I've been listening to the DVD 'The God Course' and Richard Cooke talks about how we see Jesus depends upon whether we think of him during his ministry in Galilee (teaching and healing) or during his time in Jerusalem (prophetic teaching, clearing the temple, the crucifixion and resurrection). It also depends on whether we focus on his words and deeds. See the table below:
If your heart yearns for a more it doesn’t know,
if you’ve suffered blow after blow
and can barely dare to lift your head,
if you’ve ever wished you’d rather been -
if you’ve bled, or tried to bind a wound
if you’ve cried then tied a knot to choke
the flow of hope before it can open up
a way to disappoint again
and leave you broken
then this is for you.
If you’ve longed, if you’ve wronged,
if you choke on the words to your favourite song,
if you need a Doctor,
or you’re beyond
medical help
then come.
If you’re cracked, if you’re splintered,
if your Winter is just too long,
if this Winter is just too long,
(but the thought of Spring is terrifying,)
then come.
Because Jesus came
for the broken brother and sister,
the ache, the pain and the blister,
the wrong decision,
the open wound
the blurred vision
the won’t-ever-hope-again.
Jesus came
for the insane, the unfulfilled, the searching
the street child, the tramp and the urchin,
the poor little rich girl snorting coke and
cursing, and the man who sold it to her.
Jesus came for those nursing a need,
nursing a drink
out of control,
on the blink,
on the brink,
falling overboard, and about to -
sobbing at the kitchen sink.
Jesus came for those the world drives mad,
for the bad, yes the bad,
Jesus came for the bad,
so if that’s never been you,
then fine, just go, because
Jesus didn’t come for the well, the swell,
“the hell – I’ve got everything I need”
the nothing’s-lacking, the non-cracking up.
He’s not interested in courting the sorted
he came to fill the cup of the thirsty,
the worst, the broken, the burst open,
Jesus came for the sick.
the packed-up, the cracked-up,
the smashed, hopes dashed, and the picked-on,
the meek, the weak, the stuttering,
those who blush when they speak
and the walked-out-on.
Jesus came for the left behind,
for the cheats and the cheated,
the ones who crossed the line
and the ones who still don’t know where to begin.
Jesus came for the people who know how it feels
when you say “sin”
for the broken to open,
to break for those who choke,
for the people who don’t have everything we need,
for the ones who know we need hope.
I found this article about a resource to enable people to be radically inclusive in church - to encourage all to contribute through art, poetry, sculpture.... This appeals to me as I feel we all have something to bring to being and doing church.
I listened to 'Pause for Thought' on Radio 2 a while back and it impressed me and disturbed me. The guest was talking about how science has proved that the decisions we make are more to do with circumstance than character. In other words if we were in someone else's shoes we would do the same as them. I liked it because it lets us all off, when I lie in bed at night regretting my actions and the effects they have on others, it is some consolation that the rest of you lot would have done the same thing. I like any excuse not to judge others too.. and it brings to mind the proverb 'To know all is to forgive all'.. if I truly understood the situation of another I would forgive them their actions.
However, it is horribly deterministic, and the more I think about it, the less I like it. I like to think I have the ability to mess up or not, I like the notion that I might pray and be inspired to do good, I like the feeling that there is wisdom in this world that I seek. It has made me realise that for Paul, the greatest spiritual qualities are faith, hope and love, but perhaps for me I most value freewill, wisdom and prayer. Whilst generally I can accept that I am a product of my experiences, I also believe that God is transforming us all beyond the inevitability of all that.
Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, who decided that? Only three days after Christmas and in the middle of our celebrations of Good News and Peace on Earth and Great Joy!! This is part of the reading for the day:
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
All I can think about is the women and men I have known who have lost children, the pain, agony of loss. I had a pregnancy that ended at 20 weeks myself and that was 16 years ago and still I can remember vividly my own wailing and loud lamentation.
Three days in from Christmas and reality crashes in, cruelty and agonising grief... I guess it sets the scene for the world our Saviour was born into and the world in which we live, lest we run away with the idea that Jesus was born, and everything was fixed, job done.
Bishop Alan writes about this more eloquently on 28th December here
I'm wondering what Christmas was all about, what the definitive answer is. What did I learn? What did I teach? I loved a comment from a friend on the Christmas Day sermon that it only scored 6 out of 10 because he had heard the story before and the vicar missed out the bad ending. Seems each year that goes by for me the stranger it all seems.
