Social Gospel, rain, tea.

A sort of ramble with a few jelssie-worthy observations.

I went to the cathedral convention on Monday, because I had no plans and it was a long rainy day. Although the topic of Social Gospel didn't appeal to me. Whenever I hear words like Social Action, Social Justice or whatever, I turn off. And I feel guilty about not being keen and earnest about these trendy Gen Y buzzwords, but I just hate being earnest about buzzwords. Basically, I'm not cool enough to be into Social Justice and I don't wear TOMS, is how I feel. Maybe that's something other people feel too, because it wasn't as well attended as other cathedral conventions I've been to. Or maybe it was the weather. But I reckon I can dress warmly, drink tea and enjoy a cold cathedral a lot more comfortably than I can cope with a hot, packed out cathedral with the fans on, so the cold and rain were a positive for me.

But anyway, the talks were excellent for where I was at, and clarified lots of things really well. Very much worth listening too, if you can. Adrian Russell in particular was really clear on the problems with things like "making poverty history" and "redeeming the city", things that have always slightly confused me and now I know why—eschatology. Phillip Jensen's Agenda for Evangelical Concern was good sense. The muffins were good enough, but the cakes were disappointing.

A personal highlight, and worth the price of this whole post, I took my own supply of peppermint teabags, because you can only expect black tea at these things, and having the herbal tea I like made a big difference to my comfort and enjoyment of a long day. I think I'm going to start travelling with a tea stash more often, it's a tiny effort for a huge comfort: tea people take note.