Out with the Old, in with the New

I hope you had a great Easter break? I had the Bank Holidays and weekend off and the weather was sort of okay, at least it was dry. A 21st birthday party and other social events kept us busy and chilled out and the weather has miraculously decided to get better here. This post Easter week has been pleasant and warm - so much so that smog is a problem in the south UK with industrial pollutants from Europe, domestic road pollution and Saharan desert sand being deposited upon us, it makes for difficult breathing for some. 

A break down this weekend coming will see fresher conditions, little in the way of pollution and some rain.

Richie Benaud, OBE

I was sorry to hear of the death of Australian Richie Benaud today. He was 84 and had been suffering from skin cancer, something he had campaigned to protect people against for years. This man was a blast from my past and was the voice of cricket on UK television for many years on BBC and then Channel 4. His melodious gentle Aussie accent was coloured by a dry wit and long periods of silence from the commentary box as he left the viewers to enjoy the game and the atmosphere without lots of forced waffle and drivel. His co-commentator for many years was Yorkshireman, the late Jim Laker, himself a spinner (for England) and still holder of the record for taking 19 wickets in a single test match.

Richie Benaud had credibility too. He captained Australia to three Ashes test series wins and took nearly 250 test wickets as a spinner. His honesty meant that the listener could enjoy the game knowing that he praised good cricket from whatever team and criticised it by equal measure without fear or favour.

For him the score book is complete and the pavilion doors close for the last time.

What did Easter mean for you? Did you celebrate it in a religious context or with traditional pagan rites such as buying  Easter eggs and suchlike? Perhaps you mixed the two. I missed the funeral of a good friend recently through no fault of my own which I regret, but I have happy memories of him which will always be around.  I would have liked to celebrate his life and what he gave to people. In the same way that I guess most religions celebrate the life of Christ and give thanks for the sacrifice he gave for us and his rising so that we may live again. 

I know of one religion that sees this as a sad mournful occasion with grey and dark overtones. What a pity. Spiritualism has so much connection to religion although seemingly at a distance for some sometimes. Some who follow my faith don't like to associate themselves with God or religion at all, yet believe in Angels (as I do) who of course are messenger of guess who? God. Nothing is perfect I have learned.

I don't like the orthodox church particularly but it gives people faith and comfort - good for them. I guess I have seen too much hypocrisy to impress me any more. I still have both my Methodist and then my later Church of England christening, but these in my view have now lapsed as I have left their ways behind. God is here, in my heart, God is all around us, I don't have to go to church to believe in the divine. I am a good person, do good things; I think I'm a good citizen, I care for others, I'm even philanthropic now and then where I can afford it. I love my partner, my children and our family. I pray - to the God I understand and love.

Importantly, I respect others love for their religion even though some of them are a little at odds with modern living. Religion has damaged me in some ways and recovering is hard but with the love and support of my partner and family, my live is becoming more fulfilled spiritually.  There is life after religion!

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Divided Household

Holy Trinity before the Carol Concert, excuse the quality, taken on my mobile

My very good friend Linda and I went to our annual Christmas church visit on Sunday night, 9th December. This year we went to see the EYMS brass band, one of the best brass bands in the UK, and the Hull Freedom Choir at the magnificent Holy Trinity Church in Hull. There was a formal carol concert with the packed congregation singing along to the amazing accompaniment of the band interspersed with readings.

After an interval, there was an informal concert with the band playing popular Christmas tunes and the choir singing some unusual Christmas songs. It was a wonderful concert and at times, strangely, very emotional. 

This is a funny time of year for me. The children and I celebrate Christmas, my wife does not - she's a Jehovah's Witness. So the jobs of Christmas are mine; cards get sent out without her name on them for example. The first year I sent them out without her name on, probably twenty years or so ago, I had to write an explanation on them which was awkward and embarrassing, but no-one bothered or commented for which I am very grateful, and I get cards back to this day from the same friends, but without her name on. 

She still eats with us on Christmas day, she has to eat all the same, but she won't put a paper hat on, or pull crackers etc., etc., but life goes on, after all these years I'm quite used to it. She doesn't recognise birthdays either so it saves me a few bob, but there is a gap in our lives at what are special times for the rest of us.

Whilst I read of some communities who revel in differences and feel stronger for it, there is a wedge that religion has driven between us and so the differences between my beliefs and hers are a world apart. There is no meaningful commonality even though we believe in the same God; the theory of what its all about and the interpretation of what the Bible says and how we worship is so different.

Mine is a relaxed and joyful experience in the modern world, hers is brought about by indoctrination and a love of God above everything else taking lessons for life from a time long gone by, written for people also long gone. No doubt she enjoys her religion, I don't really know, it's not shared.

I fully support the freedom to choose and live your life as you see fit within the bounds of the law and therefore I can't criticise her right to choose and follow her path as I have done in my belief. I just dislike the dogma and inflexibility and in some ways the hypocrisy of how JW's conduct their selves within their religion enjoying the worldly advantages of modern life.

