Fifty shades of grey II

Well, she bought it, but has banned me from picking it up. 

Then we've been through cycles of morality debate.

1. She needs to read it to communicate with peers.
2. That's just an excuse: it's porn and will pollute her
3. She would object to me reading a male equivalent
4. Therefore she will throw it away
5. But before she does she will read enough to get the feel of what it's about.
6. From a human perspective, I would like her to read it all, in the hope that it will awaken her post-menopausal hormones and make her more sexual, both in frequency and diversity.  (but see item 2)
7. Her friends (some aka pastoral cases) are all talking about it (see item 1)
8. etc

I think we are on step 5 at present.

Personally, I flicked through some pages and came to these conclusions:

• It's for women (ie you have to flick through many pages before you get to the 'interesting' bit)
• When it is 'interesting' it is quite strong in content and language - not like Mills and Boon euphemisms.
• If she does try to read it all, since she is really quite civilised, she is most likely to find it too strong and bin it anyway.

Work is finally beginning to pick up a bit.

(See post title)

Fourth of July

Hah!  I get the prize for a misleading post title!

It was my daughter's fourth birthday, 'of July' in the sense that it was 'in' July.

She was very excited, loved her presents (Don't tell her they were cheap because they ware last season's).

Went for  a walk in the park, where she told EVERYBODY "It's my birthday.  I'm 4"

15 small noisy children at her party later on.  Cake in the shape of a pony's head.

She loved it all.

I loved her loving it.

Mid-Wales is dead

Well it is on Sunday afternoon anyway.  Perhaps it is because there are so many churches?

But we did find a very nice cafe in Llandeilo and the Pontcysyllte aqueduct is spectacular and amazing.  Unless you suffer vertigo and the 4 year-old daughter tugging randomly at you is small enough to fall between the railings into the river more than 50m below!!!

Best Dad in the World

I had that panicky email from my Brother in law last Thursday - Dad's gone into hospital - looks like this might be it - if you're going to visit you had better do it quickly.

He's 89, virtually blind, hard of hearing.  Barely able to walk even with help, and at serious risk of falls.

On Thursday he was weak, dehydrated and panting for breath (while proclaiming to be fine).  So they rushed him into hospital.

We saw him on Friday morning.  Looking like a pal;id, jaundiced skeleton.  On a drip, catheter and oxygen mask.  Dr said he was stable, suffering from a chest infection which caused the loss of appetite (hence weakness and dehydration) and the panting.  Antibiotics would fix the infection, and everything else would follow.

He kept saying he was cold.  The nurses dismissed this as just a perception owing to his fever, and would not get him a blanket.  So we had to put a vest on him, which meant disconnecting the drip and then waiting for ages for them to reconnect it.  Ditto, later, cardigan.

We visited again on Friday.  He was in a bigger room, off the drip and oxygen, looking a better colour, eating and drinking more, chatting more, sleeping less.  Dr was right!  Talk was now of what to do with him next.  He is too weak to go home and Mum is too weak (and getting batty) to look after him.  So it will probably be a nursing home.

My Brother and Sister were both there too, and Mum: the first family gathering for years.  So I took the chance to shyly and tentatively do a speech, which came out all wrong.  "He's one of the best Dad's in the world".  Brother jumped on that - "ONE of the best??? THE best!".  I couldn't agree more.  Everything that I am comes from him (with elements of Mum as well of course).

I love him to bits.  It will hurt more than I realised it would, when he goes.  But the time has come when it will be kindest to let him go to Glory.

Cumbria

Went to Kendal on Friday for the funeral of my colleague that passed away recently.

It turned out to be more of a memorial service - no coffin or anything - so I felt vaguely let down, as did my other work colleagues I think.

The mood was quite light.  The Eulogy was quite humourous, with ripples of laughter going across the congregation.  I have no doubt that its what the family (and my dead friend) would have wanted, but it didn't work for me.  I needed something with a joy at a deep level rather than superficial, and with more acknoledgement of the grief of parting.

Anyway, it meant I had an excuse to be in the area, and so I took my wife and pre-school child along too.  We found a good play area (The Fun Factory) right on Bowness Bay.  Last time we went this had closed down, but it was now very much open.  Soour daughter had a really nice time playing there while Mrs and I sat by the window overlooking the lake.  Really nice!  Then we moved to the pub next to the main jetties In Bowness Bay - I have to recommend it.  They do a generous and ridiclously cheap carvery, and you can sit by a large window with a view up the lake.  Wonderful!

Openly sexist moan about covert sexism

Scenario 1


Dominant woman says to husband “I want a big family”. Husband doesn’t really want kids, is not interested in childcare, but dutifully impregnates her multiple times, because he loves her and wants her to be fulfilled. Wife then says to husband “They’re your children too, so you have to help pay for them and look after them”

That all seems very reasonable, doesn’t it?

