grisly new heights next month with the publication of a series of books which will indulge the public's apparently insatiable thirst for horror "mash-up" literature.

Don't mess with my Jane Austen. The world of the late 18th and early 19th century landed gentry portrayed in her novels is not so genteel as all that. A woman whose family was without wealth had few choices in making her place in the world: marrying a man with enough money to care for her, becoming a governess, or living as a maiden aunt, dependent on her family for the rest of her life.

If the woman married, she often bore child after child with the result that a good many died in their thirties from childbed fever or from being worn out by one pregnancy after another. Foolishly enough, the women generally farmed out the nursing duties to wet nurses, so they did not even benefit from the period of relative infertility provided by breast-feeding. All five of Jane Austen's brothers who married had second wives, because their first wives died young.

In my opinion, Jane is one of the finest writers of fiction in the English language, if not the finest. When I read her six novels, each of which I have read far too many times to count, I'm awed by her masterful employment of the words of the English language to make a good story with characters that spring to life on the page. Her sharp wit, keen observation of character, and great gift for irony are evident in all six novels which she completed in her adult life and even in her Juvenilia.



Winchester Cathedral

Jane never married and died at the age of 41, it is believed from Addison's disease, which was unknown and untreatable at the time. Who knows what masterpieces may have followed had her life not been cut short? Then too, if she had married and begun the usual cycle of one pregnancy after another, she may not have left her legacy of the six novels that we have. She herself noted that her novels were her children. She is buried in Winchester Cathedral, pictured above.

Some years ago, I had the good fortune to enjoy a one-week study tour at Oxford University, which included visiting the significant places in Jane's life, and I worshiped at visited her grave in the floor of the cathedral.



Chawton Cottage

We visited her last home, the cottage at Chawton in Hampshire. A video tour of the house is available at the website of the cottage, which is now a museum.

Below is a picture of the church where her father served for many years, St. Nicholas at Steventon.




She hardly benefited from her writing in her lifetime, knowing little of fame or financial reward. Her books are for the ages, for the likes of me, and I'm more grateful than I can say for the many hours of pleasure that her writing has given me. Her gift for irony delights and amazes still.

Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice is one of the most delightful characters in English fiction. I quote her words in my sidebar, words which I believe express the true thoughts of the author:

"I hope that I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can."

In Mr Collins, from the same book, Jane created a biting and hilarious caricature of a hypocrital English clergyman. Of the wayward sister of the family, Lydia and the ne'r-do-well with whom she elopes, who is finally forced to marry her, Mr Collins advises her father, Mr Bennet, in a letter:

"You ought certainly to forgive them as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing."

Mr Bennet comments, "That is his notion of Christian forgiveness!"

I never read the prequels or the sequels to Jane's novels or completions of her unfinished work. I've read a few brief parodies of her writing that were quite funny, but I shall not be reading the vampire stories inspired by her novels. The stories and characters in her novels are quite enough to stir my imagination all on their own without having to be pumped up by the macabre or any other tricks.

Thanks to Ann for sending the link.

You gotta love Frank!

Mildred, the church gossip, and self-appointed monitor of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business...

Several members did not approve of her extra curricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused Frank, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon.



She emphatically told Frank (and several others) that every one seeing it there WOULD KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING !

Frank, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny. He said nothing...



Later that evening, Frank quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred's house ..... walked home. . . .and left it there all night!!!

(You gotta love Frank!)

Thanks to Susan S.

"Stop Lying"

From Josh Marshall at TPM:

Obama isn't saying the right thing. He should be saying, "Stop lying." Or maybe he should send Biden out to say it. That's probably the best thing.

I'm not basing this on some misguided sense that being aggressive is what's required. Rather, I'm basing it on how the MSM works. They report what politicians say. And they don't fact check them. That's the system -- maybe you don't like it. I don't like it either. But it's not changing any time soon.

That's a key point, so I'm going to repeat it. All the broadcast MSM does is report what politicians say. They don't fact check them. Afterwards, they have blowhards sit around in panels and have disingenuous spin-meister discussions about whether or not what was said is playing well with the general public.

And the public option is probably dying a slow, painful death.

From the New York Times:

PHOENIX — The White House, facing increasing skepticism over President Obama’s call for a public insurance plan to compete with the private sector, signaled Sunday that it was willing to compromise and would consider a proposal for a nonprofit health cooperative being developed in the Senate.

