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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Thought for the Day
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sebby
Shipmate
# 15147
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Posted
I am sure this topic has been discussed before, but this morning's Thought for the Day by Brian Draper was IMHO so embarrassingly mediocre as not to have befitted 30 secs on a local hospital radio station, never mind a key slot in the middle of an excellent, professional, and well researched programme such as Today.
It was roughly the usual sentimental and predicatable introduction about a dad at school sports day, and then God the Father, in a cliche ridden glottal stop flow of twaddle.
Isn't it time this now stopped? Or at least the quality was raised? It is throrougly embarrassing to hear such predicatble tosh and to imagine the superb presenters' faces as they pause to drink their coffee and cringe. It plays so beautifully into the hands of secularists.
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sebhyatt
Posts: 1340 | From: yorks | Registered: Sep 2009
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
There are some ones - I like Tom Butler, Angela Tilby, John Bell and Mons Siddiqui.
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by sebby:
Isn't it time this now stopped? Or at least the quality was raised? It is throrougly embarrassing to hear such predicatble tosh and to imagine the superb presenters' faces as they pause to drink their coffee and cringe. It plays so beautifully into the hands of secularists.
Have to say I don't listen to it much now. Prayer for the Day which is earlier is better, although at times it's still pretty much "Hey, let me tell you this interesting anecdote - oops, nearly forgot, better stick a brief prayer request in at the end while there's still time." It really depends who you get. Some are good and inspirational, others less so.
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
It's when I hear Thought for the Day that I think the secularists have a point. It's dismal. It's the only place in British broadcasting that you can still hear the expression, "And you know, isn't Jesus a bit like that?" outside a comedy sketch. If I want a few minutes of vaguely religious liberal angst with my breakfast, I've got a copy of Common Worship, thanks.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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sebby
Shipmate
# 15147
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Posted
...that is exactly what this morning's was like. And with a slightly relevant voice, a sort of 'I-know-what-teenagers-think-because-I-was-one-of- them-a-few-decades-ago-and-now-have-kids' intonation.
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sebhyatt
Posts: 1340 | From: yorks | Registered: Sep 2009
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Adeodatus:
If I want a few minutes of vaguely religious liberal angst with my breakfast, I've got a copy of Common Worship, thanks.
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif) Quotes File!
I never listen to TFTD.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
I'm so glad you trans-Ponders have something to talk about.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
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Posted
For shame, HB. It's a transponder website. We postcolonials are here on sufferance.
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Spiggott: Everything I've ever told you is a lie, including that.
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Spiggott: That everything I've ever told you is a lie.
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Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
sebby
Love your OP! ![[Smile]](smile.gif) Yes, that TFTD was particularly wince-inducing.
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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Anselmina
Ship's barmaid
# 3032
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Posted
It's too short to possibly say anything of real significance, imo. Which is strange in an era of soundbites. Or maybe not. God and the doings of God weren't designed to be packed and understood in the time it takes to brew a (weak) cup of tea.
Same for any philosophical/seclar soundbite, too. Any gem of wisdom religious or non-religious is almost certainly doomed to cliche in such a small amount of time.
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Posts: 10002 | From: Scotland the Brave | Registered: Jul 2002
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Nothing wrong with soundbites.
That is if there is some substance behind the soundbite.
Look at the Beatitudes (Matthew Ch 5) The Gospel as soundbites is not a new idea.
But the Gospel as a soundbite that sounds like nothing but a watered down self help manual with God tagged on -- I'm not sure where the depth is in that <sigh>.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Anselmina
Ship's barmaid
# 3032
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Posted
Balaam, I'm tempted to agree with you
But wasn't the sermon on the mount actually a sermon preached at the one time? Or at least part of a large coherent whole body of teaching, which presumably took a little longer than a few moments to deliver, whatever the process? I don't think Jesus got them up the mountain at half eight every morning for two minutes of a speech spread out over a month and a half!
It would be very difficult to make any sense at all of the beatitudes if their original format had been split and sound-bited. They only work now because of their familiarity to us, and with the context in which they were spoken.
