Category: Christianity

Smudge Thursday

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn ChristianityLeave a comment

I decided to call today Smudge Thursday, the day after Ash Wednesday. Though, for many clergy, it will be Still-Got-Ash-Under-My-Fingernails Thursday.

Lent is well begun, and the candle-lit evening liturgy for Ash Wednesday was a beautiful start. Even fasting felt good today. Although, I fell spectacularly by having two glasses of champagne on the second day of Lent. In mitigation, it was in celebration of a friend’s leaving to take up a big, shiny new job. It’s far better to fall in style! Continue reading “Smudge Thursday” →

Remember you are dust

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn Christianity, LiturgyLeave a comment
Cross of ash
Cross of ash

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. This morning we had communion and received crosses of ash on our foreheads, and we shall be doing the same this evening for those who cannot make the usual morning liturgy.

I am always deeply moved by the words that we say as we sign people with the ash

“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

These words cut through the messages of individualism, self-image, success and prosperity that are all-pervasive in our society, with the unnerving message, ‘You’re going to die and then your body will decay to nothing’. I find it a difficult thing to say to the congregants I have come to love. It is like a sledgehammer to the soul. Continue reading “Remember you are dust” →

Candlemasse Eve

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn ChristianityLeave a comment
At one time, the Christmas decorations stayed up till Candlemas Eve (1 February). Here’s Robert Herrick’s poem about the decorations of the house for the seasons of the year.

Candlemasse Eve

Down with the Rosemary and Bayes,
Down with the Mistleto;
In stead of Holly, now up-raise
The greener Box (for show.)

The Holly hitherto did sway;
Let Box now domineere;
Until the dancing Easter-day,
Or Easters Eve appeare.

Then youthfull Box which now hath grace,
Your houses to renew;
Grown old, surrender must his place,
Unto the crisped Yew.

When Yew is out, then Birch comes in,
And many Flowers beside;
Both of a fresh, and fragrant kinne
To honour Whitsontide.

Green Rushes then, and sweetest Bents,
With cooler Oken boughs;
Come in for comely ornaments,
To re-adorn the house.
Thus times do shift; each thing his turne do’s hold;
New things succeed, as former things grow old.

— Robert Herrick

Florence Li Tim-Oi

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn Anglicanism, FeaturedLeave a comment
On 25 January 1944, Florence Li Tim-Oi (李添嬡, 1907–92) was ordained priest by Ronald Hall, the Bishop of Hong Kong, to assist in the ministry of the church during the chaos of the Japanese invasion. Previously, she had been made a deaconess in 1931, and made deacon a decade later to minister among the refugees from war-ravaged Mainland China fleeing to Macau. After the occupation, Li resigned her license, but not her orders, so as to assuage controversy surrounding her irregular ordination. When, in 1971, the Diocese of Hong Kong ordained two other women to the presbyterate, Li Tim-Oi was officially recognised as a priest.

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the USA added a commemoration of the eve of her ordination, 24 January, to their calendar in 2003. A year later, the sixtieth anniversary of her ordination, the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, celebrated with the dedication of her icon. Continue reading “Florence Li Tim-Oi” →

Glory to God in the highest!

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn Bible, Featured1 Comment

The angels sing to shepherds to tell them of the Messiah’s birth. Luke 2.14records the multitude of heaven’s army in Greek as:

Angels and shepherds from Cambodia
Angels and shepherds from Cambodia

δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ
καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη
ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας.

There has been a little trickle from Jim West’s blog via clayboy about how best to translate the song. Continue reading “Glory to God in the highest!” →

Maranatha!

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn Bible, Featured, Liturgy3 Comments
'Maranatha' in Greek, Aramaic square-script with Tiberian vowel points and Syriac, in its two divisions.Advent is well come nigh! A truth calendrical and etymological. So, I thought I might delve into one obscure word in this season’s vocabulary. 

The word ‘Maranatha‘ appears in I Corinthians 16.22 and Didache 10.6. Respectively:

εἴ τις οὐ φιλεῖ τὸν κύριον, ἤτω ἀνάθεμα. μαράνα θά.

If anyone does not love the Lord, let them be anathema. Marana tha.

ἐλθέτω χάρις καὶ παρελθέτω ὁ κόσμος οὗτος. Ὡσαννὰ τῷ θεῷ Δαυείδ. εἴ τις ἅγιός ἐστιν, ἐρχέσθω· εἴ τις οὐκ ἔστι, μετανοείτω· μαρὰν ἀθά· ἀμήν.