Scenario 2

Dominant husband says to his wife “I want a motorbike”. Wife dutifully doesn’t really want a motorbike, isn’t interested in Zen (or the art of motorcycle maintenance) but she buys him one because she loves him and wants him to be fulfilled. Husband then says “It’s your motorbike too, so you have to help maintain it and clean it”.

That doesn’t seem reasonable.

Why?  It's not fair!

I don’t actually want a motorbike. I’m just making a point. I didn’t want a big family; I only have one because that’s what she asked for. The kids are her idea, her wish, her dream, her project.  So why am I expected to do the hard work in what is actually HER hobby?

Bored

Bored Bored Bored Bored Bored Bored.

When will my project kick off again?  Pleeeease, somebody give me something to do!

Fifty shades of grey

A rather stuffy middle aged woman at church posted on her facebook page “I have got Fifty shades of grey – it’s not as good as I though”.


She’s not the kind of person you would expect to be redaing that book.

But scroll down on her page – it’s a monochrome copy of a Dulux colour chart – 50 shades of grey!

(Well. I thought it was funny).

Meanwhile my daughter, whose nickname at work id mysteriously “Greybone”, is now being called “Fifty shades of Greybone”.

My daughter’s friend had a copy of the book, so my daughter showed a page to my wife (I was away at work). She only scanned it briefly, but told me it was ‘very descriptive’.

We discussed.

Initially, my wife was saying it was a good thing: she distinguished it from porn because that is ‘in your face’ whereas this ‘makes you work’. Also, husbands would be excited to think their wives were reading it – probably true. (Blush). But I countered that it still corrupts, and that if I was reading a male equivalent she would not be happy.  She couldn't argue with that.

Later I confided to her that part of my vocal opposition was largely for the benefit of my eavesdropping daughter, to whom I need to set a good example, but that I would secretly be pleased for my wife to read it. (Blush again). Even though I still regarded it as porn and therefore technically sinful.

(Side story: she has lost her Kindle, which she was using to download scriptures and devotional books.)

This morning my wife said that maybe the Lord had hidden her Kindle to stop her from polluting it with 50 shades. She vowed not to download it, and reasoned that if she was right, her Kindle will re-appear today.

(Failing that, she’ll probably go and buy the book!)

Relics of tradition

I had this email conversation with a Roman Catholic Priest:

My Question: I have heard it said (I forget where) that for a Roman Catholic Altar to be consecrated it must contain a relic of a saint. Is there any truth in this? 
As a side comment, I hear that this is vaguely linked to the origin of graveyards around churches - at the resurrection the saint will rise (from his relic) and lead the way for the others in the graveyard.

His answer: It is the custom , though I don't believe that it is absolutely required at present. Relics are never place in a movable altar, only in a fixed, or built in altar

Q: Thank you for a pretty much instantaneous answer!
What is the theology of this custom? Numbers 19:11-16 (especially 16) indicate that that a dead body would defile an altar. (compare also 1Ki 13:2). I know that is the Old Testament and that the New Testament heads in a differnt direction, but the NT is still built on the old and for such a radical 180 degree reversal from a body defiling an altar to being part of its consecration is surprising.

A: You are forgetting about the resurrection. It changed the way we look at the body. Yes it is a very ancient custom it was an early first century custom to offer mass on to of the tombs of the martyrs

My comment: Thanks again for your reply.  I remain staunchly protestant, although slightly more educated. I continue to have a fundamentally different view of the Lord's table from Rome, but within the premise of the Roman view your answer to my query is an intellectually tenable position that I can respect, while politely disagreeing.

His reply: Disagreeing is not a problem. I often disagree with myself! Thanks for the note.

 
So, what do you think?
 
My comments are along these lines: Caholicism seems to be much more rooted in physical things than Protestantism.  We feel that the Roman Catholic approach bordes on superstition and magic, and we feel that their faith has been displaced from Christ onto objects.  This would be idolatry, as explained eloquently in the book of Wisdom 14:15-21 which they would include as canonical scripture.  They feel that the fact of the incarnation means that God IS in touch with the physical world, and there are examples in the Bible - for example - of people being being healed by touching clothes or passing under a shadow.  We counter that we 'worship in spirit and in truth'.
 
In any case, it would seem rather weird and macabre if protestants started digging up their dead pastors, cutting up the bodies and distributing bits around the country and putting them under the table they use for communion.  Probably get arrested, or at least some negative media coverage! 
 
My friend's point about the resurrection changing the way we view a body is valid.  But I still think the whole thing is misplaced faith and distracting from our focus on Christ and turning people into idolators.
 
Sorry if this seems strong: I don't intend to offend, but that's the way I see it.