Some banquet

In the post this morning arrived an invitation to a dinner and I began to get excited. My presence was requested at a Summer Dinner to launch an appeal. Then two things struck me about the invitation. I noticed that the dinner is next Saturday, so either they’ve been a bit slow getting the invites out or I was on the reserve list and not many of the original guests had accepted. I suspect the latter is the reason because the next thing I noticed is that the cost is £45 per head! Now I don’t know who the target group for this bash is but I’m not a Barclays dealer or director so I’m afraid I won’t be going.

The invite did remind me of a story Jesus told about a banquet. The great and the good had been invited but found lots of excuses not to attend. So the guest list was opened up to include the riffraff, though I don’t remember them being asked to stump up nearly a Nifty to get in. There was a sting in the tale, however, for one poor chap turned up in the wrong jacket and was promptly slung out. I’ve always identified with the unfortunate dinner guest as he seems to have been blessed with the same sartorial elegance as me. This is what I love about Jesus stories; there’s nearly always something slightly edgy or uncomfortable in there somewhere for those with ears to hear.

Knowing my luck, even if I’d accepted the invitation to the summer dinner and handed over the dosh I would have been refused entry. The dress code is ‘Lounge Suit’ and I don’t even know what one of those is, let alone possess one.

Something in the bank

I am not sure what I think of Back to Church Sunday; at times it feels a little bit more like Backsliders Sunday, with rather negative vibes, and it can excuse us from working at reaching out to the local community throughout the year. However, in this video Archbishop Rowan Williams raises some helpful insights about how we need to ‘galvanise the connection’ with the diminishing, but nevertheless still important, group of people who do have a residual connection with the Church and the Christian faith. I like Rowans phrase ‘we have something significant in the bank’ and we need to make use of it.

Love, Dad

It would be true to say that Ronald Reagan was one of my least favourite politicians. He represented so much of what I detested about politics and international relations in the 1980s. Today I came across this letter published by Letters of Note which gives a glimpse into the wisdom of a man very different from his public persona. The letter is written by Reagan to his son Michael shortly before he got married in 1971.

Michael Reagan
Manhattan Beach, California
June 1971
Dear Mike:
Enclosed is the item I mentioned (with which goes a torn up IOU). I could stop here but I won't.

You've heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the "unhappy marrieds" and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another viewpoint. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.

Some men feel their masculinity can only be proven if they play out in their own life all the locker-room stories, smugly confident that what a wife doesn't know won't hurt her. The truth is, somehow, way down inside, without her ever finding lipstick on the collar or catching a man in the flimsy excuse of where he was till three A.M., a wife does know, and with that knowing, some of the magic of this relationship disappears. There are more men griping about marriage who kicked the whole thing away themselves than there can ever be wives deserving of blame. There is an old law of physics that you can only get out of a thing as much as you put in it. The man who puts into the marriage only half of what he owns will get that out. Sure, there will be moments when you will see someone or think back to an earlier time and you will be challenged to see if you can still make the grade, but let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life. Any man can find a twerp here and there who will go along with cheating, and it doesn't take all that much manhood. It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music. If you truly love a girl, you shouldn't ever want her to feel, when she sees you greet a secretary or a girl you both know, that humiliation of wondering if she was someone who caused you to be late coming home, nor should you want any other woman to be able to meet your wife and know she was smiling behind her eyes as she looked at her, the woman you love, remembering this was the woman you rejected even momentarily for her favors.

Mike, you know better than many what an unhappy home is and what it can do to others. Now you have a chance to make it come out the way it should. There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.
Love,
Dad

P.S. You'll never get in trouble if you say "I love you" at least once a day.

h/t Sarah Fey

RIP Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn

Yet another legend departs the stage as the death is announced of bass player Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn. Thanks for some great music and for The Blues Brothers.

Inventing the mythical Jesus

This is the best piece I've read this Eastertide. As another blogger has said 'Doug being brilliant'.

Inventing the mythical Jesus. 

Yep, we’re all in this together!

Walk On

In celebration of Aung San Suu Kyi taking her seat at the Burmese parliament.