And now for something completely different.
Tonight we celebrated Darwin Day at our ridiculous little church:
Why Darwin Day? Well, Darwin was born 200 years ago yesterday, and Darwin was an Episcopalian. That's all the reason we need to party. Okay, so maybe he was an Anglican, but in America Anglicans are called Episcopalians. (So far, at least.)
Why today and not yesterday, his actual birthday? Maybe you can party on a work night!
A band called Overman played for about an hour, and they were very good! I hadn't heard of them before this week, but we were lucky to have them. They sang a song about evolution which I couldn't understand the words to (the acoustics of church basements being what they are, and my hearing being what it is), but which is supposed to be very popular on iTunes; viz., it has actually made them some money.
They did a song about Mother Theresa which I did understand, and which was fine, fine, fine. You will recall that after her death, and after beatification activities had begun, it was revealed that Mother Theresa had actually been struggling with "the faith thing" for most of her adult life. The songwriter said that made him like her even more. Me, too.
And there was food! They called it "Primordial Soup," but I cut through the kitchen and saw a lot of Progresso Soup cans in the garbage. Draw your own conclusions. Actually, we should be thankful it wasn't really primordial soup. Here's Tim dishing out some hopefully faux Primordial Soup:
And there was dancing! Overman played a great blues number that would not allow feet to remain in place on the floor.
The person in the blue jeans with the clerical collar is our rector, Kara. The guy leaning against the pole is her husband, John. Give some people a little Primordial Soup, and they lose all inhibitions. (Not John, though.) Hey! That girl's holding a beer! Where'd she get that beer? I didn't know there was beer!
Anyway things were finished off with a birthday cake, and everybody sat down to watch a showing of Jurassic Park.
Yeah, you heard right, a birthday cake.
Hope that cake went well with your beer.
Yep. We're pathetic.
Update: Cross-posted from above. Something I didn't mention in my post about Darwin Day is that (ahem) BBC radio was there.
You can find their report here. The St. John's Church part is at the very beginning (singing Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin), and beginning at about the 14 minute mark. You can slide the slider to that point, if you don't want to hear the whole 30-minute show.
6 comments:
Darwin Day was a blast! And Overman rocks, just like evolution!
A ridiculous church ah? Pathetic people? Wait 'til you see the picture inhibited John got of uninhibited Bob WARNING!!!!
I think it is a terrific church if it actually can sponsor a Darwin Birthday Party. Great post!
Anonymous: It WAS a blast, wasn't it? Thanks for commenting.
Kara: Ridiculous and pathetic describe the human condition. It's why we have religion. And besides, it's a big step up from pompous and arrogant.
Reamus: Thanks. It IS a terrific place, full of great people. The rector has a frightening propensity for blackmail, unfortunately.
Don't all rectors get taught that at seminary?
I missed this fascinating post somehow. What a cool church!
Evolution has to be part of the way God does things. It has to be. Look at the stages of a baby developing in the womb.....its evolution. I'd probably get kicked out of my church for saying so, but evolution is never discussed there, thank goodness.
Charles Darwin studied to be a pastor, and then happened to be asked along on that voyage. Discover magazine has a great article about it.
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