Wednesday 28 November 2012

"Sacred Heart"


"The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart."
(Benjamin Franklin)



Sacred Heart
Like a tiny bird that dares not sing
for fear of exquisite song,
so I'm afeared to love
lest you should see my perfect heart.
And as the world outside me turns,
as sorrows drown and bridges burn,
I am a precious, songless, flightless bird
on a perch you call Serenity:
nesting in hardy evergreen;
it is the tree of Hermitude.

                                                                         Gigi






"I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart."
(Pope John XXIII)



Sunday 25 November 2012

King



"And in the days of those kings the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed"

(Daniel 2:44)


The Solemnity of Christ the King was established as a feast day by Pope Pius XI in 1925, as an antidote to the extremities of secularism. The intention was to proclaim Christ's royalty over individuals, society, governments, and nations. The feast also marks the end of the church year as the last holy Sunday in the west's liturgical calendar. As well as Roman Catholics, the day is observed by many Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians and the Russian Orthodox Church. It's necessarily a moveable feast, always falling between 20th and 26th November: the new church year begins on the first Sunday of Advent, no earlier than 27th. Today is the feast of Christ the King, 2012.
Regal titles are bestowed on Christ throughout the Scriptures: King of Israel, King of the Jews, the King Eternal, the King of Kings. Pope Pius wanted to remind Christians that ultimate allegiance is due to a spiritual ruler in heaven, rather than to any earthly supremacy. We live in an age dripping with hollow honours, "reality TV" celebrities, quangos and unquantifiable qualifications. I admit to voting in the recent local polls to elect a Police Commissioner only because my socialist background seems to compel me to use my vote in any election; seemingly only one of only a few hundred people in Brighton to do so. If you asked me right now to list the line of succession to the British throne beyond Charles and William, I would have to put down my cuppa and think about it for some time.

We currently "boast" a coalition government, clamping together two camps of voters who traditionally have little in common. Across the Atlantic pond, the newly re-elected president will have to sit down with a houseful of representatives who wanted The Other Guy to get in. Around the globe, armies, politicians and monarchs endlessly shape-shift into dictators and genociders. As blue-collar icon Bruce Springsteen, himself rather ironically referred to as "The Boss", observed about men and power: "Poor men want to to be rich, rich men want to be king; a king's not satisfied till he rules everything."
Privilege and power often lend themselves to corruption, but you and I and all the other common or garden folk are also fiercely ruled in other ways; by our fears and addictions, our debts and desires. It feels very credible as well as comforting to celebrate a king as a liberator, an advocate and a saviour; who finds a way into this world in a manger, on a donkey and through the breaking of a loaf of bread.


"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."
(Napoleon Bonaparte)


"I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life."
(James C. Hefley)


"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very centre of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history."
(H.G. Wells)



 "How Great Thou Art"  Eddi Reader

Saturday 24 November 2012

NOW you tell me...?


My thanks to Leigh and JR for yet more Easy to Follow Instructions and insights...


 


"What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?"  Elvis Costello

Provenance and Providence


Guestling Woods, East Sussex


 "Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do."
(Victor Hugo) 

American writer and pastor Henry Van Dyke noted:"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse." A couple of days ago, on Thursday 22nd November, the United States of America and some other parts of the world celebrated Thanksgiving Day. This day has been an annual holiday in the United States since 1863, traditionally on the fourth Thursday in November; my friends in Canada give Thanks on the second Monday in October. 
Many people trace the origins of the modern Thanksgiving Day to the Pilgrim Fathers' harvest celebrations in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621. However, their first true "thanksgiving" was probably in 1623, when they celebrated the downpour that ended a long drought. The earliest Thanksgiving Day celebrations were actually special church services rather than the extended family feasts of today. Later in the 1600s, annual public displays of thanksgiving after harvesting became more common, held on different days across various states: George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789. In truth, not everyone sees Thanksgiving Day as a cause for celebration: American Indian Heritage Day is also observed around the same time, and recent years have seen Native Americans and their supporters staging protests in Plymouth on Thanksgiving Day, as part of their National Day of Mourning. 

