After the standard outbursts from the White House and the AI generated images of its leader as Jesus (including bolts of celestial light but minus the choir) Pope Leo XIV felt obliged to say “enough of the idolatry of self and money”. Not mentioning Trump by name but nudge, nudge, wink, wink. For this is the bloke who said when asked to comment on why the random sinking of a vessel off Sri Lanka and the attendant deaths was necessary said “Because it’s more fun.”
As you’ve all noticed the president is also in the habit of using the Bible as a useful marketing tool to indicate his pious frame of mind. Maybe these political tactics are starting to be noticed by his rank and file supporters and his reign shortened!!
People who know him and his puerile habits confidently assert that he has the attention span of a tom tit. Of course this clamour for immediate satisfaction is a state of mind that most moderns also prefer i.e. they are more engaged with the colour of their next car than grappling with more awkward topics like religion and whether it is a hoax or the real oil (even at the current higher prices!).
A brief quote from the Daily Mails Dominic Lawson is in order – “this is the age of concentration loss. To put it at its most alarming we are all becoming a bit more like Donald Trump although, one would hope, without the amorality and narcissism.”
Bottom line is there could hardly be a wider disparity between the current shoot-from-the-hip American approach and the considered solemnity of Lent and Easter. These religious festivals are marked by a period of quiet reflection and restraint. As kids growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s there was also the unwelcome pinch of self-denial. We were issued with a Lenten savings box – empty when placed on our bedroom table and expected to be brimming with our pocket money by the end of Lent. All done as
Google says, in the interests of fostering “simplicity and self-control”.
A heads up – from 30 May to November there will be books, jigsaws, Bric a Brac, in the Church Hall.
Later in the year we plan a Quiz Evening.
Any queries please call Shari 0276364579
Please refer to Lion’s Community page in this issue for details of May events at First Church.
