Now that Lent is over I am back to using a script (just so that I can meet the challenge to deviate from it when prompted) I can post here the sermon from this morning. It will soon also be available in audio format at the St Mary's Stebbing website.
The readings were Acts 2, 36-41 and Luke 24 13-35
Luke 24 verse 14 & 15
“They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.”
Well this week there has certainly been a lot of stuff for us to talk about in the news, nationally and internationally. From the Royal Wedding to the death of Bin Laden to the elections on Thursday, opinions continue to be divided in homes, shops, pubs, newspapers and across the world via the internet.
“As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.”
I wonder, would our discussions of world and local events differ, if we remembered more frequently that Jesus is walking with us, and wanting to inform how we think and act in response to what we hear.
That’s exactly what he was doing on the road to Emmaus, bringing clarity and understanding, restoring hope and faith and ultimately revealing himself in the breaking of bread.
At Easter I usually teach on counter arguments to objections to the resurrection, and this year was no exception. It was therefore a slightly strange experience this week to be reading of a death, and the non-appearance of a body, leading to claims that the person wasn’t really dead.
Christian voices around the world are saying quite a variety of things about the death of Osama Bin Laden. Almost as soon as it was announced, the internet news media were flooded with various versions of a quotation from a 1963 work by Martin Luther King, who said,
• "Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
He of course was speaking of how the life and ministry of Jesus inspired his own life and ministry, yet those words cut to the heart the uber-patriotism of the chanting crowds at Ground Zero.
And since then both Bishop Tom Wright and Archbishop Rowan Williams have expressed disquiet about the raid on Abbottabad. I am sure they both did that prayerfully and after serious reflection. In other words, they allowed their relationship with Jesus to shape their thoughts. The Emmaus road experience, of having Christ at our side to make sense of things, can be a useful one these days, and not just for Archbishops!
So how do we tune in? How do we access that experience that Cleopas and his companion were blessed with?
Well there are three things we can say about Emmaus.
The first is, “they were talking” – the sharing of thoughts, emotions, worries hopes and disappointments in fellowship with our brothers and sisters, is a way we can learn how God works, how we are the body of Christ. It’s a big reason why Christianity is not am individual but a corporate faith. So an Emmaus principle is “talk to someone about it, and listen to others”
Related to that is “we had hoped” – the two were unafraid (because they didn’t know it was him) to tell Jesus all the things they had hoped for – even as they thought they had lost them. I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, that we are the walking wounded, not a triumphant conquering force. The way of the cross is a way of suffering, not of human power and authority. So let us be unafraid to express our struggles, our doubts, our difficulties, for in so doing we may grow in faith and confidence – even if only because we realize “it’s not just me then”.
The second is “in all the Scriptures”. If we want to know how Jesus’ mindset was formed, we need only read the Old Testament. We need Jesus to guide us thought it too, we need New Testament coloured glasses to read the stories of genocide and invasion, otherwise we are liable to fall into the trap of those Ground Zero chanters again.
Jesus explained to Cleopas and his companion how God’s plan was laid out in the Hebrew Scriptures; they shared a knowledge of those scriptures but Jesus gave them new meaning. How often do we share things we have learnt or read in our Bible study with our friends or family? One of the legs upon which our fellowship stands is the Bible. Let us then be accountable to each other in reading it and sharing that experience.
Another of those legs is our tradition. “Then their eyes were opened”. This is the third resource that Emmaus gives us.
The Emmaus story is one of the reasons that I am such a sacramental person. Cleopas and his friend and family had their eyes opened to Jesus when he broke the bread. Now, we don’t see Jesus like that in communion, but I see here a strong encouragement from Christ to his church to break bread together, that we may continue to grow in faith, to tap again into the Emmaus road experience – a knowledge of Christ’s presence with us along the way.
And that final thought brings us to the Acts reading, about which I could go on at great length, but that’ll have to wait for another day. Suffice it to say that here also faith is expressed in what we now refer to as the sacrament of baptism – repent and be baptised. A key verse, which will bring us back to where we started, is verse 39 “the promise is for you and your children and all who are far off”.
I have 2 things to say about this as I conclude.
First, the promise is for you and your children. I don’t think that means “your children when they grow up” it means the children standing next to you now. That’s why I remain an advocate of the baptism of infants, and of the admission of believing children to communion, as well being committed to an all-age church.
