Tallest mitre – longest and most boring meeting – biggest cloud of incense? Reminds me a bit of Father Ted’s Golden Priest Awards

And, speaking of today, tomorrow is cat-blogging day.  Can’t wait.

So the thoroughly modern bishop arrived with data projector, laptop, extension lead, adapters, etc. Connected it all up but what was in the laptop wouldn’t appear on the data projector. It all worked on Monday but today … nothing. Pressed all the buttons F1-12 – and all the other keys as well. After all, one never reads the instructions ..

So they didn’t go through with it in the end. I’m not an Archers fan. Not that I have anything against – just that I never got into it. But I did find myself reading about the ‘will they or won’t they’ question for Ruth and Sam – stepping across the boundaries of middle-aged, etc., etc. The fans, of course, were outraged – not so much by the subject-matter as by the thought that the plot line should be manipulated to meet the 15000th episode. For the Archers lives in the hearts of its followers in a sort of half-light between fantasy and reality .. now what does that remind me of?

Anyway, I find myself still pursuing the thread which suggests that real life and moral decision making begin at the point at which you could do something – pass a death sentence on Saddam Hussein; seek revenge for what others have done to you – but choose not to. I think this may be another one.

Hard to beat the market for measuring the true significance of things. A short item in the Sunday paper caught my eye – about the enormous advances which celebrity biographies and autobiographies have been attracting and the tiny sales which have resulted. Worst was David Blunkett who apparently received an advance of over £400000 and has achieved sales of 1000. Best statistics, of course, belonged to Jordan – who managed to sell an amazing 900000 copies. As an avid reader of OK and Hello when I get the chance, I am sorry I haven’t had the opportunity of reading it. But, as she said with disarming frankness, neither has she.

There was an inevitability about the death sentence on Saddam Hussein.  And I am sure that if I was one of the countless people whose families had been killed as a result of his appalling rule, I would feel that, in some limited way, justice had been done.  But from the outside, it doesn’t feel that way.  More that the moral authority which is needed if such a verdict is to give closure and bring the hope of new beginning is not there.

One of the things which distinguishes a way of life and decision-making which is rooted in spiritual values is that one does not do all the things which one either has the power to do or feels entitled to do.  Isn’t that how God acts – or chooses not to act?  For example, forgiveness comes up over the horizon at the point where a person who has suffered injury chooses not to express the anger or seek the revenge to which they are entitled.  Even on an ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ basis, the death of Saddam Hussein is a dreadfully inadequate recompense for his crimes against humanity.   The death sentence may satisfy those who are simply vengeful – but I am not sure that it satisfies more than that.

Idolatrous self-interest – intriguing description of fear used by Katharine Jefferts Schori in the homily at her investiture/seating in Washington.  One can only wish her well and hope that she will be grace-full as she plays her part in the continuing and unfolding world Anglican drama.  These are times when it is easy to be anti-American and to hope that the mid-term elections will inject a much-needed dose of humility into the American body-politic.  But it’s not just an American disease – I’ve seen it too in the balance of power between the communities in Northern Ireland – particularly when I lived in Portadown which had an overwhelming protestant majority.  Why is it that those who – if might is right – should feel most secure in their power and identity seem most ready to indulge in fear-driven aggression?

No thanks – I think I’ll stick with the one we have.  I drove through the dawn this morning towards Dundee watching the sun rise into a clear sky over the Tay Bridge.  Yes, it’s cold but it’s clear and bright.  The local farmer who delivered some logs late last night said, ‘We’ve finished with the potato harvest .. and we’ve been working on the Christmas trees…. and now it’s logs for two weeks … and then we’ll be sowing and planting again’  I remember farmers in Northern Ireland unable to put machinery onto the land until April.

BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day on the serveillance society

TFTD 3.11.06.doc

Sometimes it’s just better than people deserve.  PW Botha – former President of South Africa, finger-wagging defender of apartheid in its final years, he who refused to release Mandela from prison – is dead.  Nelson Mandela comments, ‘We will remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country’ – and the ANC sends a message of sympathy to the Botha family.  What a country.  Poverty – yes.  HIV/Aids – yes.  But amazing grace as well.

Sitting in the Departure Lounge at Edinburgh Airport in the very early morning – reading a file of turgid correspondence – the kind of stuff one can only read while semi-comatose in the early dawn.  Walked towards the plane holding correspondence in plastic folder with open side downwards.  Entire contents fall to ground and disappear down the wafer-thin slot between the plane and the walkway.

I could see them twenty feet down on the concrete.  I said to the Flight Attendant, ‘Any chance … perhaps … without causing major security alert and closing entire airport’  ‘Of course,’ she said.  Summoned First Officer who went and picked them up.  His thoughts are not recorded.  Thank-you to BMI Baby.