Arguably, whatever Jesus said - long or short - he was speaking into a shared and familiar context of religion, culture and politics. What we might think of as clever little phrases encapsulating huge truths, were deeply rooted in the complex teaching tradition of an ancient religion, shared by a listernship with an almost monochrome experience of life, politically, culturally and religiously. And even then it wasn't always clear what he was on about. He sometimes had to explain his parables to his closest disciples, and the phrase 'they did not understand then....' crops up every now and then.
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Irish dogs needing homes! http://www.dogactionwelfaregroup.ie/ Greyhounds and Lurchers are shipped over to England for rehoming too!
Posts: 10002 | From: Scotland the Brave | Registered: Jul 2002
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Of course you're right.
Let me rephrase:
The Book of Proverbs shows that the Gospel as soundbite is not a new idea ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Anselmina
Ship's barmaid
# 3032
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
Of course you're right.
Let me rephrase:
The Book of Proverbs shows that the Gospel as soundbite is not a new idea
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) True Dat!
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Irish dogs needing homes! http://www.dogactionwelfaregroup.ie/ Greyhounds and Lurchers are shipped over to England for rehoming too!
Posts: 10002 | From: Scotland the Brave | Registered: Jul 2002
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Barnabas62
Shipmate
# 9110
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Posted
Where are the Rabbi Lionel Blues of yesteryear? Now he could say a lot in three minutes and make you chuckle as well. A pity, but I think it's past its sell-by date.
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
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Higgs Bosun
Shipmate
# 16582
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Barnabas62:
Where are the Rabbi Lionel Blues of yesteryear? Now he could say a lot in three minutes and make you chuckle as well. A pity, but I think it's past its sell-by date.
Well, opinions clearly differ. I would find Lionel Blue rather anodyne - "let's all be nice to each other" - even if he did make us laugh.
Then I went back to remind myself of the spot by Brian Draper* referred to in the OP. Given that it touched on Jesus' relation to God as Abba, and what is revealed about God as father in the parable of the prodigal son, it seems to me these are Gospel thoughts and worth sharing.
(*It's a pity that you have to listen to it as the text is truncated)
Posts: 313 | From: Near the Tidal Thames | Registered: Aug 2011
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Leprechaun
Ship's Poison Elf
# 5408
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
There are some ones - I like Tom Butler, Angela Tilby, John Bell and Mons Siddiqui.
All the ones I can't stand. I like Rhydian Brook the best, but agree that 2 minutes of wishy washy and uninspiring religious education we could do without. This morning was the Sikh man, who always sounds like some sort of public service information announcement.
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He hath loved us, He hath loved us, because he would love
Posts: 3097 | From: England - far from home... | Registered: Jan 2004
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
Don't often hear the national one these days, and so can't really comment on current figures. But if there ever was a golden age, it was before my time. I used to like Rabbi Lionel Blue. He was witty in a way that made one think. But I thought Canon Eric James was dreadful. He managed to be both portentous and bland at the same time, BBC religion at its most predictable.
Our local Thought for the Day, which I do sometimes hear, is more interesting. Because it's only drawing on local talent, the quality is a bit variable. Some contributers seem to think they're there just to deliver a pi-jaw. But they haven't been refined through the BBC's worthiness filter to quite the same extent. These names won't mean much nationally, but IMHO Neville Boundy (now retired) could be quite good, and Julie Loxley can be excellent.
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Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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QLib
Bad Example
# 43
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SusanDoris:
sebby
Love your OP! Yes, that TFTD was particularly wince-inducing.
Actually, I think you both got it wrong - it was more subtle then you allow. The speaker was self-mocking - he was anxious to finish writing his wonderful sermon (or possibly scripting his Thought fot the Day slot) and getting restive about having to go to his son's Sport's Day. And then he realised what he was doing to himself.
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Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.
Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
Thinking about this a bit further, I speculated on what the difference is between a good Thought for the Day and a bad, tedious or mediocre one. I wonder if it is that a good one contains a single nugget of wisdom.