Second, “all who are far off”. This is ambiguous to a degree – I’m sure there are missionaries who read this and were called “far off”, but it most powerfully speaks to me of the people who are far off from the gospel, from a knowledge of the love and saving power of God. It is easy to forget, to quote a church poster displayed across Australia in 2006, that Jesus Love Osama.
So let us allow the Emmaus experience to build our faith and our fellowship, that all who are far off may hear and respond to the message we declare.
Who's this then?
- Tim Goodbody
- Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
- The occasional blog of an Anglican priest in rural Essex
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Monday, 20 September 2010
With a mind made up
Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.
(for non latin speakers (!) a translation is here.)
You know, my paternal Grandfather was born a Roman Catholic. He died aboard HMS Martin in 1942, so I never got to ask him why he converted to Anglicanism. I'd often wondered whether it was in order to get married, but my dad thinks it was because in the Navy in World War 1 they had church parade on board ship - it was just for Church of England. If you were from any other church you had to scrub the anchor chain instead. Easy decision I guess, but in a strange way I resent that it was pretty much forced upon him by institutional religion (in this case the C of E).
And that is perhaps part of why I have such an ambivalent attitude to the Pope,which I have all the time and am only talking about now obviously because of the visit and the beatification of Cardinal Newman. On the one hand I respect the man as an elder, as a man who (let's face it) has a very difficult job, and actually as a man who talks about Jesus a lot. I feel sorry for him becaus he is constantly in the media glare and everywhere he goes we will be reminded by tabloid and broadsheet alike that he was in the Hitler Youth etc. I also feel sorry for the guy because his is not a job you can retire from. On top of that when he was criticised last week it was usually by people who are critical of Christianity per se so by implication I stood with him on some of those issues.
Roman Catholicism is the religion of my Father's family (though they were originally Irish Quakers who were disowned for "marrying out") and if Grandpa had been a bit more devout I might have been in the crowd yesterday as His Holiness beatified John Henry Newman. I'm certainly with Macca when it comes to the Irish question.
On the other hand I frequently find it hard to respect him, or more spcifically the church he speaks for and leads. It is hard to avoid the terrorism of the IRA. It is hard to avoid (especially in my role as Child Protection Officer for the benefice) the complete mess that has been caused by the Catholic church's attitude to paedophile priests in the past. It is hard to avoid the hideous behaviour of the conquistadores' priests in Latin and South America. It is hard to avoid the current disater area that is Catholic Africa facing up to HIV and AIDS without the aid of condoms. In a nutshell it is hard to avoid the fact that the Roman Catholic church has had too much power and has let it go to their heads, doctrinally (Papal infallibility,) socially (the Christian Brothers, especially in Ireland and Australia) and morally (AIDS in Africa again). There are so many reasons to agree with people like Stephen Fry or Peter Tatchell.
But I just can't do that and its more than just a family thing. I suspect that my mechanism for coping with this love/hate relationship with the Holy See is to make a disctinction between religion and faith. It is religious ethinicity, not faith and spirituality that caused the Troubles. It was misguided imperialism disguised as mission, not genuine evangelisation (even in the Catholic sense) that decimated the aboriginal population of South America. Roman Catholic faith and devotion can be seen as admirable (though wasn't it ironic to have an epistle re-iterating the uniqueness of Christ as mediator yesterday!), even if the institution itself is hard to stomach.
So for every Cortez there is a Boff and a St Francis Xavier
for every Walter Kaspar there is a Mother Teresa of Calcutta and a Vincent Donovan
And let's not forget the rapprochement that the Charismatic movement has brought about. In many ways it is my charismatic spirituality that helps me find connections with Catholic devotion and spirituality. Franciscan and Ignatian approaches to spirituality, the Lectio Divina Bible reading approach, and the good side of hagiography have all enhanced my personal prayer life and faith over the years.
In a sense the Roman Catholic Church is like my dog; most of the time (to me anyway) docile and harmless, but occasionally prone to getting out of control with disastrous consequences for itself and others at a great emotional (and even financial) cost to me. I keep wondering whether to kick it out but can't bring myself to be parted from a faithful companion.
I laugh at jokes about the Pope but I secretly think I ought not to. Am I the only one in this place?
P.S if you can get the source of that lyric in the title without using an internet search then you probably ought to get out more
Nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior.
(for non latin speakers (!) a translation is here.)
