Nottm Chapel of Stop Shopping
From http://stopshopping.blogspot.com
Day Two of the Stop Shopping Tour : The Sunday Sermon"It's a dark time. It's a good time to be a fool." - Reverend Billy
The newly converted and the curious came to the Broadway, anxious for a glimpse of the Reverend Billy during his Sunday Sermon. Once inside, the flock instead got an apologetic Ange, who broke the news of yesterday's arrest (in Derby's Disney Store). The film taken was screened to the house by way of explanation, and in lieu of the Reverend's sermon, an improvisational interpretive dance courtesy of Richard and Savitri was introduced. "The Impenetrability of Derby's One Way System", Richard said, "lasting approximately 45 minutes." It was surprisingly well received for the actual 5 minutes that it lasted.
But as with any certainty, this was to be distrusted. Suddenly, Billy appeared in the aisles and announced "They let me out of prison!" to rapturous applause. The congregation was electrified instanteneously. Within minutes they were ready to confess their shopping sins, hallelujah. And so he began, accompanied by Brother Dave on organ, who provided inspirational and ominous undertones alike.
"We ask you to carry us in the next hour above all cultural referencing, out of post-modern irony, above the swooshes, the Mickeys, all the logos, all the swastikas, the crosses, the signs," Billy says. And it did: the sermon lifted us up beyond the signifiers and societal boxes imposed on us by all authoritarians, be they corporate, governmental or (especially) inate. "When ten million protestors in 900 countries are dismissed as a 'focus group' by the president of the United States, you feel powerless", Billy says. "And so it is a dark time. It's a good time to be a fool."
Between his fire-and-brimstone talks about Disney and Bush, Jr., he brought up Ronny and Patrick - "two true saints" - the organizers of Veggies, a progessive and wholly brilliant vegetarian enterprise. Patrick reminded the audience of a cold February morning of 1985 in the English countryside, a 6am showdown with the U.S. Marines, who threatened to bring through cruise missiles. "In six inches of snow, with no person in sight, we were asking, 'Should we pack up and say there's no point in trying to save this world?' " he said. "But no, the faithful came over the hill. They came and kicked the asses of the Americans and those cruise missles never came through. And I know sometimes we think we're still standing in that snow. But the faithful are here today, and we will prevail."
In closing, the Reverend Billy sings to us. His smooth and clean gospel voice, like a young Jimmy Swaggart with credibility, sings us a hymn about feeling like a Disneyless child, lulls us with a song of not wanting to blow up children anymore. The congregation has become just that, shouting "Hallelujah" and "Amen" at will. They are stirred to confess aloud that they have "Ikea-itis." They are stirred to tear up their credit cards in the aisles. They are stirred out of their chairs and into the streets of Nottingham, where the Reverend preaches on to another swelling flock.
The message is coming, city by city. And the people rejoiced.
Follow the tour online at http://www.breathingplanet.net/tour
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