February’s View ended by saying that we express hope when we set the alarm before going to sleep. Little did I realise that hypothesis would be tested a few weeks later. I was watching evening TV when a series of unexpected sharp pains occurred in the heart region. My mind immediately examined various explanations – indigestion, strain from lifting etc. The pain was intermittent but persistent. At bedtime I was reluctant to drop off to sleep but eventually I let myself drift off. I did so with hope but was not wholly confident of waking up again.
Next morning, a call to the GP told me to, “Go at once to Gloucester A&E. Staff were universally cheerfully helpful and much to my surprise, gave me a corned beef sandwich and a cup of tea around lunch time. Six hours, three ECGs, two bloodlettings and one Xray later the consultant scratched his head and said I was normal and exceptionally good for my age. He sent me home with tablets and said to contact him again if needed. I apologised for wasting his time, but he reassured me that the GP had advised me correctly and that the hospital was happy with the outcome. The day involved a deal of waiting around but was eased by The Spectator Magazine. Its articles and reviews made the hours of queueing pleasurable rather than tedious and so that night, I let myself drift off to sleep, but this time with the same hope but more confident of a reawakening.
One stimulating review entitled, “The bimbofication of art” said of modern paintings, that they, ‘look like they’ve been designed by algorithms.’ It scathingly concluded that. “Zombie entertainment is now at the root of modern culture.” According to reviewer Dean Kissick: culture nowadays comprises ‘Instagram-friendly objects that anyone can understand without thinking.’ I can’t do justice here to Dean’s review of the arts but am left in awe of his insights.
One of those insights confirmed my reservations about the way in which semi-disciplined theologians and trendy vicars alter the scriptures and fiddle with the words of hymns and prayers in order, they say, to make them more accessible, relevant, and inclusive.
Could it be that they tinker because they do not have the scholarship or creativity to create original text for themselves. Is criticising existing work easier than the scholastic study required to incorporate the present into a continuum with the past? To my mind, textual tinkerers are little different to the folk who tear down architectural gems and replace them with timber framed glass prefabricated buildings to win plaudits from fashionistas. Do they not realise that creating a future with no past will lead to the death of civilisation? But maybe that is what they want!
My main criticism of the textual tinkerers is however, that they have no confidence in today’s youth. They believe them capable only of understanding text in trendy urban vernacular. Why else would they want to dismiss the poetic phrasing of the Lord’s Prayer and call some words arcane prior to casting them into the pit of oblivion, do they believe youngsters are incapable of understanding the world of the American Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier? His poem ‘The Brewing of the Soma?’ contains the hymn “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind forgive our foolish ways” yet the tinkerers see fit to replace them, as have some hymnals, with “Creator God of Humankind forgive our foolish ways?”
Do they not know that Whittier was drawing a clear distinction between the practice of Vedic Priests who, whilst trying to obtain a divine presence, drank hallucinogenic Soma, and the Quakers whose approach to God eschews – mind altering – stimuli. To Quakers and others, the concept of Free Will is so central to the concept of a Human Self, that external influences and even extremes of emotion are unhelpful in the search for the internal presence of the immortal, invisible God within us. This is shown by the final verse: “Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and Thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, O still, small voice of calm.” Tell me: What can a tinkerer add to that?
Oh, how glad I am that the poets, psalmists hymn writers and people such as Cranmer, Shakespeare, Dickens and others helped me discover, for myself, the mysteries of life. Thank God that their texts were not ‘sanitised’ ‘inclusiv-ised’ ‘woke-ised’ and made ‘relevant’ by the tinkerers of that time.’ I was given honest tools by my teachers and trusted by them to experience for myself, the delights of learning and discovery during my sojourn on earth.
Readers know that life is a personal journey and that discoveries are ours to make. So, I end by saying, beware of those who tinker with the words of scripture and hymns. Let them, as some do, write their own words, and let history be the judge. We can think for ourselves as did F E Belden the writer of the hymn below:
Think of the beautiful, think of the true; Thoughts like an avalanche sweep over you. Keep not the multitude, sort them with care, Testing by purity, urging by prayer; Think of the beautiful, think of the fair.
View from the Pew 