You know, my paternal Grandfather was born a Roman Catholic. He died aboard HMS Martin in 1942, so I never got to ask him why he converted to Anglicanism. I'd often wondered whether it was in order to get married, but my dad thinks it was because in the Navy in World War 1 they had church parade on board ship - it was just for Church of England. If you were from any other church you had to scrub the anchor chain instead. Easy decision I guess, but in a strange way I resent that it was pretty much forced upon him by institutional religion (in this case the C of E).
And that is perhaps part of why I have such an ambivalent attitude to the Pope,which I have all the time and am only talking about now obviously because of the visit and the beatification of Cardinal Newman. On the one hand I respect the man as an elder, as a man who (let's face it) has a very difficult job, and actually as a man who talks about Jesus a lot. I feel sorry for him becaus he is constantly in the media glare and everywhere he goes we will be reminded by tabloid and broadsheet alike that he was in the Hitler Youth etc. I also feel sorry for the guy because his is not a job you can retire from. On top of that when he was criticised last week it was usually by people who are critical of Christianity per se so by implication I stood with him on some of those issues.
Roman Catholicism is the religion of my Father's family (though they were originally Irish Quakers who were disowned for "marrying out") and if Grandpa had been a bit more devout I might have been in the crowd yesterday as His Holiness beatified John Henry Newman. I'm certainly with Macca when it comes to the Irish question.
On the other hand I frequently find it hard to respect him, or more spcifically the church he speaks for and leads. It is hard to avoid the terrorism of the IRA. It is hard to avoid (especially in my role as Child Protection Officer for the benefice) the complete mess that has been caused by the Catholic church's attitude to paedophile priests in the past. It is hard to avoid the hideous behaviour of the conquistadores' priests in Latin and South America. It is hard to avoid the current disater area that is Catholic Africa facing up to HIV and AIDS without the aid of condoms. In a nutshell it is hard to avoid the fact that the Roman Catholic church has had too much power and has let it go to their heads, doctrinally (Papal infallibility,
But I just can't do that and its more than just a family thing. I suspect that my mechanism for coping with this love/hate relationship with the Holy See is to make a disctinction between religion and faith. It is religious ethinicity, not faith and spirituality that caused the Troubles. It was misguided imperialism disguised as mission, not genuine evangelisation (even in the Catholic sense) that decimated the aboriginal population of South America. Roman Catholic faith and devotion can be seen as admirable (though wasn't it ironic to have an epistle re-iterating the uniqueness of Christ as mediator yesterday!), even if the institution itself is hard to stomach.
So for every Cortez there is a Boff and a St Francis Xavier
for every Walter Kaspar there is a Mother Teresa of Calcutta and a Vincent Donovan
And let's not forget the rapprochement that the Charismatic movement has brought about. In many ways it is my charismatic spirituality that helps me find connections with Catholic devotion and spirituality. Franciscan and Ignatian approaches to spirituality, the Lectio Divina Bible reading approach, and the good side of hagiography have all enhanced my personal prayer life and faith over the years.
In a sense the Roman Catholic Church is like my dog; most of the time (to me anyway) docile and harmless, but occasionally prone to getting out of control with disastrous consequences for itself and others at a great emotional (and even financial) cost to me. I keep wondering whether to kick it out but can't bring myself to be parted from a faithful companion.
I laugh at jokes about the Pope but I secretly think I ought not to. Am I the only one in this place?
P.S if you can get the source of that lyric in the title without using an internet search then you probably ought to get out more
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
There are two sides to every story
because of this, about the Sun only wanting to back winners (allegedly), it's time we heard this again
That's going to be nearly 30 years old by next May. Strange how so much still resonates today (except of course it's lottery and t**s rather than bingo).
That's going to be nearly 30 years old by next May. Strange how so much still resonates today (except of course it's lottery and t**s rather than bingo).
Friday, 29 May 2009
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Frankie goes to Gaza
They say the BBC did the DEC a favour by refusing to air this video, as they did to Frankie goes to Hollywood by banning their song "Relax" - no way would that tosh have been number 1 without a ban. However, I'm not hearing people talking about this much so am posting it here and would encourage others to do the same to spread the message.
salaam
Monday, 26 January 2009
Would you still remember me?
Well, that didn't last too long.
Following Obamageddon last week everyone was talking about Twitter.
I thought I'd have a little go, so I signed up and sent a message to an old friend, then started following Stephen Fry after reading about him on the BBC website.