They will say the same about me no doubt, the Bible tells them that Spiritualists (me) are receiving messages from Satan to give false hope and deception. Wasn't Jesus one of the greatest of all in His Spiritualism and His love of God. Didn't He bring together Moses and Elijah who had been dead hundreds if not thousands of years on the Mount of Transfiguration and He even spoke to them? 

Angels are littered through the Bible in a whole host of stories - superhuman beings, messengers of God. Is there no greater spiritual being than an Angel or Arch-Angel? Yet these ethereal beings are accepted without question. I believe in Angels - I wonder if that makes my wife uncomfortable?

One thing I have learned in my life living with a JW is that you never argue about the content, meaning and interpretation of the Bible. They know it backwards, forwards and upside down and interpret it in a unique and very literal way. 'The Truth' as they call it.

What is the truth, how do we reconcile out faith and belief with the truth of stories, written in a few cases and handed down by word of mouth for thousands of years and collected together and debated by mortal people centuries after the death of Christ before being put together in an agreed version in a book? 

For me that's the crux of it all: Why is my belief and worse or better than anyone elses? Why does one religion find themselves superior and better knowing than the rest? What do the hundreds of thousands of scrolls written centuries ago which have been ignored say, and how do they lend to the debate?

I am just comfortable with myself and what I believe in. I am what I am. I do what I do. 

I hope you are comfortable about yourself too - you deserve to be without being criticised and lambasted because you have given yourself a label even if that label is 'no religion recognised here.'

I don't think this is a rant and it is not meant to be, this is just a personal observation that relates to how I think as an individual and how religion affects me personally. I know fellow bloggers are interested about people and their lives - well here is mine - laid bare.

If you are angry with what I have written I am sorry; if you agree with it, that is up to you and either way I respect your point of view, but please don't leave a rant or embarrass yourself, be constructive if you make a comment and let me understand how you feel.

Have a great week

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

DIY ineptitude & Easter

Easter is just around the corner and the weather conspires against the great British (and Irish) public by promising grey, damp and cool Spring weather. My 'holiday' starts today; in truth this is a week starting today I have always taken traditionally as a way of preparing the garden and life in general for the summer. A good spring clean, trips to the tip, central heating turned down or off, houseplants re-potted and conservatory windows open occasionally and we wait for the wires to go up but clearly the race for a decent spring has hardly begun.

I got home yesterday evening and my wife had prepared a list of small jobs: fix a net curtain hook, fix two light fittings and replace all the smoke alarms (they are nearly ten years old but still go off when I over-cook the lamb chops!) This morning I have already cleaned the fish tank and my other half is in a good mood, she's lost three and a half pounds on her diet - she might forget she's written me a list but I'm not holding my breath.

"I haven't spoken to the wife for over a month. We haven't had a row, I just daren't interrupt her!"
Les Dawson

I am, I have to confess, a DIY dummy. I sort of get by but I reckon I could have saved thousands of pounds during our near thirty years of marriage by being able to do the plumbing, the electrics and build useful and practical furniture. I once replaced some ceiling lights in my old house with brand new three bulb hanging lights. We had newly decorated and the room looked fabulous. I hooked the wires up firmly fixed the fitting back to the ceiling, switched the electricity on and the lights worked a treat. Trouble was they wouldn't switch off! Needless to say, red faced I had to ring a friend to ask what I had done and even to this day, whilst I did what was instructed, I still don't understand how they worked. I'm not a disaster zone mind, houses don't fall down or anything when I drill a hole in the wall and I've now learned that the right drill and the right plug have to be used with the right sized screw - hey presto it all works!

I don't eat Easter Eggs any more and my diet wouldn't allow it anyway and so apart from being a nice break, I wondered how many people really think about Easter and what it's all about. We could use the same question to ask about Christmas (the celebration of the birth of Jesus) or other religious based holidays such as Whitsuntide (the Holy Spirit approached the Apostles in the form of flames). Do we appreciate what it means and do we trouble to celebrate the origins and reasons of the occasion? Some people do of course, their faith leaves them in no doubt that the execution of Jesus and his Resurrection three days later is the whole basis of Christian religion - without this it seems to me there is no religion, no hope, nothing to look forward to.

The Easter bunny has its origins in folklore of course and some religions do not celebrate Easter at all thinking that some of the things we do are simply pagan. But if His death and Resurrection is so fundamental to our lives - after all it's given us the common thread through the modern western world for nearly 2000 years, then why not celebrate unlike the Jehovah's Witnesses who have a 'memorial' dirge or the Quakers who believe every day is the Lord's day and have no need for extra celebrations.

Whatever you believe (or not) have a great weekend, enjoy the chance to be with family or friends or doing something you really like.

Lord Byron described the English Winter - "...ending in July to recommence in August."

Chat soon

Ta-ra!