Sunday, September 03, 2006
'Wimming
Took Jo to Halstead leisure centre today to go swimming. A good place, a good toddlers' pool, and Jo loved every minute of it. Most of the time Jo waded through it with no armbands on: she was in her depth throughout, and so I shadowed her so that I could grab her on the few occasions that she fell over. I hadn't realised the amount of friction being generated by the tiles as I pulled myself along, and now I have patch of hairless skin on my right shin which looks very silly. Good thing that it's not shorts weather, huh?Sermon went well, and we had an excellent discussion over tea and coffee afterwards. The sermon looked at the question of militaristic language ("the church militant") in the church (our hymnbook has "Onward Christian Pilgrims", rather than the usual "Soldiers"), and whether it's defensible. We stopped along the way with Augustine of Hippo ("just war"), Hitler and the Jewish Holocaust, a carved stone helmet on the North wall, chaplains to the Forces (my grandfather was one in the Second World War), the bringing in of the Kingdom of God, Jesus' ministry to the centurion, the Sermon on the Mount (peace/cheese-makers) and the 14 service personnel in a Nimrod. Militaristic language is OK for me, partly because I believe that my battle with broken-ness is best described by that. Violence in general we must, surely, decry, but can it be just? I just don't know, but I'm certainly not able to condemn it in all cases. And I have huge respect both for the Armed Services and for their chaplains. Choices are difficult.
Also militaristic language is a part of scriptural reality, and battling with broken ness is all part of being human so I can understand that... as foe hard choices I guess that is all part of inhabiting the gaps
War is not preferable as an option but sometimes it is the better solution of two evils!
We come Just as we are before God don't we!!!
Glad the service went well
Ah, but Mike is well known as a pedantic spelling and grammar Nazi so any chance to get back at him has to be taken ;)
: 6:56 pm << Home
blogs4god
