Fun Ways to Pass the Time
... Go to a protest. It was such a great time. [Context: The ordination of gay Episcopalian Rev. Gene Robinson as Bishop. The service was held at UNH.] There were 15 members of the Westboro Baptist Church there, and probably a couple hundred UNH folks. The spirit was great. Every time one of them started yelling, "God Hates Fags," they would be drowned out by laughter from our side. One little teeny old lady standing near me started singing "Jesus Loves Me" and everyone else in the crowd picked it up. The protesters on the other side started looking pissed when it became obvious no one cared about what they had to say or was taking them seriously. I had my sign (Leviticus 19:18 "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.") taped to my cane and was holding it up. The rain did nothing to dampen our spirits. There was one crazy old guy in a big pink hat who was shouting at the other side and generally being belligerent and obnoxious to everyone. Unfortunately, the media went to him and so UNH is gonna look stupid. Oh well. Chan and I got our picture taken by Foster's and interviewed by the Concord Monitor - the lady saw our religious sign and wanted to know why I'd chosen it. I told her that I wanted to show that not all religious people were bigoted fanatics. She asked me if I was Episcopalian; I told her I was freelance Christian. Heheh. The pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church is gonna love that.
Singing started again from the other end of the crowd: Amazing Grace, then the Star-Spangled Banner, then My Country Tis of Thee and America the Beautiful, then when we ran out of those, someone started up "Let the Sun Shine In" in true hippie fashion, followed by a half-hearted attempt at "Seasons of Love" from Rent. At four o'clock, the time of the consecration, the picketers on the other side packed up their signs and left, followed by a rousing chorus of the "Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye!" song. It was a damned good time. At one point I turned around to see an elderly priest behind me, probably around seventy or eighty, in full clerical dress, complete with the Puritan white collar tabs (like this) who had stopped to support us before going in. Lots of monks there too in full robes. I think the best part was watching the procession of clergy come back out of the auditorium, and watching these ecclesiastic men and women in full dress regalia step out of their assigned places and quietly join the ranks of the counter-protesters. It was a great time. I think I'm gonna do it more often.
SOC
Singing started again from the other end of the crowd: Amazing Grace, then the Star-Spangled Banner, then My Country Tis of Thee and America the Beautiful, then when we ran out of those, someone started up "Let the Sun Shine In" in true hippie fashion, followed by a half-hearted attempt at "Seasons of Love" from Rent. At four o'clock, the time of the consecration, the picketers on the other side packed up their signs and left, followed by a rousing chorus of the "Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye!" song. It was a damned good time. At one point I turned around to see an elderly priest behind me, probably around seventy or eighty, in full clerical dress, complete with the Puritan white collar tabs (like this) who had stopped to support us before going in. Lots of monks there too in full robes. I think the best part was watching the procession of clergy come back out of the auditorium, and watching these ecclesiastic men and women in full dress regalia step out of their assigned places and quietly join the ranks of the counter-protesters. It was a great time. I think I'm gonna do it more often.
SOC