Virtual Methodist

Readers of this blog will know by now that I do a monthly stint on a local independent radio station, offering reflections on the Sunday newspaper headlines and a "Review of the Week" as part of an early morning religious magazine programme, which in its latest incarnation is called "Dawn Reflections". Today the headlines covered three broad areas depending on what papers you looked at. The Irish nationals (eg. the Irish Independent and Irish Times ) had stories critical of the past and present Irish governments' handling of the economic crisis, and reflected a spirit akin to Fraser from Dad’s Army telling us “We’re all doomed!” The erstwhile broadsheets of Britain , meanwhile, filled their front pages with photographs of a beturbaned Saif al-Islam Gaddhafi, who was captured yesterday trying to flee Libya... (Although the Observer also found space to highlight a letter from Church of England Archbishops and Bishops critical of the current indescrim...

Last weekend there was a whole hoo-haa about the injustice of 50 year old Dublin Tesco employee Mary Byrne getting axed on the X-factor ... Even prestigious Anglican bloggers have been vexed by it... However, I'm not convinced that the X-Factor being unjust is particularly newsworthy... Indeed, whether the decision as to who stays on is decided by a democratic phone-vote, or by a Cowell-dominated cabal, justice is unlikely to play a huge part in it all. But today, my thoughts are not primarily with a 50 year old singing Mary from an unprestigious area of Dublin, but a somewhat younger singing Mary, from an equally unprestigious village in northern Palestine. Carrying on the story from yesterday's annunciation, we turn to Mary of Nazareth's song of praise to God in the light of his promise of pregnancy to Elizabeth, her elderly cousin being fulfilled. This familiar song of praise, read or sung in various forms not only in advent, but throughout the year, should resonate powe...

A few days ago Crookedshore posted a typically perceptive post on the situation being faced by yet another generation of young Irish people, heading to London, New York, Chicago, Boston and other big centres of ex-pat Irish in search of work. There are those who suggest that this time it may well be disproportionatly those with higher qualifications who leave the sinking ship of the Irish economy, an experience which the majority community in the occupied 6 counties have had for years with young Protestants tending to go to universities across in GB, rather than staying in Ireland, and never coming back. I did read (and post on facebook) an interesting article by Matthew Lynn suggesting that this likely outcome is one of the reasons why it may be better for Ireland to go bust rather than accept the EU/IMF bail-out. I'm not economically competent enough to comment on that in detail, but he raises some interesting issues... But meanwhile, back at the Crookedshore, he cites one of my ...