Some of you may have noticed I even put a widget in the sidebar here (reminds me of a Chas'n'Dave lyric but that'll have to wait for another post), but that was a pain as it asked you to sign in every time you looked at this blog. Sorry about that.
So after about 4 hours and at least one stranger started following me, clicked the wondrous "delete my account" button and that was it. I was as free as a bird.
I suspect I was suffering from Facebook envy, as my wife has 87 friends, and I wanted to see if I could catch up by twittering but it wasn't to be. In the end I've got more and better things to do than spend ages clicking on "find a friend" - what i really want to be doing is getting up off my backside and finding some real ones!
As I thjought about my expoerience, I was reminded of the comedown from an inital encounter with Friends Reunited (you don't want to go there so I won't do a link) when we all suddenly thought, "what's the point of this? I already know where the people I want to stay in touch with are!"
We had an interesting discussion at an Arrow residential (a course that my wife is on and I get to go as spouse) about the definiton of the word Friend on Facebook, because its not the same as the meaning of the word in the real world.
Following Obamageddon last week everyone was talking about Twitter.
I thought I'd have a little go, so I signed up and sent a message to an old friend, then started following Stephen Fry after reading about him on the BBC website.
Some of you may have noticed I even put a widget in the sidebar here (reminds me of a Chas'n'Dave lyric but that'll have to wait for another post), but that was a pain as it asked you to sign in every time you looked at this blog. Sorry about that.
So after about 4 hours and at least one stranger started following me, clicked the wondrous "delete my account" button and that was it. I was as free as a bird.
I suspect I was suffering from Facebook envy, as my wife has 87 friends, and I wanted to see if I could catch up by twittering but it wasn't to be. In the end I've got more and better things to do than spend ages clicking on "find a friend" - what i really want to be doing is getting up off my backside and finding some real ones!
As I thjought about my expoerience, I was reminded of the comedown from an inital encounter with Friends Reunited (you don't want to go there so I won't do a link) when we all suddenly thought, "what's the point of this? I already know where the people I want to stay in touch with are!"
We had an interesting discussion at an Arrow residential (a course that my wife is on and I get to go as spouse) about the definiton of the word Friend on Facebook, because its not the same as the meaning of the word in the real world.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
I have a dream (MLK not ABBA)
Well, that was indeed quite a speech.
I couldn't help but be reminded of this though
Poor chap was very nervous for the oath - I guess in the back of his mind he must have thought, "if a bullet is coming, it's coming now", and that's enough, even for a fleeting second of thought, to put anyone off their stride.
I couldn't help but be reminded of this though
Poor chap was very nervous for the oath - I guess in the back of his mind he must have thought, "if a bullet is coming, it's coming now", and that's enough, even for a fleeting second of thought, to put anyone off their stride.
Where were you ...
Historic day blah blah, first Black President etc.
It is a very historic day, so I was a bit disheartened to see that just over 4 hours before Obama takes office, the most frequently read story on the BBC website in the US is this.
It just goes to show that we are suckers (ha ha) for a juicy headline.
It remains true to say though that this inauguration will replace 9/11 as the definitive "where were you when ... ". 9/11 itself took over from the Kennedy (or maybe Lennon) shooting.
My answer to future enquiries of this nature will be "Taking the kids to Gymnastics".
Oh well ...
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
It belongs to them ...
Heard this song on the radio today and remembered how evocative it was of the campaigns in the 80's to return land to aboriginal peoples in Australia. ThenI started wondering how it would be if Israel collectively had this on their ipod.
The Palestinians have been given land by international accord, yet Israel seems able somehow to decide for itself what is their land, rather as the Whites did generally in the New World in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Imagine (and pray for) Israelis singing "The time has come ... It belongs to them, let's give it back" [then perhaps they'll leave off bombing us]
That bald bloke in the video is now the minister for environment in Australia. Wonder if He will give it back?
Monday, 12 January 2009
In Gaza
Was anyone else as uncomfortable as I was reading Amos 1 at Morning Prayer this morning?
At least I remain convinced that the Israeli army are not directly motivated by Scripture, in spite of evocative pictures of soldiers only old enough to grow bum fluff beards praying and reading before an assault. So Scripture is not abused but the innocents of Gaza (not everyone there but many) are.
I preached yesteday about the context of John the baptist's ministry; a nation occupied and oppressed, religious liberty under pressure, expectations of a Messiah. O how the boot is on the other foot today!
