A Mystery

 

Doug writes:

A silver monolith was discovered recently in the Utah desert, around 12 feet high and gleaming. No-one seems to be sure where it came from. Most people are speculating that an artist has created and installed it, but naturally some are considering other options. With the similarity to the black monolith which lands in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey it is tempting to think that it is of extra-terrestrial origin; and we all know that Area 51 in the US desert is thought to be a place for sighting aliens; and the world is full of conspiracy theories and misinformation. Now, only a few days after it was found, it has mysteriously disappeared, Final proof indeed of whatever theory you may hold. 

It reminds me that among the set of seasonal songs which we may hear during Advent leading to Christmas there is a song called “A Spaceman Came Travelling” by Chris de Burgh (he of the well-known Lady in Red song - not seasonal as far as I know unless she is one of Santa’s elves). It speculates that a spaceman travels for many light years to this world, and Lo and Behold he appears at the time of the birth of Our Lord. Quite a coincidence or feat of planning. He seems to be a star to those who see him, and he even comes into the stable to see the Christ-child and his mother, bringing a message of (inter-galactic?) Peace and Goodwill. He returns to the stars, singing la la-la-la, la-la, la-la-la; maybe in a silver monolith?

As we prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus, we can have many perceptions about his birth and who he is. We will have heard Bible stories - the best source - and intermingled versions from our childhood, from plays, from poems, carols, songs, so many of which have their own version of the story to tell. They may be fun but they aren’t necessarily Gospel truth – and we shouldn’t expect them to be. Jesus is born into such humble human circumstances, in the middle of a nation with many tensions, and the story of his birth does feature local shepherds and a group of travellers but in essence the world is scarcely aware of his coming. He is born of Mary, a gentle young Jewish woman, and he is therefore, of course, truly human and one with us. His words and actions when he grew brought people to believe that he was the one they were expecting to be our saviour. In Jesus we see both God and Humanity, there from the start but largely hidden.

Jesus’ birth is a source of wonder, comfort and joy and it is in many ways delightful that so much prose and music has been written about that. However, we need a purity of vision so that we don’t end up with unfathomable cosmic speculation, unable to decide or feel our way through faith and fiction. Advent preparation can be a time for sifting through what is important and what is secondary. The purity and humility of his birth are the core of the meaning of Christmas and most of the rest is secondary, or even less important, mere trivia.

We can enjoy the festive blandishments and hang up our stockings on the wall, take a sleigh ride, deck the halls, feel sad about last Christmas’ broken heart, but be very careful with the mistletoe and wine this year. Above all, if we are prepared spiritually we can celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and find ourselves, in a sense probably not intended by their author, “Simply having a wonderful Christmas time”.

Advent

 

Helen Harvey Wright write:

The Bible reading for the first Sunday in Advent, Isaiah 64.1-9 seems very fierce.

“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down.”  We are put firmly in our place by the time we reach verse 6. “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.”

 

But the prophet tells us a comforting truth near the end of the reading.  “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

 

During this Advent time we can prepare ourselves spiritually.  What a wonderful thought that our Father God can mould us and make us into the work of his hand, beautiful in his sight, ready to welcome the coming of the Christ Child into our lives.

 

I found this prayer written by Richard Lyall, thinking about Isaiah 64. useful in helping to understand how the reading can be used.  It is entitled “Come Down,” and a suitable start for our Advent journey.

  

Into our emptiness,

into our brokenness:  Lord, come down.

 

Into our loneliness,

into our neediness:  Lord, come down.

 

Into our busyness

and our distractedness:  Lord, come down.

 

Into our chaos

and our unsettledness:  Lord, come down.

 

Into our shallowness

and our small-mindedness:  Lord, come down.

 

Into our past

and into our present:  Lord, come down.

 

Into our future

with all its uncertainty:  Lord, rend the heavens and come down. 

© Richard Lyall/engageworship.org

 

 

 

Congratulations to Helen on her special Birthday today. 

' You are never too old to set another goal, to dream a new dream' CS Lewis 

    

 

During the Summer, Annmarie had a short walk with her Goddaughter from Cold Aston to Notgrove along the Gloucestershire Way.

She writes:

T S Eliot converted to the Church of England ( High Anglican) whilst walking in the Cotswolds and the following are just a few lines from Burnt Norton.The church of St Bartholomew is a gem, dating from Norman times. The most interesting feature is a Saxon carving of the Crucifixion set in an outside wall.

In the Salk vestry there is a wonderful piece of stained glass of the Virgin and Child.C1300.

 

I came here thirty years ago and was delighted to revisit this wonderful old church again so recently.

 Burnt Norton by T.S. Eliot

 Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

If all time is eternally present

All time is unredeemable.

What might have been is an abstraction

Remaining a perpetual possibility

Only in a world of speculation.

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present.

Footfalls echo in the memory

Down the passage which we did not take

Towards the door we never opened.

 

Lost

     

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following Your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please You
does in fact please You.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.

And I know that if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road
although I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust You always,
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death,
I will not fear, for You are ever with me,
and will never leave me
to face my perils alone.         

