A couple of years ago it was Paris, Lindsay and Britney.\u00a0 Nowadays its Kim, Cheryl and Katie that seem to be the movers and shakers \u2013 the newsmakers whose every move finds its way onto our breakfast table or computer screen.\u00a0 And for what?\u00a0 Some are famous merely for being famous; some, despite some initial promise are now famous for being out of control; some are both.\u00a0 Is this freak-show really what life has become?\u00a0 The cult of \u201cCelebrity\u201d seems to be in the ascendance.<\/p>\n
As relational creatures, human beings have always been interested in the exploits of others, so this fixation with celebrity is not necessarily anything new (though perhaps it is on a new scale).\u00a0 According to my diary, during October (the month I\u2019m writing this) there are 28 people from down the centuries that the Church of England thinks we might like to remember and for whom we should thank God.\u00a0 The lives of those whose names I recognise from this list are vastly more appealing than some of the dross we see on television.\u00a0 These include the social reformer, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and St Francis of Assisi in whose name the chapel in Hunsdon is dedicated.\u00a0 Also on the list are Martin Luther (the German priest who radically altered the religious and political landscape across Europe in the early 16th<\/sup> century), William Tyndale (who translated the Bible into English and was martyred for it in 1536), and Bishops Ridley and Latimer (who preached the Bible and were martyred for that in 1555).\u00a0 Tucked away also is the renowned Nurse Edith Cavell, whose relative Kitty once lived in Hunsdon.<\/p>\n Though we rarely remember them, the impact these people have had on our lives is immeasurable.\u00a0 There\u2019s no doubt about it, these people changed the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s not surprising, then, that some have decided these notable characters should have a day on our calendar in their memory.\u00a0 Somehow I can\u2019t see the same honour being bestowed upon Ms Kardashian, Price, Cole, Hilton, Lohan or Spears!<\/p>\n But there is one who is even greater than these celebrated saints.\u00a0 His exact dates of birth and death are unknown, but every year we commemorate them both.\u00a0 His life did not inspire a single day to remember; rather, his life is the foundation for the whole of our calendar.\u00a0 As we approach Christmas this year, let us remember that Christmas starts with Christ; the one who changed the world and keeps on changing it through his people.\u00a0 And may the one who is more famous than the Beatles hold your hand in your hard day’s nights and whenever you need help.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A couple of years ago it was Paris, Lindsay and Britney.\u00a0 Nowadays its Kim, Cheryl and Katie that seem to be the movers and shakers \u2013 the newsmakers whose every move finds its way onto our breakfast table or computer screen.\u00a0 And for what?\u00a0 Some are famous merely for being famous; some, despite some initial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[22,21,19],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-comment","tag-celebrity","tag-christmas","tag-jesus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}