Who will be the saviour of Gaza?
At least I remain convinced that the Israeli army are not directly motivated by Scripture, in spite of evocative pictures of soldiers only old enough to grow bum fluff beards praying and reading before an assault. So Scripture is not abused but the innocents of Gaza (not everyone there but many) are.
I preached yesteday about the context of John the baptist's ministry; a nation occupied and oppressed, religious liberty under pressure, expectations of a Messiah. O how the boot is on the other foot today!
Who will be the saviour of Gaza?
Friday, 9 January 2009
Eyeless?
Lots of people, notably John at the Ugley Vicar and Sam at Elizaphanian posting about Israel/Palestine this week. I know no amount of blogging will actually ever solve much but ...
I've been enjoying Phil's reflections on his recent trip to the Holy Land. I was also totally blown away by Brother Andrew last summer at New Wine. He is old and frail but still brave enough to go to Gaza with Bibles and aid, and brave (or crazy) enough to meet Palestinian leaders including those Israel would call terrorists. His most challenging statement was "these are not terrorists, they are just people who need Jesus". Now Israel is never going to see that, but the Church in the West must.
I suspect Sam may have a point in saying the establishment of the State of Israel was probably a mistake - it was certainly done in the wrong way, with Palestinian villages bulldozed etc. Trouble is, we still either feel guilty about the Holocaust, or think it is a good enough reason to let Israel (the secular State, not the ethnic/religious group) get away (literally) with murder.
See, I think we need to draw a line, between the Jewish people, whose identity and faith in the 21st century is shaped at least partly by the Holocaust, and the government of Israel who, riding on the back of the millenia of conflict between Jew and Arab and cashing in their victim chips at the bank of USA, seem determined to behave like a medieval nation when it comes to their neighbours the Palestinians, who, though not without blame, are certainly without power in this whole thing, and thus (for me anyway) attract the bias of God who cares for the poor (Luke 4 14-21).
I was trying to come up with an example to show how ridiculous this behaviour appears today. I tried to think about Scotland. Remember the Highland clearances? What if Scotland decided today that those horrible times should be avenged by invading England, a close neighbour whose inhabitants have peacefully co-existed with the Scots for centuries. There would be worldwide outrage and dismissal of the cause as invalid. What if the UK/Northern Ireland had responded to IRA attacks with an invasion of the Republic? The same thing ... maybe. Perhaps we do things a little more diplomatically these days.
I do not believe it is anti-Semitic to be against the State of Israel, for that a political not a racial or religious entity. Her behaviour outrages a goodly proportion of Jews worldwide anyway. How long are we going to let Israel profit from the Holocaust by throwing their weight around like the school bully? The family of a murder victim is not allowed to exact continuous revenge on the perpetrator and his family over generations - in fact the law prevents them from doing so at all. Indeed, if it were really about an Eye for an Eye, shouldn't Israel be invading Germany?
But the UN are about as effective in stopping the carnage in Gaza as a 5 year old would be in stopping a teenage hoody with a knife. There must be dozens of UN resolutions relating to this conflict that have just been ignored. If the rest of the world (ie not counting the US of Abstainers) is serious abotu bringing about a lasting peace, we must consider a more direct intervention - NATO peacekeepers, such as were deployed in the Balkans, at the very least.
Samson couldn't see what was going on around him, but we are neither blind nor powerless ands we must stop pandering to the Israeli government.
Rant over, off to bury a good man.
I've been enjoying Phil's reflections on his recent trip to the Holy Land. I was also totally blown away by Brother Andrew last summer at New Wine. He is old and frail but still brave enough to go to Gaza with Bibles and aid, and brave (or crazy) enough to meet Palestinian leaders including those Israel would call terrorists. His most challenging statement was "these are not terrorists, they are just people who need Jesus". Now Israel is never going to see that, but the Church in the West must.
I suspect Sam may have a point in saying the establishment of the State of Israel was probably a mistake - it was certainly done in the wrong way, with Palestinian villages bulldozed etc. Trouble is, we still either feel guilty about the Holocaust, or think it is a good enough reason to let Israel (the secular State, not the ethnic/religious group) get away (literally) with murder.
See, I think we need to draw a line, between the Jewish people, whose identity and faith in the 21st century is shaped at least partly by the Holocaust, and the government of Israel who, riding on the back of the millenia of conflict between Jew and Arab and cashing in their victim chips at the bank of USA, seem determined to behave like a medieval nation when it comes to their neighbours the Palestinians, who, though not without blame, are certainly without power in this whole thing, and thus (for me anyway) attract the bias of God who cares for the poor (Luke 4 14-21).