 Thomas Merton 

 

Fairlands

 

 

                                        FAIRLANDS VALLEY PARK

 

Annemarie writes: This is a much visited and valued oasis in the middle of Stevenage. It is a great place for an easy walk with smooth asphalt paths around the large lake in a lovely, varied environment. There’s free parking and it’s suitable for all!

 

The poem is by the Peasant Poet John Clare

It could also be used as a prayer. 

 

Thy mercy covers earth and sky

 

Thy mercy covers earth and sky,

Thy love is everywhere,

Lord thou art rich, and so shall I

If thou my wish wilt hear.

 

Lord let thy love and mercy grant

Not what the rich pursue,

But just an honest start of want,

And I am wealthy too.

 

Nor let my heart ungodly be

To slight the little sent,

But feeling blessings come from thee

Be happily content.

 

And if too covetous I grow

Excuse a greedy prayer,

I crave what wealth can ne’er bestow,

And thou alone canst spare.

 

I crave the guidance of thy will,

The bliss of human kind,

A harmless heart afraid of ill,

And a contented mind.  

 

Baking and Praying

 

                                 Featuring baking this stir up weekend by members of All Saints 

When Jesus showed the disciples how to pray, he gave them an outline, or a basic recipe, rather than a complete list. Like a recipe, it’s up to us to put them all together. Sometimes there will be an extra measure of thanks and praise because, unlike salt, we can never overdo those ingredients. It’s often easy to skip the confession and forgiving but, like forgetting the baking powder in cakes, prayers don’t seem to come out right without them. While it’s possible to add too much flour to a recipe, our prayers seem to improve the more we pray for the needs of others. They are not very appetising if we spend more time mixing in petitions for ourselves than for others! Unlike quite a few recipes, there is no set amount of time for baking the perfect prayer.

When we grow bored with the food we’ve been preparing, we look for new recipes or create a recipe by using some of an old one by adding something extra, this is so for our prayers. If prayer seems boring, we need to change it with fresh ingredients. Let's be open to God and see where he leads us!

“Believers do not pray with the view of informing God about things unknown to him, or of exciting him to do his duty, or of urging him as though he were reluctant. On the contrary, they pray, in order that they may arouse themselves to seek him, that they may exercise their faith in meditating on his promises, that they may relieve themselves from their anxieties by pouring them into his bosom; in a word, that they may declare that from him alone they hope and expect, both for themselves and for others, all good things”. John Calvin

‘Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come.
   Your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven.
   Give us this day our daily bread.
   And forgive us our debts,
     as we also have forgiven our debtors.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial,
     but rescue us from the evil one. Matthew 6:9-13 NRSV

Retreat

Pictures taken by Andrew Povey- Richards

Ever wanted to go on a retreat, but not sure where to start? Today is a good time to join in from the comfort of your own home. 

https://www.stalbans.anglican.org/stir-up-sunday/

Being with other people praying helps you to pray. Jesus said: “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20, NRSV). You can make it a silent retreat  away from distractions with only the talks to guide you or you could just give  yourself space for you to do your own thing. So for a first retreat, you might decide to go on this guided retreat at home to help you focus.  You will need to ensure that you are comfortable and warm with as few distractions as possible.

What do you do all day? The short answer is that when you are on retreat you can do whatever you like! You are free to use the time as you please. The trouble with learning to live in the freedom that Christ promises us, is that we often don't know what to do with our time.

Let's start with the basics. We are human beings and we need food, a bit of exercise, playful activity, rest and some fresh air. Many people are 'running on empty', and when they stop they realise just how tired they are. So you may well need to allow time to catch up on sleep. Practising prayer usually requires being alert and focused, and having a praying mindset. If you are exhausted, it might be that resting is the starting place for prayer. You could see it as an initial surrender to resting in God.

As well as prayer and silence you could read, write a journal, walk, draw or paint, write poetry, or even sing or dance. If gardening is a helpful prayer activity ,that’s great too!

 

We are gently being with God, not trying too hard to listen or to be heard. You could think of it as being curled up next to God on a comfy sofa in close companionship. These are the times when God is speaking in our hearts.

 

What should I expect to happen to me? Sometimes we can be affected by the prevailing consumerism. We tend to expect that if we put some time in with God, we should receive some blessing, vision or special revelation. But being on retreat is not like putting the hours in and receiving a good salary! The aim of a retreat is to withdraw in order to be with God. Instead of making demands on God for special effects, we instead allow God to shape us and become aware of how we are to live more fully in Christ. Brother Ramon, an Anglican Franciscan, puts it this way:

 

“[A retreat] does not mean running from the difficulties and responsibilities of life, but rather withdrawing from their immediate and insistent claims in order to be totally available to God. This calls for a certain passivity, receptivity and 'letting go, in a place of comparative solitude and silence, so that the interior Word may be heard in the depths of your being.”

So instead of having lists of specific requests of God and expectations of your retreat, it can in a way be more helpful just to gently get on with the retreat, let God love us just as we are, and see what emerges.

