All posts by Beth

I'm a Canadian crochet-obsessed mum living in the UK who used to make a living teaching English to teenagers. Current distractions: babies, baking and baby sign language!
General

Not the only Krause in the UK!

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Garry posted to his blog that he had found this site that allows you to look up the distribution of your surname. The site states:

A recent research project based at University College London (UCL) has investigated the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic, in order to understand patterns of regional economic development, population movement and cultural identity. This website allows users to search the databases that we have created, and to trace the geography and history of their family names.

So, I thought I’d see how many Krauses there were in Britain. (As a former Krause, you can see the interest…) In 1998, there were 87 Krause houeholds – with the largest number in Nottingham and in Scotland! Purple is the highest concentration, then red, orange, yellow, etc. Take a look:

Wha?? Have to talk to Auntie Laura to see if I can make sense of this one…

Church

The church is too – traditional??

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Seemingly, one of the biggest problems people have with the church today is that it’s ‘not relevant’ to people’s lives – the liturgy is incomprehensible, the music is outdated, the clothing is weird.

At least on the first two points, I beg to differ.

I’ve just found something that proves that the church is willing to do quite a lot to accept parts of society and different cultures that aren’t what one might call ‘mainstream’. Now, you’ve heard Richard talk about Rockmass, but I’ve found a place that does a Goth Mass. Actually, they call it a Goth Eucharist, and it’s a specially written service for, well, Goths. They are encouraged to wear their prefered garments, and there is little or no electric lighting. The site states:

The service is candlelit with a specially written liturgy and uses a variety of modern rock and as well as classical music. The structure of the service revolves around the baptismal candle and reflects a serious engagement with the depressing and darker sides of our lives before moving towards a position of hope and happiness found in the empathy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How tailored to a certain group can you get? I think it’s fabulous that someone has taken the time to really think about their culture and do something to support the Christians within it. Even though I’m not a Goth, I still think I want one of their t-shirts…

A special t-shirt is being produced for this service. It will be a long-sleeved black t-shirt with a quote from St. John’s Gospel’s farewell discourse printed on the front and the back. The front will say simply ‘IF THE WORLD HATES YOU…’ and the back will say ‘REMEMBER IT HATED ME FIRST’

To go all North American all of a sudden – right on, man!! Gimme one ‘a them!