What has struck me is how Luke's gospel reports how strange Mary found it all:
Angel visit:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexedby his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Shepherd visit:
When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and ponderedthem in her heart.
Visit to Simeon:
Jesus’ parents were surprised at what Simeon had said. Then he blessed them and told Mary, “This child of yours will cause many people in Israel to fall and others to stand. The child will be like a warning sign. Many people will reject him, and you, Mary, will suffer as though you had been stabbed by a dagger.
Visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12:
He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
I wonder whether my mistake is in looking for a singular answer:
Joan Chittister in her commentary on the Rule of Benedict speaks of the problem of knowing a whole lot of stuff that hampers our spiritual development:
"Once upon a time," an ancient story tells, "the master had a visitor who came to inquire about Zen. But instead of listening, the visitor kept talking about his own concerns and giving his own thoughts.
"After a while, the master served tea. He poured tea into his visitor's cup until it was full and then he kept on pouring.
"Finally the visitor could not bear it any longer. 'Don't you see that my cup is full?' he said. 'It's not possible to get anymore in.'
"'Just so,' the master said, stopping at last. 'And like this cup, you are filled with your own ideas. How can you expect me to give you Zen unless you first empty your cup?'"
This ties in with my post about Avatar and the hero needing to be empty to learn new ways of being.
And so, here is the video of Yvette Flunder that Alan Crawley played on his Radio Show :
I went to see Avatar today and I was so impressed. For me it was a spiritual experience, melding together so many themes that are important to me in my faith. I will try to list a few:
1. Beauty - the film was breathtaking in it's beauty, the world they find themselves in, the way people move with grace and agility. I guess when I see beauty it points me to something beyond me.
2. Overcoming Prejudice. The hero, Jake, finds himself in a new culture, and seeks to learn it. The Na'vi people are gracious enough to take time to teach him.
3. Humility. One character says 'we have tried to teach your kind before but it is hard to pour anything new in when the cup is already full', Jake replies 'trust me I am empty'. I think this is so true, that we have to be empty to receive from God.
4. Love. Jake makes friends with one of the Na'vi people - Neytiri, and their friendship is mutually life transforming.
5. Connectedness with the earth. There is a huge contrast between the humans with their reckless and selfish acquisition and the Na'vi people who tread lightly with gratitude and are at peace with their environment.
Spiritual values of humility, love, grace, hope, selflessness and peace are contrasted with distrust, prejudice, greed and ignorance.
The Na'vi people acknowledge each other and every living thing as having intrinsic value, they say 'I see you'..
I listened to a Radio Program today that was raising money for Africa Link, and broadcasting from Cafe Africa in Amersham-on-the-Hill. It was presented by Revd Alan Crawley and he had two guests, all three of them were in various stages of ministerial training. They were expressing similar views about their pathways into the church and the struggles that they had experienced. One struggle was a growing interest in spirituality, but wanting that hunger satisfied without having to buy into a lot of other religious guff that they found unbelievable or even morally questionable. They found that if they put all that to one side and entered a journey into faith it all mattered less and less. The journey, the relationship, became life giving and life changing.
They played a clip of an American Black woman bishop, and she said 'The further along I get, the less I know', she said that faith brings no certainties, it brings relationship and life, it had brought for her peace, a release from shame and a release from fear.
The hour passed in a flash, really interesting conversation broken up by really good music. I wondered why church can't be like that.
I had an email from Avaaz about Copenhagen and would like to share some of it with you
While leaders failed to make history, people around the world did. In thousands of vigils, rallies and protests, hundreds of thousands of phone calls, and millions of petition signatures, an unprecedented movement rose to this moment. After hearing the result of the talks, one member from Africa wrote "It takes a lot to get an elephant moving, but when you do it is hard to stop...the elephant is moving..."
On Wednesday UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown requested an emergency conference call with Avaaz members, telling 3000 of us: "You have driven forward the idealism of the world...do not underestimate the impact on the leaders here". Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu personally appealed to us to take up the torch of causes past and never give up.
Well if that is what Desmond Tutu encourages us to do then let's do it :)
This article from the Telegraph speaks of Ed Miliband's tireless work in Copenhagen:
“Haven’t slept since Wed night,” an exhausted Ed Miliband tweeted on Friday evening. Then, four hours later: “trying to work out if i can sleep tonight”. And the next morning: “No sleep and still on plenary floor. Still fighting to get this. Alternative is nothing.”
