Virtual Methodist

In response to my post about bonfires last year , my colleague Nick McKnight made the comment that bonfires always reminded him of the Tower of Babel... There's something to be said in that, both in form and symbol... They are one of the clearest markers of community division in Northern Ireland... Not only between Protestant and Catholic, but also between "working class" and middle class Protestants... Indeed my son asked me only last week why we didn't have a bonfire in the area where we live, while there are many in the estate where I work? This year, the chaotic state of the bonfire site closest to our church is also symbolic of the chaotic state of the loyalist community... Over the past few years it has been well marshalled and organised... This year the debris has been scattered across the local green for months, with people from far and wide, many of whom will never go near a bonfire on the 11th night, dumping all kinds of rubbish... much of which would poison...

Has there ever been an inauguration like it? Stupid question - answer no! Forgetting all the shattering of the "color-bar" stuff (as if you could) and the palpable sense of hope and expectation invested in him and the event itself, the sheer multi-platform coverage of the whole thing was mind-blowing... My poor little RSS feed couldn't keep up with everyone blogging about it (some more constructively than others)... Even the West Wing (the real one, not the comforting televisual one) has entered the blogosphere immendiately after the inauguration. Also my email inbox was suddenly filled with emails from American friends who seemingly felt that they could emerge out of hiding and re-engage with the world now that their nation had regained a sense of pride in itself and vision for where it should be going. "I found myself singing the words of the National Anthem no longer embarrassed to be known as an American" wrote one... While more than one echoed MLK Jnr in s...