Fill this land with the Father's glory

Brilliant Songs of Praise on BBC1 tonight - mostly hymns, not too much talk.   Surprising how "All things bright and beautiful" is popular for Christenings, Weddings, and Funerals - my wife says it's because it's the only hymn everyone knows!.

Islam

As a Christian I cannot argue with Baroness Warsi when she asks me to love Muslims - because that is my Christian duty.   Christianity, after all, is the religion of  LOVE.   But I cannot help noticing that all over the world Christians are being PERSECUTED - not just criticised at dinner tables - and I wish Muslims would "take up arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them".

Happiness

Had to go to the Great Western Hospital today to have my new earphone fitted - this caught my eye as I waited:

Smiling is infectious,
You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner,
and someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realized,
I'd passed it on to him .

I thought about that smile,
Then I realized its worth,
A single smile just like mine,
Could travel round the earth.
So if you feel a smile begin,
Don't leave it undetected -
Let's start an epidemic quick
And get the world infected!

Appropriate for a hospital?  

The Ordinariate

For years now the Church of England and the Church of Rome have been seeking grounds for union between what Anglicans see as the two main branches of the Catholic church.   Unfortunately, the two churches had quite different views on "union". For the Church of England it meant something like the union between England and Scotland, two quite separate identities but with the same "head"; but to Rome it meant everyone becoming Roman Catholic.   The Pope's latest initiative is to be welcomed, therefore, if only because at last the Vatican has "come clean".   There is not, and never has been, any chance of the sort of union for which Anglicans had prayed  and laboured.   Pope John Paul II tried to make that clear when he visited Ireland but no-one noticed - "There can be no reconciliation unless the Church of England accepts the doctrine of transubstantiation"........All is not lost, however: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform" !
This is what I  - an Anglican - wrote years ago for my local Roman Catholic newsletter: "It takes an enormous leap of faith to look at a piece of bread and truly believe that it is really Jesus in disguise.   The Church of England exists for those who cannot make that leap of faith and will not pretend that they can.   When I attend the ecumenical services of Holy Communion at [an English parish where Anglicans and Roman Catholics had joint celebrations of the Eucharist], in no way do I renounce the doctrine of the Church of England: I do not worship the Host because to me it is a piece of bread.   Nor does [my wife, a Roman Catholic]  fall into apostasy: she renounces nothing of the doctrine of the Church of Rome and she worships the Host because to her it is no longer a piece of bread."   The union I have always envisaged is one where our two different viewpoints, comprehended by the Holy Spirit, are recognised.   I live in hope!