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Covid Earth

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Covid Earth

by Joe Armstrong

Life, as we know it, has changed.

Humanity is humbled by a microbe.

This morning, I look at the sky, beautiful and blue.

I hear birdsong.

I breathe.

I, for now, am one of the lucky ones.

Inhaling breath, exhaling, inhaling.

Alive, healthy, breathing still.

The earth breathes too,

Much of it relieved by our humbling.

Demand lessened, growth stalled,

The earth made blue again

By our demise.

Joe Armstrong © 2020

Covid Earth: This morning, I look at the sky, beautiful and blue. I hear birdsong.
Picture Source: www.pickpik.com/

I wrote Covid Earth a few weeks ago. Covid-19 has changed all our lives. It has caused us to stop and reflect. It has disrupted our plans and cleared our diaries. It has stopped or slowed the frenzy in many people’s lives.

No wedding is worth the death or serious ill-health of anyone. Covid-19 has tested our values. It invites us to reconsider what is most important about our big day. It is an opportunity for each of us to review our lives.

It gives us, the lucky ones who are still alive, time. It confronts each of us with the inevitable reality our mortality. Each of us will die. Some monks dig clay from their grave every day. It isn’t morbid. It’s truth.

I have finished a book during lockdown – writing one, that is. I’ve read plenty too.

I also downloaded and filled in the Think Ahead template. It will make life easier for people whenever I kick the bucket – which hopefully won’t happen for a long time yet! I suggest you download the editable PDF – it will make it easier for you to update it every year or so. And don’t forget to share it with your loved ones. It’s really for them that you are doing it.

Covid Earth: To learn more about Think Ahead, see here: https://hospicefoundation.ie/programmes/public-awareness/think-ahead/what-is-think-ahead/

There is a lot positive to be gained from lockdown. Who knew that birds sang so loud! Less traffic on our roads. More silence. For the lucky ones, time spent with loved ones.

For me, it has been good to remember what I love to do: write for a living and conduct Humanist ceremonies.

Please vote Yes in the Blasphemy referendum

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Please vote Yes to remove blasphemy as a crime in Ireland’s referendum

Socrates and Blasphemy

Please vote Yes to remove blasphemy as a crime in Ireland’s referendum on Friday 26 October 2018. The supposed crime of blasphemy was the ‘crime’ for which Greek philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death. Why? Because the religious people of his time did not like what Socrates was saying.

Socrates called people to know and understand themselves. To ask questions, to question the status quo. His questioning undermined the credibility of the religious beliefs of his day and, by implication, the religious leaders of his day who imposed silly beliefs on credulous people.

Christians and Blasphemy

In time, the Christian churches accused each other of blasphemy and they sentenced to death people from opposing religions, burning at the stake those ‘found guilty’ of blasphemy.

In some Islamic states today, people, including Christians, are still condemned to death for the ‘crime’ of blasphemy, inducing fear in others, solidifying the lies of religions among societies who dare not question or speak their minds.

Jesus accused of Blasphemy

‘Holy’ religious people have long condemned people of other faiths and none to death. Remember Jesus too was accused of blasphemy, if we are to believe the New Testament.

Blasphemy is a ‘crime’ where one group of people impose their religious beliefs on others, accusing someone of blasphemy when something is said to ‘offend’ believers. It is a classic ‘crime’ whereby people believing in nonsense wish to punish those who dare to question the lies they live by.

Please Vote ‘Yes’ to remove it

Socrates, Jesus, Protestants, Catholics, and people of many faiths and none have been deemed to have committed the ‘crime’ of blasphemy.

People of Ireland. Stand up for truth. Please vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum  to remove blasphemy as a crime from the Irish Constitution. Thank you.


Surprise wedding at Humanist naming ceremony

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Surprise wedding at Humanist naming ceremony

A surprise wedding at a Humanist naming ceremony was described by a guest as “the best wedding I was ever at”. He said it was “so different from start to finish”. It was “really intimate and emotional” and, he concluded, “It was the first wedding I was at where there was a bouncing castle, a sing song around a campfire and four or five baby monitors on the table while we all had a few drinks”.

Kate and Shane’s newborn daughter Riley, named at the Humanist wedding and naming ceremony

Kate and Shane getting married at their surprise wedding. The Humanist wedding and naming ceremony was conducted by Joe Armstrong

The baby naming and surprise wedding was conducted by Humanist celebrant and legal solemniser Joe Armstrong at The Silver Tankard restaurant near Kells in County Meath, Ireland, on 22 July 2018, when bride Kate married groom Shane, and the couple named and welcomed their daughter Riley into their family and circle of friends.

