You have no need to apologise. You didn't jump the queue. You were at the front of it - in hospital - on the basis of need. If anyone needed it sooner than you they'd have been in hospital. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Nails. Wood. Blood. Nail. Head. Hit. #micdrop

Deborah thank you so much. I must take a look again at those songs you mention from that perspective. The only one of them I had read that way in the past was Make You Feel My Love. I put a link to my previous musings on it in the blog post above. In case you missed it, or didn't notice need to click on the link in the previous blog, here's the direct link to my slideshow put to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHkrbVArXlg

Eduardo, thanks for the repost. I learned some fascinating things on Edlis Cafe!

Nice surmise, and important balanced points around economic welfare. Boris has got plenty of speech writing talent on hand, and clearly his bluster is a breath of fresh air to some. He's got at least 2 problems - one of which he highlighted in his "repair the damage" speech last night (which I think was much clearer than the previous one): 1. it is much more tricky to make decisions to emerge from lockdown than to shut down, and even more tricky to explain those to public and journalists who focus on very specific detail when the broad sweep is all that can be decided at this point. 2. He faces challenges from 2 extremes within his own party - those wanting to "get wealth going" and those who wish to prioritise lives over an early return to economic improvement/wealth generation. Presenting a coherent approach with that kind of stuff going on in the background can't be easy. That said, well done Norn Iron Executive on the detail published today. It fits within the same broad sweep as England's principles but timed a little differently at this point, and much clearer - probably because they didn't get themselves pressurised into releasing something half-baked. Some of the journalists/media presenters should be ashamed 'tho. After pressurising government to shut down/shut schools, almost no sooner than that happens, stirring discontent over lockdown, economic effects, return to schools, and lack of certainty on timescales.

Outstanding, highly considered, and balanced approach. It is never too early to start learning new rituals which can help our neighbour.

WONDERFUL

Amen to both. Tho, as you have observed Steve, not all Protestant denominations neglected Ascension or indeed the Communion of Saints. Isn’t cross-fertilisation a wonderful thing. Aslan is on the move.

Don't mess with a Mantis... (don't know if there's an analogy with humans that's appropriate or not on that one!): Amazing creation... check the link... https://www.facebook.com/entomologyInnPakistan/videos/377816023158019/?__xts__[0]=68.ARCjpfB7B0DzLIwsnloLusfxnXPHbntUrhUlSwUfqgzaVS79uTP_Qx7ojUcmPYWvD-c0_hBWSaAE08cDX-UL2zOefECE9KlIKTfE9Sd748_RpqWMxH4tWcBl6n789c98pJBvyxYJ2h7ZXB1et5BP9tGrm49qswbDRviYsrU73hGQHdupbE5O7_IIjsaW_1tPJ9BPW3YwqEbJNhCeGCC_GtKDmEU3y7eH0xhxH6TbGDQNt3A2MMAv69EqGeLyt6TM1UTkI5hEaB5GgAMCFmWkETz0BZBA2VvLhCJvHpWBF43U-lgwPLxSts5Qocd-IfO8YUJFWAeRToG0r9iVH6ffi9DG5P9sgSMq0w&__tn__=H-R

Smashing it, Rev.

Hear hear. “The Beatles said ‘all you need is love’, and then they broke up.”

Superb. Tragic. Superb. Tragic. Superb. Tragic. Like history. Repeating itself. Regardless. If people didn't cry out, the rocks would...

Wonderful! The same Sam Wells perchance as was inspirationally quoted (Improvisation: The Drama of Christian ethics) last Sunday by Ross Lockhart?

Also, the only record in my collection of quite a few hundred that I literally wore out...

As a young lad raised in the Anglican tradition (chanting the Te Deum, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, Urbs Fortidinis, Jubilate an' all - in English), Gloria in te Domine was for me as revolutionary as Dylan going electric. I still haven't recovered from the electric jolt those songs gave me. I watched TV footage at the same time those rumours were circulating - perhaps the same TV footage as you: a live show with Bono in leather trousers throwing himself off the stage into the crowd. It reminded me of the Trust "Simulation game" we had played on my own youth fellowship weekend - closing your eyes and falling backward relying on others to catch you. Powerful stuff, still reverberating.

Wonderful. Just. Wonderful.

Worthy of an Anglican Collect, Stocki - not in the divisional denominational sense, but in the sense of worthy of a regular outing as part of liturgy. Wonderful

Amen

Great post. I always think "I get so many things I don't deserve" is a wonderful segue from "I waited patiently for the Lord."

Great post. Whilst often frustrated with our politicians lack of grace or leading on behalf of the whole community, a brief drive through the area which are their bedrock of electoral support provides a quick and unwelcome reminder that they are hamstrung by the electorate, particularly in areas which are almost universally orange or green. The familial and societal reinforcement of entrenched grievances and fears of "the other", often without the tempering of personal experience or friendship across the political divide, is a really hard nut to crack. The whole thing is a positive feedback loop which needs to be broken if we are to move forward. We need an outpouring of Grace in our ghetto communities, and we have to continue to think creatively how to bring that about. Those of us living in comfortable middle class suburbs are ill equipped to persuade those with different life experiences and backgrounds.

Very reminiscent of The Tune (wonder what it'd sound like if it had one!) - which is only a "very good" thing. :-)

“But please, please - won't you - can't you give me something that will cure Mother?' Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself. 'My son, my son,' said Aslan. 'I know. Grief is great.”