This Morning's Sunday Worship on Radio 4 was broadcast from the Wales Millennium Centre, in honour of St David's day, later this week, called 'Love of Nation'. It was led by a contemporary colleague of mine, the veteran BBC religious programme presenter Baptist Minister Roy Jenkins with the BBC National Chorus of Wales. One of the contributors Roy interviewed was singer Vanessa Hall, long standing member of St John's City Parish Church and old friend of ours. That was a surprise and delight to start the day.
The respite from horrible weather only lasted a day. It was dry when I drove to St German's to celebrate the Eucharist, but by the time we finished it was raining again. We were nearly forty with the children, and I noticed several new faces in the congregation. I had a good chat with Basma afterwards, going over the baptismal words in Arabic which I'll learn to use for her big day. We've covered most of the ground we needed to in preparation. Not knowing when she'll get her residence permit is a frustration for planning. We'd love this to happen at Easter, the most appropriate time of year. If the delay is longer, I'll be away for two months. Basma insists I should be the one to baptize her, although it's not essential that I do. I'll be happy if I can complete her preparation. It's for Fr Stewart and Fr Jarel to decide when the time comes.
I drove home in pouring rain. It was half past one when I arrived, late for lunch. The rain continued until eight in the evening, so I snoozed in the chair for an hour, then prepared next week's liturgical texts. As the rain slackened, Clare ventured out for a walk, while I took advantage of a quiet house to record and edit next week's Morning Prayer. Once the rain reduced to a trickle, I went out, walked for three quarters of an hour, returning in time for the Archers and supper. The rain finally stopped so I went out again and walked to reach my daily quota. There's no doubt this much exercise does me good. A clear head and relaxed sleep are well worth the effort.
Speculation is mounting over a cease fire deal in Israel's war on Gaza, although Netanyahu's government is still unready to agree, despite mounting pressure at home and abroad to do so. The intransigence of the Israeli government is having repercussions all over the world against Jewish people being scapegoated for what a secular extreme right regime has done to Palestinians, though they can play no part in its decisions and policies and have little or no ability to influence them. Blaming one group of people for the actions of another is unjust, ignorant, irrational. It's a symptom of contagious malice, amplified and spread by social media, so hard to contain or counter when dominated by people of ill will. An instrument of conviviality easily flips over into a devouring monster. When will the world tire of such impoverished communication?
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