Janet had a meeting in Manchester yesterday, so I went with her on the train, then walked off towards Boggart Hole Clough. I’d been past the entrance before, but never explored it. It was pleasant in the autumn sun, but foolishly I turned back before getting to the boating lake…
On the way I noticed an advert for car credit. It adds to the impression that things are more expensive when you are poor – like prices in the local shop, compared to a distant supermarket. This is how the ‘invisible hand’ works, it seems….
I also passed some blocks of flats clad in material which changes colour depending on where you stand to look at it. A photo wouldn’t have conveyed the way this shiny stuff inspired a childlike awe and wonder in me. I only hope it doesn’t burn.
For various reasons I’ve been wondering about the idea of ‘conflict of interests’. MPs have to declare any financial interests they have, so people know whether their view of an issue is biased. A name I remember from my childhood is Ernest Marples. I’m sure he was scrupulous in declaring his interests, but in what universe was it a good idea to put a man who made his money from roadbuilding in charge of the railways? And now we’re struggling to get enough railway capacity for our needs – all the more important as the realisation dawns that we can’t burn fossil fuels like there’s no tomorrow.
Things can only get better – the lectionary
Sunday’s readings can be found at this link.
Jeremiah… It’s sometimes challenging to see the ups and downs of fortune as being in God’s hands, especially when they’re down. But here there’s the promise of something better. And the passage ends with this, which to me is beautiful, speaking of an end to the religious elite… “31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 31:34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”
Psalm 121… take a look at this…
… it is on a stone on a hill overlooking the M62 as it snakes towards Lancashire.
Genesis and Luke… God in Jeremiah seems to have his ways and stick to them – although I guess the idea of ‘covenant’ itself is bipartisan. But in Genesis and Luke, in different ways, it seems to me we get pictures of God and people bargaining with each other – God, the Almighty, the Timeless, who also responds to us.
2 Timothy… Living in an era of fake news, I can’t dispute the truth of this… “4:3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4:4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.”
We all love a lie, so long as it suits our prejudices. But this leaves us with the problem of discernment. What is sound doctrine? Do we accept the authority of the white men who lead most churches? Surely in many cases this is discredited, both because of maleness and whiteness (I am white and male BTW). Is the Bible self-explanatory? Not in my experience. I think my approach is to muddle through, use some enlightenment-style scepticism, learn from as many different people of different backgrounds as possible, use my vestigial commonsense, be ready at all times to be challenged by what I read in the Bible and in the signs of the times.