"Oh Lord, that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! "
(Shakespeare's Henry VI)

Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious traditions, but is now generally celebrated in a more secular manner. Prayers of gratitude and special thanksgiving ceremonies have been common to nearly all religions and cultures after harvests and at times of deliverance. The modern celebration still holds aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs earlier than late November when the holiday is celebrated now. The history of Thanksgiving in North America is heavily rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. Reforms in 1536 reduced the vast number of church holidays ("holy days") down to twenty seven a year; some Puritans wanted to completely eliminate all church holidays, even Christmas and Easter. The holidays would be replaced by Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving, in response to natural and national events that the Puritans viewed as acts of providence. Days of Fasting were called on account of drought, flooding and plague. A Day of Thanksgiving was called following the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588; and an annual Day of Thanksgiving began in 1606 following the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, evolving into Guy Fawkes Day and Bonfire Night.

Photo: Gigi, album

"We give You thanks 
for the fruits of the earth in their season 
and for the labours of those who harvest them."
(from The Book of Common Prayer)

I've always loved the idea of the Thanksgiving celebrations and wish that something was made of the day in these islands. Much as I look forward to Christmas and fully embrace both the reverence and the sentimentality, I don't like the commercialism that starts way back in October. The tinsel trees were in stock along the High Street this year before the pear tree in my back garden had even thought about turning or shedding her own leaves. Aside from the traditional feasting, the emphasis at Thanksgiving is gathering with family and friends. Thanksgiving is the busiest time of the year for travel in the States, with people covering long distances by car, train and plane to spend time with loved ones; to be "home". Presence, rather than presents. 
The traditional feast is a slap-up one, featuring personal favourites of mine such as sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pecan and pumpkin pies. Regrettably for me, a turkey will usually feature heavily (literally) in the menu. Today's stuffing and mashed potatoes may be a distant call from the harvest baskets of the Pilgrims, but many families still encourage guests to bring fruit and homemade tit-bits along. Even if you don't arrive with a couple of bottles of white or a six-pack of light, everyone can still bring something to the table: themselves.
Thanksgiving is also seen as a natural time to help others: canned food drives and food and night shelters are traditionally inundated with volunteers and donations. Each year, the US President "pardons" a White House turkey, delivering it from the dinner platter to the rest of it's natural life lived out on farmland. How wondrous would it be if every year each nation or culture could fully pardon one grudge, one breach, possibly one perceived natural enmity? 
When I was at school, a wonderful, obviously aged but somehow ageless nun called Sister Columba told me what to do if I was too tired to say prayers at the end of the day. She told me it would be just enough to say Thank You that I am still around to say it. Over the years, my own commuted prayer in times of weariness and often thankfulness has simply been "Thank You for loving me", which seems to me to be what Thanksgiving is all about.

"Hard Times Come Again No More"  Paolo Nutini (with The Chieftains)


"Thanksgiving"
"For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night, 
For health and food,
For love and friends, 
For everything Thy goodness sends."
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)



Friday 16 November 2012

Please read the Babel...



 
 
 
 
 



"For the shadow that watches me work"





I tend to get a lot of "chain" or "viral" emails but this is one email that arrived, entitled "One of the nicest emails ever", which I actively wanted to pass on as widely as possible. Closely preceding the celebrations for Thanksgiving across the big pond, this is an email that reads like a poem, feels like a wish and heals like a prayer. 
And to JR for originally sending this to me - Thank you!


 "I AM THANKFUL: 
 FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT, 
 BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.
 FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO,
 BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS. 
 FOR THE TEENAGER WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES, 
 BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME, NOT ON THE STREETS. 
 FOR THE TAXES I PAY,
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED. 
 FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY, 
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.
 FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG,
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT. 
 FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK 
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE. 
 FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING, WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING, AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING 
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME.
 FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT,
 BECAUSE WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH. 
 FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT,
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING.
 FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL,
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM.
 FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY,
 BECAUSE I CAN HEAR HER. 
 FOR WEARINESS AT THE END OF THE DAY,
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I'VE BEEN EMPLOYED.  
 FOR THE ALARM THAT JOLTS ME IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS,
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I'M STILL ALIVE. 
 AND FOR FAR TOO MANY E-MAILS
 BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING ABOUT ME."





"Thank You"  Alanis Morissette
"Thank you providence,
thank you disillusionment,
thank you nothingness,
thank you clarity,
thank you thank you silence"