"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
I was recently speaking with a friend from a non-liturgical congregation about the beauty of liturgy. I was going to write a post explaining why we do liturgy, but then I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do any better than Michael Spender’s (aka “The Internet Monk”) piece Dr. StrangeLiturgy:
In my last Best of British post I started to share some of my favourite British comedy shows which have aired more recently.
Today I’d like to talk about a show with which most residents of the United States will be familiar, “The Office”. However, not all Americans will know that this was originally a British TV show which played its final episode long before there ever was a Michael Scott or a Dwight Schrute.
I’ll admit that, when I first heard that they were making an American version of “The Office”, I became extremely indignant (“Why can’t these Americans handle British comedy?!” etc.). However, after watching the first season of the American version, I was converted. Whereas the British version limited itself to two brilliant seasons, the American version still continues when it should have been put out of its misery several seasons ago…
The original British show’s humour is far drier. You will spend far more time watching the British version through your fingers, trying to shield your eyes from the awkwardness produced by the boss from Hell, David Brent. The clip below is one of the more light-hearted moments though, where David performs the activity dreaded in every office, the performance reviews…
As I said above, the British version of “The Office” only lasted two seasons. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant then went on to write the show “Extras”, following the characters David and Maggie as they “star” as extras in movies and TV shows. I think it probably nicely captures the boredom of the job which would involve a lot of standing around.
Each week, some celebrity would make a guest appearance, such as Kate Winslet and Patrick Stewart. My favourite though was probably when Orlando Bloom made his guest appearance shortly after “Pirates Of The Caribbean” had been released:
At University I became a huge fan of the Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli after first hearing his album Songo. This blind musician has thrilled audiences around the world for years now. In the video below Andrea tells us a little story…
(Thanks to Erika for this one)
Are the Batman movies Christian allegory? Click here to find out!
I thought of this one while driving from boot camp this morning…
Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas, the Bishop of the Early Church who allegedly punched Arius in the face at the Council of Nicaea, so I thought I’d put together some memes in celebration:
Today I’d like to talk about one of the songs from a recent album of my favourite contemporary Christian band, Casting Crowns. The song is entitled “Wedding Day” and describes the wedding feast of Heaven when Christ’s Bride, the Church, is finally presented to the Him:
Towards the end of the song there’s a lyric which speaks of the scarred hands of Christ wiping away every tear:
When the hand that bears the only scars and heaven touch her face
And the last tears she’ll ever cried are finally wiped away
And the clouds roll back as He takes her hand and walks her through the gates
Forever we will reign