Talking about his Lenten pledge, the Bishop Nicholas Holtam said:
“This Lent I am going to try to be plastic free for 40 days.
“I have got my bamboo toothbrush and bar of soap but it’s already feeling complicated and I know I will fail.
“My fountain pen is filled with ink but I type this letter on a plastic keyboard.
“If I am coming back to Salisbury on an evening train I sometimes buy a bean and nut salad, just the sort of food we are supposed to eat. It comes in a plastic box with a wooden fork and symbolizes the muddle we are in as we try to do our best in God’s good world.
“What I am aiming for is really a bit of self-education and I’ll try to ensure others learn with me by the occasional blog and a few interviews with Tim Daykin on BBC Radio Solent.”
If you are joining Bishop Nicholas and trying to give up plastic, or giving up something else, or taking something on this Lent, we want to hear from you.
Let us know how you are getting on at #dosalgiveup or email us.
Look out for the Bishop’s blog, coming soon.
Perhaps a more productive Lenten fast for bishops would be to give up writing silly press releases.
Bishop: This Lent I’m going to add virtue-signalling.
Well, Bully for you bishop nicholas of Salisbury.. A bamboo toothbrush and a bar of soap! My goodness me. Makes all the current woes of our world look small beer in the light of such a sacrifice. Have you considered crowd funding?
Perhaps the good “bishop” should meditate on Matthew 6:5-6 for Lent.
I think I’ll give up Lent.
What a muddle this bishop is in. Yes, concern for the environment is a good thing, but not just for Lent. I was taught that Lent was a time for self-examination on how to serve Christ better with my life. As a Bishop he has been charged with spreading Christ’s message to the people. Given that the attendance of the COE is dropping it would be better if he focused on his primary charge given to him by Christ.
Contemporary Christianity in the West is a trainwreck.
Bragging about giving up plastic on the BBC? How different is this from the great admonition in Matthew 6:5: “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites. are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and. in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.”
The CoE has long indulged in almost as much shameless pop-culture sanctimony as the BBC. Now, after failing to report genuine instances of moral decay in Britain (like Muslim rape gangs), the BBC is rapidly become as irrelevant as the CoE. Two dinosaur institutions propping one another up. About as likely to succeed as that great partnership between Kmart and Sears.
So his theology hasn’t really changed since his undergraduate days at Durham – still living in a bubble of socialism and naturalism; but at least for this Lent not a plastic one.