This Day Has Been Totally Biblical

On Saturday me and my lovely flatmates went to Summer Stampede to see an awesome line up of bands headlined by Mumford & Sons. Now, I know Mumford & Sons are a bit divisive, with people either loving them, or hating them because they're too 'commerical', but seen as I have no pretentions whatsoever to coolness I'm happy to admit to being a fan. In general, Christians love Mumford & Sons! (Yes, that's a huge sweeping statement and I'm sure there's loads of exceptions to the rule, but I'm kind of prone to making sweeping statements. For example, I have been known to quote that 80% of the UK's mobility scooters are purchased in the North of England. I have no evidence for this whatsoever, it just FEELS like every time I go Oop North I spend way more time dodging feisty OAPs zipping along the roads like they're competing in the Grand Prix that I do down South. It just feels true!).

I think part of the reason Christians like Mumford & Sons (apart from their music, natch) is because the lead singer's parents are prominent church leaders and their lyrics are completely saturated with religious imagery (their album is called Babel, after all). And although the band members themselves don't like to label themselves as Christians (although they do admit to believing in God), we've basically claimed them as our own. Which is understandable, as up until now we've really only had Cliff Richard as an available celebrity Christian, whilst Mormons get sexy sexy Brandon Flowers . . .  Islam has Cat Stevens (or Yusuf or whatever his name is now. I just Googled it, it's Yusuf Islam). Buddhism has . . . Richard Gere?? I don't know, my knowledge of celebrity religious affiliations only goes so far . . .

Now one of the side effects of having an over active imagination is that real life occasionally (regularly) blends in with stories from films and books, and this particular day was totally out of the Bible you guys!

First off, the walk from Stratford station into the Olympic Park was EXACTLY like the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years, trying to get from Egypt to the Promised Land. It was baking hot, there was no shade, no food or water, and it seemed to go on forever.

Rough recreation of scene from journey to Summer Stampede

Route taken by the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land



Route taken by Summer Stampede ticket holders on their exodus from Stratford Station to the Olympic Park. The similarity is striking.


Once we'd finally made it and basked in the glow of our arrival, we got to enjoy the musical stylings of Haim, Ben Howard, Vampire Weekend and Ed Sharpe, who demonstrated the second of our Biblical recreations:

This photo isn't great for showing this, but Ed was totally impersonating Jesus with crowds reaching out just to touch his garments. He even has the beard!

Final Bible recreation of the night came after we got back home, to find that Lazarus (the clay model of Lazarus that my flatmate made and sits on the bookshelf) had taken a dramatic tumble to the floor and was now decapitated. Totally Headless. Without noggin. Well, Jesus did bring Lazarus back from the dead after all, so we attempted a similar trick. One healing later (read: squidging the clay together a bit until the head and neck merged once more) we had a restored Lazarus back in pride of place on the bookshelf, watching over us benevolently.
Witness:

That towel is not covering quite as much as it should . . .

But what about Mumford & Sons? Well, they were pretty flippin' FANTASTIC. I firmly believe that words have power . . .  and as casual and jokey as I've been about religious stuff so far in this blog, it was amazing and kind of moving to hear 60,000 people, regardless of religion, race, gender or any other factor, come together and sing the words "Awake My Soul" . . .  Amen to that!


Update: this weekend has become even more like something out of the Bible, in that our bathroom has been invaded by flying ants and I'm just about to go all genocidal and wipe them all out with bug killer, like the Israelites did to the Amalekites (the Amalekites were definitely wiped out by bug killer). There is LITERALLY a plague on my house right now.

Further update: the genocide has had to be delayed as I can't get the child proof cap off the bug killer.

Final update: Genocide carried out! They swarmed around me as I covered the bathroom in bug powder, and some of them crawled up my leg and landed on me, so I feel pretty disgusting and violated right now. But I had my vengeance! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Although I might have gone a bit overboard with the ant powder . . . the bathroom looks a bit like photographs you see of Pompei, everything under layers of volcanic ash and dust. Better get out the vacuum cleaner . . .