No piercings please, we're Christian

Another lovely walk today sticking to the paths this time. Discovered a new signpost near the old brick works.

You can still see the remains of the old brick path in places throughout the woods. There was a quarry, an arsenic mine, and coal mines in the woods in the past, as well as the brick works.

Loads of lovely wild garlic beds. I understand you're supposed to gather the leaves before the flowers come out if you want to make pesto though.

Came home and planted my new rambling rose, still in a pot because the wall won't be ready for it for some time. And then I sat in the sun and read. The first time this year. 

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No daytime television watching for me today then. I've watched a few series of The Pilgrimage now while I've been under the weather. (Seven pilgrims undertake a traditional pilgrimage to find God or themselves or whatever they're looking for. Each series has an Anglican, a Roman Catholic, a Muslim and a Jew, practising or nominal in each case. Overall the Muslims come over best. All the pilgrims are lovely and on the whole very respectful of and generous to the others.

In the last series a born-again Christian featured. He used to be in a boy band - Boyzone maybe - and is called Shane or Wayne or something. He was very serious about his faith and wouldn't accept a blessing from a Roman catholic. Their pilgrimage ended at the site in Fatima where the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to three young children, in time for a huge candle-lit vigil, a big thing in Catholic circles. The day they were supposed to join this vigil he went home leaving them a note, saying he couldn't take part in something worshipping Mary or Fatima or any saint. I understand his view but felt he'd let down the pilgrims with whom he was travelling. 

They'd spent over two weeks on the road together, learning and getting to know each other, appreciating other faiths and supporting each other. And he must have known that was where the pilgrimage would end so why sign up for it? 

The one I'm in the middle of at the moment is a trip across North Wales, in beautiful scenery and bright sunshine so far! There's a reality star who was Eton-educated and at one point we had the lapsed Muslim explaining to him that Jesus and, indeed the saints whose tombs they were visiting, were real people, not from a story. (I know Stu will disagree with that!) The Eton boy was stunned. "That makes all the difference," he said. 

As one of the other pilgrims said, "What school did you say you went to?"

And while we're on the school Christianity subject, something on Debra's blog reminded me of something that still makes me mad twenty-five years later.

A group of mums used to have a school prayer group and we were sometimes invited into the school to pray with Christian teachers. On one occasion we took a team of young people with us. They were spending a year with a church, learning, volunteering, teaching, talking about Jesus to anyone who'd listen. 

We suggested to the teachers that this group could go into the school and lead an assembly. Show the pupils that Christians weren't all old fuddy duddies.

The Head of Religious Studies said, "No. He has long hair, and he has an earring. What kind of example would they be setting if we let them stand on the stage in front of our children?"

This is wrong in so many ways and left me silent but spitting. Anyway, here are the memes Debra posted that set me off.

.Precisely.