If the presenter just relays the sort of things one is supposed to say, a pi-jaw, Job's comforter territory, or grabs the opportunity either as a soapbox for their own opinions or to comment on the day's news - or, worse, combines the two - the Thought will inevitably fall into the other categories.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Felafool
Shipmate
# 270
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Posted
If TFTD were dropped, how would I know that it's about 7:50 am and time I was thinking of getting dressed?
Seriously, it takes a lot more work to prepare a good 3 minute talk than a good 10/20/30 mins. Probably more time than most of the speakers can afford to give.
For me, one of the issues is that there can be an implicit assumption that these people speak on behalf of the faith (or non faith) position they hold...only in some cases might this be true. IMHO the ones worth listening to are Jonathan Sachs and......hmmm.
As a suggestion, would it work if the Today presenters questioned (or bullied) the speaker in the same way they do with other voices of the news? "Grill-a-believer"?
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty - I ordered a cheeseburger.
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
Our local Thought for the Day, which I do sometimes hear, is more interesting. Because it's only drawing on local talent, the quality is a bit variable. Some contributers seem to think they're there just to deliver a pi-jaw. But they haven't been refined through the BBC's worthiness filter to quite the same extent. These names won't mean much nationally, but IMHO Neville Boundy (now retired) could be quite good, and Julie Loxley can be excellent.
Unless it has changed, our local TFTD is easier to do because it is pre-recorded - so you can have more than one go at doing it if it doesn't sound right the first time.
I did some Thoughts some time back and found, as others have said, that writing for 3 m ins is much harder than writing for 1t.
Nev was our incumbent and a brilliant, though highly eccentric preacher. It is a shame if he has retired from radio as well as from work.
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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Jack o' the Green
Shipmate
# 11091
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Posted
Although I have been a Rabbi Blue fan for many years and used to love listening to him, there are few now who can match him. Chief Rabbi Sacks is one, but almost all the Christian contributors leave a lot to be desired to put it mildly. I'm often on my way to work when it's on and have to turn Ann Atkins of in case I am over come by the need to drive into a wall at high speed. Perhaps it is time to pull the plug, as I'm not sure what it now achieves except to confirm secularists view of Christianity as a waffling irrelevance.
Posts: 3121 | From: Lancashire, England | Registered: Feb 2006
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QLib
Bad Example
# 43
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Posted
I like Mona Siddiqui, too, and Richard Harries is always good value; Indarjit Singh and Akhandadhi Das are also pretty reliable IME. I feel Ann Atkins has improved lately, but maybe I'm just getting older and madder and more right-wing.
I find the idea of TFD so off-putting that I quite often just switch off - especially as it's also a fairly reliable indication that I am 5 minutes' late leaving home. It's diffciult to define what makes the good people so good; I feel it's something to do with a genuine reflection, rather than using soemthing topical as a peg on which to hang a message.
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Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.
Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001
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Jack o' the Green
Shipmate
# 11091
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Posted
Perhaps it is relevant (though I'm not sure in what way) that many of the speakers who are most appreciated are non Christian in belief despite them making up a smaller % of the contributors.
Posts: 3121 | From: Lancashire, England | Registered: Feb 2006
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Plique-à-jour
Shipmate
# 17717
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Posted
It's probably being run down to the bare acceptable minimum so they can respond to the public's dissatisfaction and axe it.
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Posts: 333 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Jun 2013
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Pre-cambrian
Shipmate
# 2055
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Felafool:
For me, one of the issues is that there can be an implicit assumption that these people speak on behalf of the faith(or non faith) position they hold
Not us. We're Not Allowed.
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"We cannot leave the appointment of Bishops to the Holy Ghost, because no one is confident that the Holy Ghost would understand what makes a good Church of England bishop."
Posts: 2314 | From: Croydon | Registered: Dec 2001
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Yonatan:
Although I have been a Rabbi Blue fan for many years and used to love listening to him, ....... turn Ann Atkins of in case I am over come by the need to drive into a wall at high speed.
Sadly, Blue has aged and lost it, as has my hero Colin Morris.
At kinds could be guaranteed to make me want to drive into a wall but she has become a lot better than she used to be.
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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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