However it goes on to say that only half the population appreciate that there is an issue with the climate, and hence he doesn't have a good enough mandate. And so we have a job to do, to educate the public:
So let this be the aim for 2010: without alarmism and with great care and detail, climate scientists and NGOs must place a renewed emphasis on educating the public – in the most simple terms – that manmade global warming is a very serious threat to the planet. Until that has been achieved, our politicians will sleep well – because they know we don’t really care.
Just got back from two wonderful Carol Services. All this talk of Mary giving birth made me wonder what she thought of childbirth. The song below came to mind, although I can't imagine her singing it. DO NOT click on the like below if you are a bit squeamish or hate swearing!
Well we don't know what the deal is in Copenhagen, but I can't help but feel encouraged, for several reasons. Firstly that America have signed it, unlike the Kyoto Protocol, secondly because the world leaders seem to be taking climate change seriously, and thirdly because of reports in the news like the one from the BBC are hopefully getting the message across:
"The majority of the world's governments believe that climate change poses a threat to human society and to the natural world. Successive scientific reports, notably those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have come to ever firmer conclusions about humankind's influence on the modern-day climate, and about the impacts of rising temperatures."
In response to Alan's comment below I thought I would post a couple more pictures:
So this graph shows the temperature of earth and compares it with the CO2 in the atmosphere at that time:
Human activity has only really caused a rise in CO2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution, as burning wood is carbon neutral, hence shown in the graph below is the effect of us in the form of solids - coal, liquids - oil and gas.
I suppose my conclusion is that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere causes the temperature to rise or fall and that since 1950 we have put a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere, hence we might expect to see the rapid increases in temperature we are experiencing:
Of course neither article claims global warming is entirely natural or entirely due to humans, but the question is whether human activity has a significant impact or not. If it does then we must change our lifestyles, if it doesn't then we must eat drink and be merry..
For me, graphs like the one below are convincing. The red line appears in all three graphs and is the earth's temperature and no one will disagree that this is rising. The first graph also shows a model in grey of natural effects on temperature, such as solar flares, in the second graph the grey line instead shows a model of solely human effects on temperature due to CO2 emissions, and in the third graph the grey line is a model combining the two.
I was at a confirmation service recently where Bishop Alan quoted a book called "The Blue Mountains of China" by Rudy Wiebe, which talked about the new society that those being confirmed were joining:
Jesus says in his society there is a new way to live:
you show wisdom… by trusting people;
you handle leadership… by serving;
you handle offenders, by forgiving;
you handle money, by sharing;
you handle enemies, by loving;
and you handle violence, by suffering.
In fact, she says, you have a new attitude toward everything, toward everybody - because this is a Jesus society, and you repent, not by feeling bad, but by thinking differently.”
(Wiebe, Rudy, The Blue Mountains of China, McClellan and Stewart, 1970.)
Just watched 'The Age of Stupid'..http://www.ageofstupid.net/ and now I can't sleep, not that sleep is my forte anyway.
Funny thing is I already knew most of the facts, and I thought in some ways the film was quite gentle.
Two things from the film are troubling me, one is the short time scale that we have to turn things around, we have to start now and peak in CO2 emissions by 2015, which feels like an awesome task.
The other is the haunting question asked in the film, the narrator looking back with the earth destroyed, asking why we didn't save ourselves - did we not think we were worth it?
On a more positive note, I had been regretting that it is now that myself and my children live, with such a huge task to save the planet, and the threat of climate instability giving rise to political instability and food shortages. But more recently I started thinking that if there was a moment to be alive, a defining time to make a difference, when surely now is it. And we have the privilege as well as the responsibility to make a difference.
I decided that as I had contributed I ought to have a copy. My initial reaction was that the book was overwhelmingly big, with no index; I thought perhaps I may never find the poem I wrote. Then I was struck by how sad the poems are, and shocking too, my own included. Finally, in a strange way it gave me hope, for it is a book of prayer, of crying out to God, and the length and the strength and the breadth of the cry was deafening and yet in being so it is surely prophetic.
I also accidentally bought two other books from Amazon at the same time.. Absolutely no idea how I did it, but a friend suggested my cat Mistletoe should be chief suspect! Never know, she might have good literary taste!
