Not allowed to say

People do not like the truth but Katie Hopkins tells it as it is. I don't hear any of this from pulpits.

Meeting people

I made myself go out ringing on Monday evening at the tower to which I had gone on Saturday but hadn't rung. It turned out that several of the usual ringers were unable to come that evening so it was quite useful that I had turned up.

Although I had revised both Cambridge and Yorkshire Major we actually only rang Doubles methods, with a cover. However, they were nice bells and the company was good.

On Friday I am playing at a funeral and it happened that one of the ringers is due to toll the half-muffled tenor at the nearby church where the service will be held.

It is a small world.

Broken Stop

Yesterday the organ was playing up during the service. Afterwards, I investigated and found that the Great 4' flute stop could be pulled out, but was having no effect. As it is a mechanical action organ something in the linkage has broken. I think, that during the service it was starting to go and only pulling on half way; thus I heard out of tune pipes.

Saturday and Sunday

I happened to go to a branch ringing meeting yesterday (not my branch) which - as usual - started late (this time due to a partial 'lockout') and at which there was much chatter and not as much ringing as there could have been. I popped along to the next tower, where there was tea and cake, but didn't stop for the ringing as I was getting bored. The gap between the 2 towers is too long IMHO. I needed to get home and cook and hadn't actually planned to go to tower 2.

It made a pleasant change for someone actually to engage me in conversation and also to have a brief chat with 2 other people: this does not happen in my branch. I do not think my branch have even noticed I have stopped going.

I arrived at church today for the 0930 service and the bells were ringing. They had taken (oddly) to ringing from 0830 - 0900 because some ringers wanted to get on with other things on Sundays! Annoyingly, they did not stop ringing until one minute before the service and I was not going to compete with the bells by playing pre-service music. Grrr!

Younger Clergy

As a man of a certain age it has just struck me that most of the clergy I interact with are younger than I am: sometimes by a few years but sometimes by many years.

Reflecting on this I felt that my introduction to church was under the guidance of older (male) clergy and that I am probably not as willing to be taught and preached to by younger people. This is very reverse-ageist of me. I admit that, in the past, some older clergy have banged on in their sermons and I have thought them to be past their sell-by dates. Unfortunately, young clergy are full of new ideas. They are still enthusiastic about their beliefs and I am set in my ways.

Religion and brain wiring

Religion is all very well and I have spent my life in and around churches. Where it all goes wrong for me is that it is a 'one size fits all' concept. "Take your problems to the altar in prayer" and all that.

The idea that we are all imperfect (sinners) and probably going to hell - thus we are in need of a saviour - tells us that the cards are stacked against us to start with. Supposedly it was Adam and Eve who let evil into the world ('Since by Adam came death') but as I do not actually believe in Adam (and who exactly was there to record the conversation between Eve and the Serpent?) it does not follow that Adam is the cause of all our woes.

For those people whose minds are not 'wired up' correctly - for whatever medical reason - I do not see how religion is going to help. (Yes, I know I have posted on this before: I'm just having a hard time at present)

Comedy

It has been a hard day. Nothing much to say on any topic today expect that a "Dinner Ladies" sketch popped up on Facebook about a person in authority questioning the ethnic background of a character and it raised a laugh, not a resignation.