I was trying to come up with an example to show how ridiculous this behaviour appears today. I tried to think about Scotland. Remember the Highland clearances? What if Scotland decided today that those horrible times should be avenged by invading England, a close neighbour whose inhabitants have peacefully co-existed with the Scots for centuries. There would be worldwide outrage and dismissal of the cause as invalid. What if the UK/Northern Ireland had responded to IRA attacks with an invasion of the Republic? The same thing ... maybe. Perhaps we do things a little more diplomatically these days.
I do not believe it is anti-Semitic to be against the State of Israel, for that a political not a racial or religious entity. Her behaviour outrages a goodly proportion of Jews worldwide anyway. How long are we going to let Israel profit from the Holocaust by throwing their weight around like the school bully? The family of a murder victim is not allowed to exact continuous revenge on the perpetrator and his family over generations - in fact the law prevents them from doing so at all. Indeed, if it were really about an Eye for an Eye, shouldn't Israel be invading Germany?
But the UN are about as effective in stopping the carnage in Gaza as a 5 year old would be in stopping a teenage hoody with a knife. There must be dozens of UN resolutions relating to this conflict that have just been ignored. If the rest of the world (ie not counting the US of Abstainers) is serious abotu bringing about a lasting peace, we must consider a more direct intervention - NATO peacekeepers, such as were deployed in the Balkans, at the very least.
Samson couldn't see what was going on around him, but we are neither blind nor powerless ands we must stop pandering to the Israeli government.
Rant over, off to bury a good man.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
When Irish Eyes are Smiling
I promised a while ago to post about our trip to Dublin at the beginning of December. What follows then is a series of thoughts and reflections covering culture politics and travel journalism.
I come from Irish roots and had always wanted to go "back to the old country", but having been, I am of the opinion now that Dublin is really just a colonial British city in Eire, and, having held this status in reality in the past, it maintains it as a kind of Disney Ireland - on the one hand, catering for the discerning British stag party reveller at the weekend (thanks to Ryanair) and the discerning culturophile (not a word but can't think of a better one) and shopper during the week, and on the other hand continuing in architectural, ecclesiastical and linguistic form to celebrate its connections and disconnections with Britain.
What I mean by that rather complicated sentence (been picking Ephesians apart for tomorrow!) is that when I got to Dublin it was immediately obvious that this is a very international city - there were 5 different languages being spoken on the bus into town from the airport, and only 2 of them got off planes. Then though you start noticing on every street corner the shops selling Irish souvenirs - Guinness merchandising, rugby tops, stupid leprechaun dolls, etc. There are lots of great shops (if you can afford the euro/pound exchange) and the same number of coffee places and pubs as you would see in any British city (except maybe more pubs).
There is plenty of Irish culture to experience though much of it post-modernly - a trip round what used to be the Jameson's distillery but is now a heritage centre, and an audio-visual history of the city, featuring some pictures and some barely working touch screens (and only half open because Santa's grotto was in the other half). Irish dancing and music were similarly available but in a context more like Disney than authentic local culture. Indeed much of the city centre in terms of pubs and restaurants has turned into a giant Irish theme pub.
Don't get me wrong though, the craic was great, because even if the city has been disneyfied the people are the same, and you can get into a profound conversation with them very quickly. We did do the Irish dancing night out and I did not partake in but was amused to observe the system in that pub where there is a Guinness tap in the middle of your table which you use to help yourself, and it runs a meter so you know how much to pay at the end of the evening. You know it's tourist Ireland though when the band plays the Londonderry air and the Green Fields of France. At least they stopped short of the Fairytale of New York.
There were some frustrations - the cost of everything for a start, (but the food and wine were very nice) and the fact that the Book of Kells was not on display when we were there bcause it was being restored (D'oh). There were also some little joys, like stumbling upon a hearing aid shop just off O'Connell Street called Bona Vox, which is where Paul Hewson got the inspiration for his stage name Bono, or bumping (literally) into a statue of Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy.
Five minutes later though, the statues had become rather different - OK Oscar Wilde mostly harmless, but then you got a series of people immortalised in bronze because they were shot/hanged/tortured by the British for daring to arrange rebellion and uprising.
