April 18 - Trans-Jordanian Blues

There's something about a rowdy, revolutionary church song that reaches even to those who were never part of the congregation. I never had a faith to lose, I hnever had a church to find to be rotten, I never had this as a structure to be moved on from. And yet I find myself moved by this both in terms of dancing slightly in my seat and in terms of feeling the intense frustration of the hermit-crab shell of religion getting too constricting for the growing creature of faith.

These are weird times when it comes to religion, as all times are. I'm watching a lot of people who either should know better or never had the chance to know better try to grasp with reconciling their version of social liberalism with that of the Catholic Church. It's a complex prospect, especially for those who haven't found themselves in much contact with this particular version of this particular faith. And trying to maintain an accurate view can be tough when what you're trying to see is an organisation that at one and the same time can be fiery in support of the planet and the poor and peace and at the same time stern and unflinching about the rights of women, the rights of lesbians and gay people, and the very existence of trans people. And that's before we look at contraception and abortion (which is another form of contraception).

All churches are rotten. All structures are rotten. but so are the fields. Take what you need and go where the world needs you to be.