A very chilled out affair

“One of my favourite photos from the day is our kiss and Jack milling around with balloons,” said bride Kate

Kate said, “We had an absolute ball. The whole day & night that was excellent. A very chilled out affair. The ceremony was excellent and everyone really enjoyed it. One of my favourite photos from the day is our kiss and Jack milling around with balloons.”

Jack is their first born child, who had been named and welcomed into the family at a Humanist naming ceremony at their home previously, also conducted by Joe Armstrong.

“We held a naming ceremony last year in our house for our son Jack and we loved it,” Kate recalled when she approached Joe about the second naming ceremony. Because of the earlier naming ceremony, none of their guests suspected that they would also be getting married when Kate and Shane invited them to Riley’s naming.

Why the surprise wedding?

Kate and Shane, with their marriage Witnesses Fiona and Gearoid and Humanist celebrant Joe Armstrong

“So the surprise wedding,” says Kate. “I never wanted a big day. And Shane doesn’t like attention on him either so we were never going to have a day where we had 150+ guests.”

So Kate and Shane decided upon the surprise wedding and have it part of Rileys naming day. “Who would you have at your child’s naming day that you wouldn’t have at your wedding?'” asked Kate. No one. So it was the perfect opportunity to do it.

“I hate all the politics of a traditional wedding,” she added. “Oh you have to invite this one, if you’re inviting them, and then you have to invite these others. I always said if I ever got married I didn’t want anyone there that I didn’t want there.”

Avoiding the ‘drama’ of a traditional wedding

“Secondly,” mused Kate, “where were we going to have the wedding if it was a traditional one? If it was in Meath, all Shane’s family and friends had to travel and pay for accommodation. If it was in Kerry, all my family and friends would have to pay for accommodation and then if we were to get married in the middle of the country then both sides had the expense. That was a huge part in our decision of the surprise. We didn’t want to put people out or have any extra expense on them. We weren’t fussy about it and really didn’t want other people to get caught up in the ‘drama’ of a wedding.”

Kate and Shane, with son and daughter Jack and Riley after the Humanist wedding and naming ceremony

Engaged

“So we just got ‘engaged’ that morning,” – the morning of the wedding – explains Kate. “I think that’s why it was such a shock too. No one expected it at all because we weren’t even engaged. We told everyone we had gotten engaged and to meet us at the bar at 12.30 for a celebratory drink. So I wore a dress up to the Tankard and then changed into my jumpsuit when everyone went into the function room. The photos are from that morning in the Front Bar just before the ceremony.”

Kate and Shane at the Silver Tankard where they announced their engagement immediately before their wedding and naming ceremony for their baby daughter Riley. Firstborn Jack with back to camera!

Humanist wedding and naming ceremony

“I loved the ceremony from start to finish,” says Kate. “Everyone was so emotional. It was perfect. The whole day everyone was just in shock and awe. People really listened and took heed of what was taking place and going on, not like a traditional wedding where it’s the same thing over and over.”

 

That’s what it’s all about – family and kids

“I loved how the naming aspect was incorporated into the overall ceremony too,” recalls Kate. “The lighting of the candles was just perfect. The way our parents lit our candles and then we lit our unity candle and then just at that moment Jack was up to relight his with us and then we lit Riley’s candle. That’s what it’s all about for us. Family and kids.”

She continued: “I loved how Jack was up and down to us, playing with the balloons and going from us to his grandad. The ceremony was so relaxed with plenty of jokes throughout and we have so many photos of us smiling and joking. I think if it was a big wedding or a church wedding it would have lost that intimate feeling where everyone already knew each other and were comfortable. There wasn’t anyone there that hadn’t already met before. Thanks again!”

To contact Joe about creating and conducting your Humanist ceremony, click here

To read hundreds more excellent reviews from Joe Armstrong’s ceremonies, click here for feedback from weddings and some more here: https://humanistweddings.ie/?s=reviews. For more on naming ceremonies, click here for feedback from other naming ceremonies

 

 

Mothers and their daughters: the referendum on 25th May

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Many women who vote ‘No’ in the forthcoming referendum will not know that their own daughter has had an abortion. They will not know the secret that their daughter has felt that she must keep from her mother. And their mother will never know their daughter’s secret. Their mother will die without ever really knowing her own flesh and blood.

