I don't really believe in swine flu. I mean, I believe there is a flu variant that is a bit nasty, but I don't believe it's a threat to western civilisation - which is pretty much the start point for a large number of other people. At work I am surrounded by gels and wipes - it reeks of disinfectant. More depressingly, I went to church on Sunday to find that we have panicked too. There is a long tedious list of detail , including some embarrassing prayers and especially here on the administration of holy communion, which essentially says 'no don't bother with the wine; the bread alone will do.' Which is nice, if you're worried about this stuff.
It's crap though. I'll preface what I'm about to say with a caveat that people in particular circumstances - pregnancy, existing conditions that make them likely to be the 30th death victim (in a week that number may change, by, I don't know, about one) - should take whatever action they need to. However, for the rest of us, and I include the bishops, this won't do.
I'm not a serious Eucharist man. I may accept that the Eucharist is the queen of sacraments, but if so, she's a constitutional monarch. I reject all kinds of silly positions that try to make everything rest on the communion. But it remains key for all the obvious reasons to the understanding and enacting of the Christian faith. And it does so in both kinds. The wine is not a nice-to-have extra. Without it the new covenant falls, the blood of Christ is not shed and indeed one could argue, the whole point is missed. It's not like this is hidden either. Even in the mind-alteringly bad prayer E in Common Worship (supper with his friends...), the text runs:
When supper was ended he took the cup of wine. Again he praised you, gave it to them and said: Drink this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Which presumably we don't get now. I could go on about the importance of the wine throughout the scriptures, but there's no real point. But I will say that there is long running debate about the inculturation in African churches, namely does it need to be bread and wine to commemorate the eucharist when these are unfamiliar foods. I am sympathetic to both views, but by resiling from contact at the mildest threat, we essentially destroy any case we might have that they are special, instead they simply look like arbitrary consumption on a Sunday morning.
Anathema.
Monday 27 July 2009
Democracy denied (update)
To be fair to Lambeth, they replied quicker than I have done on this blog, but their reply was unhelpful. I reproduce the letter here.
I desperately wanted to reply in a spectacularly offensive manner. This was my first draft:
Thank you for your prompt reply to my letter. However, I cannot thank you for the implausible case you make within it. I'm delighted to know that your phones were operational during the run up to the election. Perhaps an automatic response to emails could have indicated this. Although busy, I suspect you could have spared the 20 seconds it takes me to set up an out of office autoreply. Not, I presume that you could have done much about it if I had rung, as your database would have told you that our flat was unoccupied.
This is the substance of your preposterous letter. I have examined my house from the street and - as we temporarily have no curtains in the living room - it is pretty clear that someone lives there, as you can clearly see the books lining the walls, and the painting in the room. So, either you send people round who are incapable of making the link between habitation and literacy, or who are innumerate and cannot identify the house number, or - most likely - you did nothing of the sort. Maybe they were struggling with the out of office on the computer. Who knows.
Finally, you tell me that you cannot use the council tax database to verify occupancy. You give no reason, is that programme too difficult to use on the computer too? I would have thought that the record of who is paying you for services may be a strong indicator of who is living there.
So, clearly in your records our flat was vacant for a portion of time. I would suggest you send us the refund for the tax we paid in that period. And, most importantly, I expect a full written unconditional apology for the fact that you incompetence denied us the right to vote. This is a serious matter and I will escalate it until I have a resolution - I take voting to heart. I would suggest you do too.
Anna pointed out this would not have the desired effect, so instead I wrote them a briefer (and less violent) letter, though with the same object in mind. I await a response.
I desperately wanted to reply in a spectacularly offensive manner. This was my first draft:
Thank you for your prompt reply to my letter. However, I cannot thank you for the implausible case you make within it. I'm delighted to know that your phones were operational during the run up to the election. Perhaps an automatic response to emails could have indicated this. Although busy, I suspect you could have spared the 20 seconds it takes me to set up an out of office autoreply. Not, I presume that you could have done much about it if I had rung, as your database would have told you that our flat was unoccupied.
This is the substance of your preposterous letter. I have examined my house from the street and - as we temporarily have no curtains in the living room - it is pretty clear that someone lives there, as you can clearly see the books lining the walls, and the painting in the room. So, either you send people round who are incapable of making the link between habitation and literacy, or who are innumerate and cannot identify the house number, or - most likely - you did nothing of the sort. Maybe they were struggling with the out of office on the computer. Who knows.
Finally, you tell me that you cannot use the council tax database to verify occupancy. You give no reason, is that programme too difficult to use on the computer too? I would have thought that the record of who is paying you for services may be a strong indicator of who is living there.
So, clearly in your records our flat was vacant for a portion of time. I would suggest you send us the refund for the tax we paid in that period. And, most importantly, I expect a full written unconditional apology for the fact that you incompetence denied us the right to vote. This is a serious matter and I will escalate it until I have a resolution - I take voting to heart. I would suggest you do too.
Anna pointed out this would not have the desired effect, so instead I wrote them a briefer (and less violent) letter, though with the same object in mind. I await a response.
Monday 6 July 2009
Bibliography, June 2009
Acquired (0)
Read (6)
BOTM: P.M. Kendall, The Universal Spider
M. Bulgakov, A Country doctor's notebook
Nowell-Smith, The legend of the master
A. Trollope, The Prime Minister
M. Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian
D. Zindell, Neverness
Louis XI has always been my favourite Louis, so it was a delight to read Paul Murray Kendall's excellent, lively and enjoyable biography this month, especially when a lot else was unmemorable. It's often hard to write a really good biography of a major political figure. Kings are better than prime ministers as they stay in power for longer. But the fascinating thing about this biography was the detail on the long period of waiting for Louis - his establishment in the Dauphine and his exile amongst the Burgundians - and the importance of that experience in shaping both him and his policy. Lest this give the wrong impression, this is a book free from psychobabble and instead focused on history at it's best. The only criticism is teleological. Had Louis died a decade earlier, then his reign would have been considerably less triumphant. Like other monarchs, at least part of his gift was to outlast some of his major enemies. But this was not inevitable. Reading this book, sometimes you feel the author thinks it was.
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