It must be the biblical critic in me. I am a bit of a radical conservative when it comes to the text. I am not just talking about the biblical canon, indeed, I am the only person in the universe who struggles with Sherlock as portrayed by Cumberbatch, I would far prefer Brett, although I could go along with Mr Holmes played by Sir Ian. I don’t like the liberties taken with Conan Doyle’s script. That said, Martin Freeman’s Watson is closer to the text than the bumbling baffoon that is normally portrayed alongside the Baker Street sleuth. I also struggle with Endeavour for similar reasons. It could be that I am soft, I just don’t like someone else disturbing my imaginings. Of course, I have a choice, I can decide not to watch.

I struggle when the biblical text is claimed by one group or another to pronounce a particular point rather than join in with the story. I suppose that is why I can never be a true conservative (in the theological and very definitely in the political sense). The story itself invites us to join in with it. As I looked at Flimby yesterday at the old mining village by the Solway sea, (This is St Nicholas Church, at the heart of the community, even if physically at the edge: you can see the people, I know: they are the church)

I could hear again the whispers of the saints of old as they strained to hear a Palestinian voice from a long time ago.

It is communities together that enable the text to dance, and indeed doing so dramatically change the story in a way that no one scholar could.