This was the strange ambivalence - one minute there are celebrations of the past - War Memorials, regimental flags of "The Kings Own ..." type, big busts of Jonathan Swift, the next minute it's all heroes of the 1916 Easter Rising. Maybe it'd be bad for business to remove all positive references to Britain, but I do wish the city would make up its mind. I'm with old Macca when it comes to "The Irish Question", even though my Irish forebears were Quakers, not Catholics.
Dublin has two Anglican Cathedrals, St Patrick's and Christ Church, of one of which Jonathan Swift was the Dean. We visited both; one as very dark and gloomy (OK there was a power cut but even so), the other was bright and welcoming and seemed alive as a place of worship, not just a stop on the heritage trail. One was built by Freemasons, the other not [geordie voice] which one? You decide!
Overall best things; "second homeymoon", chatting to the locals
Overall biggest downer; Guinness tastes the same everywhere.
Next time we'll go back with the camper and the kids and discover the real Ireland!
I come from Irish roots and had always wanted to go "back to the old country", but having been, I am of the opinion now that Dublin is really just a colonial British city in Eire, and, having held this status in reality in the past, it maintains it as a kind of Disney Ireland - on the one hand, catering for the discerning British stag party reveller at the weekend (thanks to Ryanair) and the discerning culturophile (not a word but can't think of a better one) and shopper during the week, and on the other hand continuing in architectural, ecclesiastical and linguistic form to celebrate its connections and disconnections with Britain.
What I mean by that rather complicated sentence (been picking Ephesians apart for tomorrow!) is that when I got to Dublin it was immediately obvious that this is a very international city - there were 5 different languages being spoken on the bus into town from the airport, and only 2 of them got off planes. Then though you start noticing on every street corner the shops selling Irish souvenirs - Guinness merchandising, rugby tops, stupid leprechaun dolls, etc. There are lots of great shops (if you can afford the euro/pound exchange) and the same number of coffee places and pubs as you would see in any British city (except maybe more pubs).
There is plenty of Irish culture to experience though much of it post-modernly - a trip round what used to be the Jameson's distillery but is now a heritage centre, and an audio-visual history of the city, featuring some pictures and some barely working touch screens (and only half open because Santa's grotto was in the other half). Irish dancing and music were similarly available but in a context more like Disney than authentic local culture. Indeed much of the city centre in terms of pubs and restaurants has turned into a giant Irish theme pub.
Don't get me wrong though, the craic was great, because even if the city has been disneyfied the people are the same, and you can get into a profound conversation with them very quickly. We did do the Irish dancing night out and I did not partake in but was amused to observe the system in that pub where there is a Guinness tap in the middle of your table which you use to help yourself, and it runs a meter so you know how much to pay at the end of the evening. You know it's tourist Ireland though when the band plays the Londonderry air and the Green Fields of France. At least they stopped short of the Fairytale of New York.
There were some frustrations - the cost of everything for a start, (but the food and wine were very nice) and the fact that the Book of Kells was not on display when we were there bcause it was being restored (D'oh). There were also some little joys, like stumbling upon a hearing aid shop just off O'Connell Street called Bona Vox, which is where Paul Hewson got the inspiration for his stage name Bono, or bumping (literally) into a statue of Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy.
Five minutes later though, the statues had become rather different - OK Oscar Wilde mostly harmless, but then you got a series of people immortalised in bronze because they were shot/hanged/tortured by the British for daring to arrange rebellion and uprising.
This was the strange ambivalence - one minute there are celebrations of the past - War Memorials, regimental flags of "The Kings Own ..." type, big busts of Jonathan Swift, the next minute it's all heroes of the 1916 Easter Rising. Maybe it'd be bad for business to remove all positive references to Britain, but I do wish the city would make up its mind. I'm with old Macca when it comes to "The Irish Question", even though my Irish forebears were Quakers, not Catholics.
Dublin has two Anglican Cathedrals, St Patrick's and Christ Church, of one of which Jonathan Swift was the Dean. We visited both; one as very dark and gloomy (OK there was a power cut but even so), the other was bright and welcoming and seemed alive as a place of worship, not just a stop on the heritage trail. One was built by Freemasons, the other not [geordie voice] which one? You decide!
Overall best things; "second homeymoon", chatting to the locals
Overall biggest downer; Guinness tastes the same everywhere.
Next time we'll go back with the camper and the kids and discover the real Ireland!
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