27 May
I had a day off from blogging yesterday. As it was
though, we were both busy most of the day de-cluttering around the flat. A wall
unit has gone, a bookcase is about to be moved; I say ‘bookcase but at the
moment it is full of DVDs and CDs. Another bookcase has been moved to where the
wall unit was and that will eventually be home to all my reference books. It’s
slow but hard work. We have far too much stuff lying around and we really need
to get rid of a lot of it.
Night before last I finished a book by M R Hall. Redeemed is the third in Hall’s Jenny
Cooper series. Cooper is a Bristol based coroner who is investigating the death
of a man who it is thought killed himself. But of course, things are not quite
so straight forward, if they were there would be no story to tell would there?
Cooper is approached by a priest who is counselling a prisoner who has been
convicted of the murder of a woman; he now claims he didn’t kill her.
The story revolves around an American evangelical church
that has grown out of all expectations, and the local Roman Catholic Church and
their distrust of the new-comer. During the telling of the story, Hall tells
the reader the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by the new church; he also
tells the Gospel as proclaimed by the Catholics. However, both tellings are not
central to the story but are included as back ground to the main story line.
Don’t let that put you off the novel though.
In 1984 the American evangelist Billy Graham came over
to the UK on what was termed a ‘crusade’. It was during this crusade that both
Jan and I became Christians in the real meaning of the word, not the generic
meaning of Britain being a christian country. We both became members of Manor
Court Baptist Church here in Dorktown,
indeed, Jan is still a member. I am not.
We moved away to Bedworth (or Bed’th as the locals
call it), and we moved church membership too. Since then we both slipped away
from the church. Jan has now gone back but I haven’t done so. Most churches
will say that you can’t be Christian on your own; I beg to differ! For me I
just can’t be bothered with all fuss n bother of congregating to live a life of
faith.
Another issue raised by Hall was that of emotion, especially
when a large gathering of people are led by a smaller group, whipping up the
emotion to get a reaction from the gathering. That happens in Redeemed. Hall then has Cooper say that
she was nearly caught up in it all but leaves before it goes too far for her.
She later compares that church to a football match, and claims there is little
see between the two. I can’t along with that at all!
Some years ago Jan and I attended a Christian festival
called Spring Harvest. It was held at the Butlins Holiday Village in Minehead,
Somerset; not all that removed from Bristol is that. As one of our friends said
at the time, ‘it’s a good feeling to be able to walk around safely, without having
to worry about whether you will be mugged out on the streets.’ You can’t say that
at a lot of footie matches, although it’s not as bad now as it used to be.
Overall though, I think that Redeemed is a worthwhile read and I recommend that you give it a
good if you haven’t read it yet.
Motor bikes … I love them. However, I am not daft
enough to think that I could ride one with ease. Last time I tried a push bike
I only managed a few hundred yards before I had to turn round and go home; I
just felt so insecure on it. So when I see bikes out and about I sigh with a wishful
look, and snap a photo. This one …
was outside the new KFC just up the main
road from us.
And today’s funny …
Paul
walked over to the Priest after services, “You know Father, I am really don’t
know what to do I would like to attend your sermon next week but I just can’t
miss the big baseball game next Sunday, it’s just won’t work” “Oh Paul ” said
the Priest putting his arm around Paul, “don’t you know? that’s what a video
camera is for.” Paul’s face lit up “you mean I could video your sermon?”
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