Happy Christmas

I am in a bit of daze over Christmas preparations. I have lots of services to do before I have my dinner and the house is full of people. So, I am sorry if this posting will be brief. I just wanted to say Happy Christmas dear reader and I do hope you have a peaceful season.

the death of popular culture

I have had a bit of a bonkers 10 days - full of Christmas cheer, popular culture and a viva that nearly tipped me over the edge.

I missed a lot of the run up to Christmas last year because I was caught up in jury service but this year I am getting the full hit of being a priest at Christmas-time. There is so much to do - and advent has been a lively spiritual challenge for me. I am loving the waiting for Christmas and all the lead up to it. That said there have been a few things that have been quite disturbing - The X-Factor for one. I am not sure I can express my disdain for it without rude words but I will have a go. I once thought it was as innocuous as karaoke but now think it is destructive. You know, dear reader, that I love popular culture and can usually find some worth in nearly any of it (even Miley Cyrus has her good points) but xfactor is a cruel twisted popular culture that is sucking the life out of everything that is good about music. It is a vampire draining the life-blood from young people's talent and leaving them with nice teeth, lovely hair, shining legs and a look of vanity. I want it to stop - with all my of my heart I want it to stop. I want our young people to come back and stop following the nasty child catchers into the little box. I want them to run free and make pop music that is about them and not about a strange middle aged man who likes everything to be pretty. So there...

I am a bit tense at the moment (can you tell). I had my PhD thesis viva last Friday and whilst I am not knocking my achievements I still have some more work to do on it...work that I am disappointed about really. They are asking me to shift my work away from my practice and more toward the theory that underpins it. Of course my theory is completely sound and the work they are asking me to do is perfectly reasonable but I am gutted that I didn't express the worth of the practice clearly enough to validate it. It's not the end of the world but I do have to spend some time digesting their comments and working out what my response will be in terms of the work. It shouldn't take me too long to sort it out but at the moment I am not sure where the time will come from. Some reflection and careful prayer about time management, stress and workloads will also need to be done.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying advent and that your Christmas preparations are bringing you joy. Remember Jesus isn't just for Christmas and that when the heavens and the earth are reunited there will be salvation from xfactor and all bad things. Until then it is up to us to make this world a better place and fight against injustice (wherever we find it) and seek the Lord in all things good and worthy. Lets get to it.

banana skins

We are starting to develop new routines since the arrival of Jacob in our lives. It hasn't been easy and there have been a few compromises (getting up in the night and early in the morning, picking up poo in little bags, chewed furniture, and lots of farting) but he is a lovely dog and he is very funny. One of the great things we are doing is going on lots of walks around the parish. Jacobs isn't all that keen really but I am hoping he will start to enjoy walking the streets of Everton with me. It seems the best bit (for Jacob) of wondering around are the tasty banana skins left by those who eat fruit and discard the inedible bits behind. Today I went out for an hour and saw 6 banana skins, the peelings of what seemed like 3 tangerines and a couple of apple cores. I am impressed by the quantity of fruit eating but disappointed by the litter bugging. I try to steer Jacob round the peelings but he does sometimes manage to get a bite - he is very cunning when it comes to eating pavement peelings. Other things he has managed to eat before I got to him include:
bubblegum
newspapers
lots of toilet roll
2 wicker baskets
the corner of the grandfather clock
the leg of the antique hall table
the foot of the rocking chair
the red rug (has two big holes in it now)
quite a lot of cat food
dishwasher scum
his own poo
my nibbles (on two occasions)
toast crust
Eva's dinner (once)
Isiah 26
the lectionary for year C