Other mothers will know the agonizing, difficult choice that their daughter faced. Some will have supported their daughter in her choice to travel to Liverpool or Manchester or London. Some of those mothers will be ardent Catholics.

Choosing to terminate a pregnancy is almost always a difficult choice. And rightly so. It is a big decision. But the choice should be the woman’s.

The abortion debate misses the point when it weighs up the experience of one person who chooses to continue with a pregnancy against someone who chooses to terminate the pregnancy. Of course either choice is profound.

But the abortion debate is actually about whether other people have a right to impose their views on the autonomy of the woman.

The real debate is whether it is right for the people of Ireland to control a woman. To control her body. To insist that she continue with a pregnancy.

Regardless of whether or not the woman has been raped or is underage or has had traumatic pregnancies in the past or the health or ill-health of the fetus, it is not for anybody else to claim ownership over a woman’s body and to deprive her of her liberty.

Why do religious people impose their theology on people who do not share their religious faith? Catholics are required to believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, became pregnant without having had intercourse with Joseph or anyone else. They are required to believe as dogmatic teaching that the ‘Holy Spirit’ fertilized Mary’s ovum. No male member was involved, they are required to believe, in the creation of her babe. And it is that same non-sensical worldview that would require that actual real living Irish women who become pregnant should be forced to continue with their pregnancy and, if they do not choose to do so, that they should be forced to travel to England where their autonomy over their bodies is respected.

To my shame, I voted to bring in the prohibition on abortion in the 1980s. May this belated post be a small step by way of contrition to the thousands of Irishwomen who have been forced into silence and condemned by the ‘moral majority’, smug in self-righteousness; believing that they were doing something precious for their god when all they did was to promote duplicity and misery for women.

Women of Ireland, consider your daughters whom you may not really know: vote Yes for integrity, honesty, compassion, realism and the human rights of all girls and women in Ireland.



 

 

 

Humanist weddings by conviction

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One of the difficulties with the word ‘Humanist’ is that lots of people can claim that they are Humanist. I remember attending a funeral once and the celebrant  was ‘Humanist’ if the bereaved wanted a non-religious ceremony and he was religious if the bereaved wanted a religious ceremony. He was just an actor: all things to all men and women. He was whatever you wanted him to be. You want religion? He gave you religion. You want secular? He gave you secular.

I am Humanist by conviction. It is my philosophical stance. I do not believe in any god or deity or supernatural power.

This is our one and only life. Let us try to live it well. Let us be guided by reason and compassion. Let us be inclusive. And let us be true to ourselves.

 

 

 

Wedding celebrant / Humanist celebrant

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There is some confusion as to what is a Humanist celebrant. Recently a bride asked me if I was available to conduct her Humanist ceremony. Luckily, I was. They had booked someone else whom they thought was a Humanist celebrant but when they went to the HSE to give their three-month notification of their intention to marry (which everyone has to do) they discovered that their celebrant actually conducted religious ceremonies.

Humanist celebrants offer non-religious ceremonies. If they are accredited by the Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) and the General Register Office (GRO) they can conduct legal non-religious weddings.

If you want a legally binding and legally recognized Humanist wedding ceremony be sure that your celebrant is accredited by both the Humanist Association of Ireland and the General Register Office (GRO).

Feedback from Fiona and James & new video of their Humanist wedding

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Dear Joe, We have been enjoying our first Christmas as a married couple! We were both so happy with your officiating at our ceremony and we got so many positive comments from our guests about it afterwards! Even Fiona’s Dad, who freely admitted that he was dreading the ceremony beforehand, was full of praises afterwards! Thanks again for all your help both in the build up to the day and on the day itself! You were a major part in making our day so special!
– James & Fiona, Humanist marriage ceremony conducted by Joe Armstrong at Cliff at Lyons on 8 August 2017. Video credited to limelightweddingfilms.ie

Be Happy Now

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There’s something about autumn. Beauty, colour and harvest. The farewell glance to summer. Winter biding its time.  Pink misty dawn. Walking the dogs on a moss-strewn stony country path. And glad to be me and happy in myself and grateful for life and love. And the sometime kids now twenty-something and finding their way and taking their chance in the world.

All we have – all I have – is now. Let’s be happy and enjoy.