Hell

I learnt a lot about Hell this month.  I bought Bart Ehrman’s ‘A History of the Afterlife’ on Kindle.  Long, scholarly, but accessible.  I started it at the end of October.  In December I checked out ’hell’ in other religions, thanks to Wikipedia, and wrote the blog in a week.

Death

The follow-on, ‘Death etc.’ will come out in January.  But December was when I really got to grips with it, in particular reading ‘At Heaven’s Gate’ over the Christmas period.  It discusses SDE’s.  SDEs are Shared Death Experiences, reported by living people who had visions of their loved one transitioning from this world to the one beyond.  When the philosopher Bertrand Russell said “When I die I rot”,  was he wrong?

Daily Prayers from the World’s Faiths

At the end of November I must have been feeling a bit creative, because I suddenly thought of another book, one which I could produce quickly.  During the Covid lockdown, I had sent out a series of suggestions for daily prayers from different religions  over six weeks.  It was effectively almost ready to publish.  Whenever I mentioned this to anyone they thought it was good idea.  On Tuesday 6th I led a school carol service for Queens Gate Girls’ School.  There were 650 people in the congregation.  I spoke on how Christmas was a welcoming festival, one when people of other faiths felt it was OK to visit church.  Talking to the school principal afterwards I mentioned my idea.  She immediately asked if she could order 600 copies!

Of course, I need to ensure that there is nothing offensive in it, nor that I have missed out significant prayers.  So over the next three weeks I will be meeting with a Buddhist abbot, a Muslim professor, a Sikh granthi, the director of Bhavan’s Cultural Centre and a rabbi.  Then I need to work out how best to publish it, get it reviewed and promote it.  Wish me luck!

Audiobooks

My two audiobooks are being promoted by audiobooks.com – a good platform and easier to deal with than Audible.  Though I hope that soon Audible will be hosting both my ‘Psalms’ and ‘Troublemaker’.

Christmas

I suppose my Christmas started on Friday 9th, when I went to Peter’s house in Sutton to cut and collect a large bag of holly.  This was for a wreath-making morning at St Cuthbert’s Church on Saturday.  Great fun, despite quite a lot of stress!  Linda and I went that evening to the sing-along version of ‘The Muppet’s Christos Carol’ at Leicester Square.  Fun, pure and simple.

Linda and I went down to her father’s for Christmas, just in time for the saga of the oven.  Two days before Christmas Linda’s brother Andy was trying to fix the clip on the oven door when the fire glass dropped and shattered into  a thousand pieces.  Peter ordered a new one for Christmas Eve.  Then Linda cooked baked potatoes for supper at 200º.  We were eating them when we heard a small explosion in the kitchen.  It was the element vaporising – literally!  However, Peter had another element and on Christmas Eve Linda spent the morning on the floor installing it.  I was able to get the fire glass  from the mail sorting office at the last minute because Royal Mail drivers were on strike. We then found out that the thermostat was wrecked and there was no way of stopping the heat continually increasing.  In order not to lose the entire cooker, Linda disconnected the thermostat so at leat we had four hobs and a small oven, if not the main one.  Linda’s sister-in-law Helen brought the chicken and pigs in blankets on Christmas Day and we ended with a great Christmas feast.

New Year’s Eve  

The year ended for me with a film and curry evening in Earls Court.  A friend and I  watched two of my favourite favourite films:  ‘Tin Men’ – a shocking comedy about a feud between two aluminium siding salesmen, Danny de Vito and Barry Dreyfuss; then ‘The Browning Version’ – a 1951 film based on a play by Terence Rattigan – a hopeful tragedy of an unfulfilled life, with absolutely superlative acting.  Both are ultimately about redemption.  Do check them out.

‘Wishing you a Peaceful and Happy New Year.