Virtual Methodist

On this Saturday when the Orange Order has proposed another parade along the contentious Crumlin Road in North Belfast... a proposal which, in my mind, as recklessly provocative and rightly restricted by the Parades Commission, most of the internet snippets that have caught my eye this week relate to last week's Twelfth Parade and it's aftermath... First was a piece by Alan in Belfast, posted on the Slugger O'Toole site last month, but which I only saw this week, critiquing the BBC coverage of the Twelfth Parades in the wake of the corporation's assessment that its coverage in  2012 had complied with its own impartiality guidelines... I have to say that I agree with Alan's analysis, not suggesting that the BBC's coverage should be reduced, but should be more imaginative and informative. However, this year's coverage was just more of the same, suggesting that the Beeb has a lot to learn... But nothing like as much to learn as the Orange Order. Again, ...

Thinking further on yesterday's post and applying my lenten discipline to "think on what is good" thought I would post the following video for you today. I posted it a few months ago via facebook, but it's worth another look. it reflects an altogether different experience of care than that criticised in the report referred to yesterday. I first came across it through one of the clip shows on TV but as soon as I saw it I knew where it had been produced, Clark Retirement Community in Grand Rapids, Michigan as I had the pleasure of preaching there on my birthday a few years ago while on exchange. My eldest son suggested that he might put me there when I retire, and you know, I wouldn't object to that arrangement, although I think it may be well out of my budget. Hope you enjoyed that... But while you're there, just one more comment... This lip-dub was clearly produced with the intention of communicating something positive to those checking out...

This morning I awoke to news of a major report criticising the care of elderly people in Northern Irish residential homes .  As a minister I'm in and out of various residential and nursing homes and I am compiling a list of ones that I would rather die than go into. There are many reasons, or at least excuses for this, including the profit motive (another of the reasons to keep the private sector out of the NHS), but one commentator suggested that some of the problems come from the attitude of our society in general to older people, and to our tendency to look on the outside and forget about the person inside.  It reminded me of the following poem which I used at our last Healthcare Sunday service . At the time I attributed it to a Christian nurse, Phyllis McCormack who was working in an old people’s residential home when she witnessed an incident between a member of staff and an old person which was handled with a lack of sensitivity. The material I read suggested t...