Main content
07/10/2017
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Canon Steve Williams, Bishop of Manchester's interfaith adviser.
Last on
Sat 7 Oct 2017
05:43
成人快手 Radio 4
Script
Good morning.
Take the passion of the Olympics.聽 Add the competitive spirit of the Great British Bake-Off.聽 That, and a hefty helping of oatmeal, water and salt, is all you need for the international sporting highlight of the day today - unquestionably the 24th World Porridge Making Championships in the Carrbridge Village Hall, which lies in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland.聽 At stake is the right to hold the Golden Spurtle - a trophy whose past winners include an astrophysicist from Jodrell Bank, a doctor from Aberdeen and the current champion, an 87 year old from Oregon.聽
There's also a competition for the best speciality porridge - where extra ingredients are allowed.聽 Last year's winner blended eggs, butter, vanilla sugar, cream and a liqueur.聽
Porridge has a reasonable claim to be the oldest recorded breakfast food.聽 We've been mixing oatmeal at the beginning of the day since Neolithic times.聽
My first meal of the day, my first cup of tea, is sacred.聽 It's the moment I greet the new dawn with a word of thanks to the one who gives me life, and a note of resolve for the day ahead.聽聽
That's why I can never be indifferent about it.聽聽
That's why there are two graces out there which flatly contradict one another.
For bowls of cereal:聽 "Lord as we share this meal
Help us not to be like porridge,
Stiff and stodgy and slow to stir,
But to be like cornflakes
Crisp and light and ready to serve."
That won't please them up in Carrbridge.聽
Competitors for today's Golden Spurtle may pray:
" Lord as we share this day
Help us not to be like cornflakes
Lightweight, brittle and cold,
But to be like porridge
Warm, comforting and full of goodness."
Take the passion of the Olympics.聽 Add the competitive spirit of the Great British Bake-Off.聽 That, and a hefty helping of oatmeal, water and salt, is all you need for the international sporting highlight of the day today - unquestionably the 24th World Porridge Making Championships in the Carrbridge Village Hall, which lies in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland.聽 At stake is the right to hold the Golden Spurtle - a trophy whose past winners include an astrophysicist from Jodrell Bank, a doctor from Aberdeen and the current champion, an 87 year old from Oregon.聽
There's also a competition for the best speciality porridge - where extra ingredients are allowed.聽 Last year's winner blended eggs, butter, vanilla sugar, cream and a liqueur.聽
Porridge has a reasonable claim to be the oldest recorded breakfast food.聽 We've been mixing oatmeal at the beginning of the day since Neolithic times.聽
My first meal of the day, my first cup of tea, is sacred.聽 It's the moment I greet the new dawn with a word of thanks to the one who gives me life, and a note of resolve for the day ahead.聽聽
That's why I can never be indifferent about it.聽聽
That's why there are two graces out there which flatly contradict one another.
For bowls of cereal:聽 "Lord as we share this meal
Help us not to be like porridge,
Stiff and stodgy and slow to stir,
But to be like cornflakes
Crisp and light and ready to serve."
That won't please them up in Carrbridge.聽
Competitors for today's Golden Spurtle may pray:
" Lord as we share this day
Help us not to be like cornflakes
Lightweight, brittle and cold,
But to be like porridge
Warm, comforting and full of goodness."
Broadcast
- Sat 7 Oct 2017 05:43成人快手 Radio 4
"Time is passing strangely these days..."
Uplifting thoughts and hopes for the coronavirus era from Salma El-Wardany.