Acceptance

 

Hello everyone. Thank you for reading this. I hope it is warm where you are - always assuming of course that you like it warm. It has been so warm that I have given in and bought a pair of shorts AND I actually left the house wearing them yesterday. It was not the most edifying sight but, if I could just qualify, it is not particularly "brave" of me. A lot of people on Instagram are saying "Be Brave - wear the shorts". Er no. Not brave. Wear shorts if you want or don't. It's ok. 

I hope you had a lovely Fathers' Day - if you bother. Speaking to our Minister this morning - "on the door" as they say, he said that they don't have Father's Day in their house because his wife says that "Every chuffing day is Father's Day in here" and I think there are many that can empathise with that. HOH received thoughtful presents and cards and I am very much looking forward to sharing the Walnut Whips with him later as it seems only fair as I'm not that keen on Toblerone and I do wish the kids would remember that when they are buying him stuff on Father's Day. Anyway, I thought I would bung a photo of the lad up here because he is a good dad even though this photo makes it more obvious that I am punching up and also despite the fact that he stopped me watching Barry Manilow night on BBC2 last week and said it was for my own good. 

Just the usual disclaimer here. If you are mourning the empty space where a Father should be - either because of devastating loss or because your father didn't exactly meet the criteria for fatherhood (maybe measured on a sliding scale including absenteeism, drunkism, emotional distantism and general waste of spaceism), can I just say that this does not mean that Fatherhood is a busted flush and, I highly recommend the Father Heart of God instead where you will find safety and acceptance. If you are wondering how something like that would manifest itself, check out the story of The Prodigal Son because that is about the long and short of it.  

I think it has been quite a dark week here in the UK with people being stabbed on the street. Those of us who have sent children off to university will have been especially affected by the deaths of the students. You send your precious offspring off into the big wide world and that is not how you expect it to go before they have even got started. I know the phrase "Thoughts and Prayers" has lost a lot of meaning now as it has become something that American politicians say rather than do anything useful about the gun crisis but genuinely, we have been full of thoughts and prayers for those dear families. 

High up on the annoyance-o-meter has been the film of toffs dancing and partying during the pandemic lockdown. Why is it so much worse on film than it is on a photo? You can almost see the contempt for ordinary people coming out of their pores. Anyway, we showed 'em. We made 'em pay. We took some of them to one side and we gave them OBEs. That showed 'em eh Boris. Also, as a childish aside.  How rubbish is that dancing? He nearly had her eye out a couple of times. 

Unless you have been living down a hole you will have noticed that it is PRIDE month in the UK. this is a chance for big business to show how inclusive it is by bunging a rainbow flag on the end of their logo. For those who don't know, my brother was a gay man but I don't know how he would be with PRIDE month. He was quite counter-cultural and often preferred being under the radar. Also, I'm fairly certain he would rather have set fire to his own hair than go on a march with glitter eyebrows and wearing skimpy shorts. (To backtrack on my earlier comment - that probably would have been brave - especially for those who watched it). For those of us in church communities, the current thinking around homosexuality is a bit woo-woo which is a movement on from burning people at stakes I suppose. Most of the campaigning I see is from people who have children who are gay. Over the years, I have noticed that having someone you love come out can concentrate the mind wonderfully when it comes to thinking through your position on this, and that is perfectly understandable. I am all in favour of this not judging people - unless you are a dancing toff in a pandemic - as long as it extends far enough. PRIDE is now a powerful force in society. Upset them on Twitter and you will never hear the last and sometimes people deserve for that to happen. However, especially in churches, we need to make sure that the "no judgement" includes the woman in the middle of a messy divorce, the person who smells a bit funny because hygiene is not a priority where they live, the chap who is still broken-hearted years after his bereavement and doesn't seem to make any progress and the asylum seeker who is culturally a million miles away from us. These are people without powerful lobby groups, who don't really feel they have much to be proud of and our compassion and acceptance is just as important here - maybe even more so. 

Right then, off to read my Richard Osman. People can be quite sniffy about Richard Osman but I think the books are really good. I will never be cool. Ask me if I care. Have a good week.