thedeepchurchproject

What did Disney ever do to upset Putin? Yesterday, President Putin showed off in a computer animation a new cruise missile system that apparently is unbeatable. The animation shows multiple warheads descending on central Florida - i.e. Disneyland. For goodness sake hasn't Florida had enough troubles without this specter hanging over it?  No doubt the animation was put together a long time before the school shootings.  I have this funny feeling that the Russian leadership deliberately chose the sunshine state for their chilling cartoon. Could it be that "Disney" represents something that irks the Slavic soul? Is it that Disney and Florida represent in all cultural saccharine way represent the American dream? Is it that "Disneyfication" of life haunts the collective Russian mind?   This could be a poke in the eye for the Hollywood/Disney postmodern narrative which really rubs up Eastern Europeans and in particular Russians.  That cultural myth is proba...

Those who come close to the life of a priest, particular friends outside the Church, soon find that day-to-day ministry is far from uneventful and rarely dull. Yet, it remains hard at times to put into words a coherent answer to that curious question, “But, what do you do all day?” Like a parenting the ministry can be exhausting, demanding, a juggling of the diary, and lots of driving about, as well silent contemplation, and privileged pastoral encounters. And, more so these days, every institution and profession finds the avalanche of paperwork at times overwhelming even with skilled paid help. A friend of mine dug out an advert from the Church Times in the 1980s advertising full stipend post for a single church parish in the Yorkshire Dales that read as this. ‘One service on a Sunday with occasional requirement to give the sacraments to the sick in the week. Ideal for a man with a serious hobby.’ Oh – for the luxury of such days! The readings today I confess are a bit ...

I mmanuel Kant considered the three great categories of theology as truth, goodness, and beauty.  Most of us jump into talking about God from the 'truth' end of the categories. You know the sort of thing I mean - we begin our chats about faith on the basis of this or that about God. We start on the doctrinal end of the spectrum like a lawyer in court arguing a case. It is a very Western way of doing things where the language is legalistic.  I remember as a child our parish priest subjected (yes - subjected) us to a visiting preacher from one of the other churches for the sermon on midnight mass. There in the beautiful candlelit atmosphere where we had sung these haunting carols this man in a suit and tie and tried to sell the Gospel. Every time he bellowed out Lord's name "Jeezzus" I could see the congregation cringe.  Even our godly priest was visibly wincing in his stall. It's not just that as Brits we oppose a 'hard sell' it is that somethi...