The “public option,” a new government insurance program akin to Medicare, has been a central component of Mr. Obama’s agenda for overhauling the health care system, but it has also emerged as a flashpoint for anger and opposition. Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, said the public option was “not the essential element” for reform and raised the idea of the co-op during an interview on CNN.

So. There we are. And I find it quite depressing.

Cold Feet

Tomorrow afternoon, I have an appointment with an ophthalmologist in the next town over for a consultation about cataract surgery, but first thing in the morning, I'm calling to cancel the appointment. I'm getting cold feet about having the surgery at all, and I'm not sure that I want this doctor to be my surgeon. If I keep the appointment, I'm afraid the whole situation will take on an air of inevitability, and I will end up with him doing the surgery, but not really being at peace with the decision. I think I want to go to New Orleans to have the surgery.

In my lifetime, I've had a good many surgeries, and I'm generally not afraid, but I'm queasy about surgery on my eyes, and I want to make the arrangements so that I can be as peaceful as possible about the procedure.

Say a prayer that I find a good surgeon and that I can move forward in this situation, as I seem just about paralyzed right now. I've already delayed for several months, not that it really matters, because there is no emergency.

Thought For The Day

The saints amongst us may resist the temptations that inevitably follow upon the assumption of positions of power, but they are few and far between.

Really, I Wish Her Well....

A few folks have taken my words in this post as being critical of the appointment of Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan as Director for Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion Office. Folks who know her and have worked with her attest to her many gifts and believe that she is an excellent choice for the position. I have no reason to doubt their opinions. I'm sure that Canon Barnett-Cowan is a fine person, and I hope that she will do an excellent job during her term in the office. I support her wholeheartedly, and I shall pray for her.

My reference to Maggie Thatcher in the previous post was a joke, and not meant as a judgment on the Canon as a person or on her ability to do the job. In truth, I'm quite pleased that a Canadian woman was appointed to such a prestigious post.

I repeat that the title of the new office in the AC reminded me of a combination of Rome's Holy Office and The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office which was in charge of pursuing the policies of the Inquisition in earlier periods in the history of the Christian church. In addition, the acronym for the title is unfortunate and is likely to be the butt of jokes, and not just by Adrian and me. Rowan's determination to concentrate authority in his office and in the Primates causes me to cast a suspicious eye on the restructuring, but not at all because of Canon Barnett-Cowan's appointment.

In my humble opinion, Pluralist's fantasy of an imaginary meeting between the Canon and the archdeacon is hilarious and not at all meant to demean her. Of course, I could be wrong. I hope that Canon Barnett-Cowan has a robust sense of humor, for I believe she will need it in her new position.

In "The Very Core Of English British Culture"

From WalesOnline:

AND you thought it was just warm, tasty and calming...

Academics have found that the humble mug of tea actually performs a “culturally-rooted, symbiotic function between mind and body”.

The study by researchers at London’s City University investigated why a cuppa is the most common British response to a crisis. Nearly seven out of 10 people told the researchers that putting a kettle on was their favourite way of taking the heat out of a dilemma.

Two thirds said they brewed up to tackle a stressful day at work, more than half cited office politics, a quarter said they needed a cup of tea after an argument, while 21% said it could soothe a broken heart.

The academics were even able to put a figure on the amount of tea needed to restore calm: 1.6 cups of tea with milk and 1.5 sugars

Psychologist Dr Malcolm Cross concluded: “The ritual of making and drinking tea – particularly during times of stress – is at the very core of British culture.

How in heaven's name did I get situated in "the very core of British culture"? I blame the shockingly long list of English novels that I read in my impressionable teenage years.

I love the taste of tea, and the ritual of making tea is nearly as soothing as drinking tea. Tea with loose tea leaves, that is. The teabags don't do it for me.

I drink two mugs of tea in the morning, each with half a teaspoon of sugar and a little milk, a bit more than the optimal amount that the academics conclude is just right, and the occasional cup later in the day. I confess that the tea works quite well to calm my morning shock at having to wake up and face the day.

The tea in the picture would be weak tea, indeed, for me, so perphaps I'm not so steeped in "the very core of British culture" as I believed.

PS: Thanks to Ann for the link.

Story Of The Day

Living in the Past

I've always liked living in
the past best, she said. It
takes less money than I
make now.

From StoryPeople

Part Of The Act

From Doug. The other clippings were too - ahem - something for my blog.