Most of you have de-camped to sunnier climes. Readers have reported in from Sri Lanka, Rajasthan, the West Indies, Spain , North Africa and New Zealand. Well, it’s not so bad in London.
I have been cutting the Ancient World Breakfast Club either because it has been pitch black at 7.00 am and freezing and/or my hangover was critical. Today sunrise is officially at 7.10 am but actually it’s quite light earlier than that. Nevertheless those of us that live by the church calendar know that yesterday was the 3rd Sunday before Lent, showing how jolly late Easter is this year. I went to the Royal Hospital for choral matins with the merry widow and my neighbour, the equestrian lawyer (retired).
Rather to my horror there was a double baptism woven into the service. Dominic and Vincent looked to me like brothers but my companions assured my they are twins and the younger one struggles at first but then puts a spurt on, giving all us younger sons cause for hope. The padre had it all dealt with in under fifty minutes. I always enjoy saying “well done padre” and had another chance yesterday – “good army training”, was his riposte, followed by “and I kept the sermon to five minutes”.
The reading was an extract from St Luke’s Gospel. The Order of Service had this misleading illustration.
I do not like this sort of biblical picture. I cannot really say why except that it looks a bit like the stuff Jehovah’s Witnesses hand out. Anyway, it pretty obviously depicts the Sermon on the Mount. If I may digress, Gladstone was not adverse to preaching from on high. In 1892, when he was 83, he went a short way up Snowdon, clambered onto a 12 foot high rock and held forth to a crowd of some 2,000. Justice for Wales was his text but he was there to open the first public footpath in Britain – to the top of Snowdon.
St Luke’s Gospel, contrary to St Matthew, records that Christ took his stand on level ground and you will remember his, slightly perplexing, sermon so I’ll just refresh your memory with a flavour:
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.“
Well, we are fairly rich and well fed but it didn’t stop us going to Le Colombier for sautéed kidneys and a decent bottle of Volnay.