May grace come and this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If anyone is holy, let them come; if anyone is not, let them repent; maran atha; amen.

It is an Aramaic phrase (although Luther tried to twist it into a totally different Hebrew phrase — מָחֳרַם מָוְתָה māḥăram mothâ, ‘devoted to death’). It was once thought to be a curse word, associated to its preceding anathema in the I Corinthians verse, but is clear that the ancient authors who promoted this interpretation had a rather hazy understanding of the phrase. However, that verse is part of Paul’s concluding prayer for the Corinthians, and forms a rather disjointed collection of prayed aphorisms:

  • All the brethren send greetings.
  • Greet one another with a holy kiss.
  • I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
  • If anyone does not love the Lord, let them be anathema.
  • Maranatha.
  • The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
  • My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. Continue reading “Maranatha!” →

Islam’s victory over Christianity

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn Christianity, Islam, Religion3 Comments
Today is Eid Mubahila (Feast of the Cursing Contest), a Shia Islamic festival. It commemorates a meeting between the Prophet Muhammad and a delegation of Christians from Najran in southern Arabia (today’s Yemen).The meeting took place on the ninth year of Hijra. The Prophet had sent embassies to various part of Arabia bidding its inhabitants to become Muslim. The city of Najran had an extremely obstinate Christian population who refused to convert. Muhammad sent a letter to Najran to invite them to convert or pay jizya (tax for nonbelievers), and they sent a delegation headed by Abbot Abdul-Massih Aqib, Bishop Abdul-Harith ibn Al-Qama and Monk Sa’id to Medina. The account says that they changed into silk robes and gold rings before meeting the Prophet, and that he would not meet with them until they changed back into their humble clothes. Continue reading “Islam’s victory over Christianity” →

Christingle makes you tingle

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn Liturgy7 Comments
Christingle
Christingle

I wanted to come up with something a bit different for tomorrow afternoon’s Christingle service. I finally vetoed interactivity, and thought I’d stand up the front with my oversize Christingle and give them this poem. It’s meant to be a little amusing, but also a little challenging. Let me know if you’d like to use it.

Christingle is a funny word
Is it Christmas gone a bit odd?
Or does it make you tingle?
Christingle is a funny word

Christingle is a funny thing
Is it animal, vegetable, mineral?
If you saw it in the wild
Wherever that might be
Would you know one, if you saw one?
Christingle is a funny thing

Christingle is these bits and bobs
Christingle is an orange orange
Christingle is a ribbon red
Christingle is a light lit
Christingle is four sticky sticks of sticky stuff
Christingle is these bits and bobs Continue reading “Christingle makes you tingle” →

Christmas carols are embarrassing

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn ChristianityLeave a comment
Bishop Nick Baines
Bishop Nick Baines

Advent is begun, and Christmas approaches. I’m glad to see that Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon, has a book out called Why Wish You a Merry Christmas?: What Matters (and What Doesn’t) in the Festive Season. I came across the book via a piece in our nation’s favourite jolly reactionary rag, the Current Bun. The article has attracted a few nasty comments, which mostly revolve around being incensed (!) that someone who ought to be a bastion of green-and-pleasant warm-beer England has turned-coat and attacked, shock-horror, Christmas carols.

However, the bishop is voicing quite rationally the problems of infantilised religion, a phenomenon faced most clearly every Christmas. It is only natural that those who enjoy looking at pictures of women’s breasts on page three of the Sun, also appreciate infantilised religion. Continue reading “Christmas carols are embarrassing” →

When cuts happen to churches

On By Gareth Gilbert-HughesIn Anglicanism1 Comment
The leadership of all three major parties say that cuts are needed. New Labour promises ‘necessary’ cuts, the LibDems ‘savage’ cuts and the Tories are planning to rip public spending to shreds. Many of us point out that cutting public spending will hit the most vulnerable the hardest, and point out that priority changes and long-term, interest-bearing investment should be fully considered before cuts (even instead of cuts).

So, you might expect a Church of England diocese to place pastoral and mission concerns at the forefront of its priorities on a tight budget. However, the Diocese of Winchester, under the leadership of outspoken homophobe Bishop Michael Scott-Joynt, has just passed some particularly savage cuts. Continue reading “When cuts happen to churches” →