 

What emerges may only become clear after the retreat. The effects of a retreat on our lives may be revelations about God or ourselves, but very often and just as importantly they are about slow and subtle changes in our attitudes and thinking. God gradually draws us closer, not just in the time of retreat, but many months afterwards too. Sometimes it is good to talk things through: In “Toward God”, a book about prayer, Michael Casey writes:

“Unless we think about our experiences of prayer and talk about them a little, we are unlikely to persevere. I am thinking here not so much of asking somebody to give one direction, but simply of recounting what has been one's experience. What I refer to could perhaps best be called 'taking counsel'.” So please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

As RS Thomas put it:

I think that maybe

I will be a little surer

Of being a little nearer:

That’s all. Eternity

Is in the understanding

That little is more than

enough.

What’s in your mix?

 

This Sunday is a day to “Stir Up” our faith. At the end of the Church’s year, what have we achieved in loving, praising and serving God in the last twelve months? Did we expect to make progress or have we become complacent in recent years? It has been an extraordinarily challenging time, but through all life’s changes and uncertainties we are called to follow the pilgrim way.

The Gospel reading of the sheep and the goats presents us with a way to follow. The ultimate question is whether we notice the needs of others. Neither side was aware of Jesus in their fellow people’s needs but their response to the sufferings and difficulties of those around them was completely different. The “who cares” way of living is roundly condemned: living with the love of Jesus in our lives is what we are truly called to.

Stirring up good works is vital for the Christian life – it is a crucial expression of the faith within. When we place our faith in Jesus and follow his way, like him we cannot ignore the needs of our sisters and brothers. Love God and love your neighbour as yourself is central to our faith, Jesus says it is the summation of what God asks of us.

Our own mix of faith may feel like our own, but it is influenced by many things – all that we have understood and experienced. Our upbringing, our education, our relationships; the varied people who have been examples of faith and life to us. Much of this will be good, but there can be shortcomings, imperfections and misperceptions. Our personal journey, our mix of faith and action must be uniquely our own. And as we all grow older, the mix can grow richer. Mmmmm.

Our Bishops (in their jolly chefs’ hats and aprons rather than their mitres and robes) have offered us the opportunity to spend a time of reflection on the fruits of the Spirit, beginning this Sunday afternoon but mainly on Monday, with thoughts about each holy gift on the hour. Visit https://www.stalbans.anglican.org/ and go to the You Tube channel and access “videos”. Each hour a new video will become available, each one giving us assistance and encouragement in thinking and praying about/for the fruit of the Spirit.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” Galatians 5.22-23.   Just as a tree needs to grow to produce fruit, we need to allow this process of sanctification to work in our lives. Are we beginning, growing, maturing? Are there areas we need to pray about?  Does your mix need a fresh stirring?

Stir up, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people;

that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by you be plenteously rewarded;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

 

Reader's ramblings

                                              All pictures taken this year by Mary Wilkerson 

Janet Bird writes:

As we approach Christmas and start to think about writing our Christmas cards I am beginning to wonder what might be in the “catch-up” letters that some of our friends usually include with their cards. I am wondering whether to write one of my own this year.It might go something like this:

“This year we haven’t really been anywhere. We didn’t have a holiday in France with the family; we didn’t see the Passion Drama in Oberammergau: we didn’t host a Bishop from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; we didn’t spend hours in front of the TV watching the Olympics: we didn’t visit various National Trust or English Heritage properties with our grandchildren during their school holidays nor did we organise our usual Afternoon tea party to raise funds for our church.

At church we didn’t have our regular coffee mornings or Wednesday Soundbites concerts or any other large fund raising events or concerts. For the first time in over 30 years we won’t be holding a party to bring people in Hertford together on Christmas Day.

We missed physical contact with the family but we learned how to Skype and enjoyed exchanging letters and of course on the relatively few occasions we were able to meet in person it meant so much more than normal just to be together and to actually see for ourselves how much the girls have grown. It was just the same at church. We learned to meet and worship via Zoom or You Tube and we got to know our friends as we spent time really talking and listening to each other on regular phone calls and via WhatsApp. When we were able to meet together it meant so much – even if it felt strange wearing masks and sanitizing.

However we did spend far more time just enjoying time spent in our garden, watching the wildlife and being aware of the changing colours and the changing seasons. Thanks to gifts from friends we grew tomatoes, potatoes and carrots which we have never grown before and we enjoyed experimenting with different ingredients when we were unable to shop for what we might normally use. We also found time to relax and read books during the day rather than just in bed at night.

What I think this year has taught us as a family is to always make the most of what we have and what we are able to do. We are so sad because there is still much we can’t do but rather than concentrating on what we can’t change we need to give thanks for so much that is still so good. Food to eat, warmth and comfort, fellowship and the chance to reach out to others in whatever way we can whether in person, by phone or email. We give thanks for our love for our families and friends and knowing that they love us but above all for the love of God reaching into all the corners of our lives. Guiding and supporting us and helping us to find our way forward when we feel helpless and hopeless.”

I would of course finish by saying “we are thinking of you and hoping that you are keeping safe and well and hoping that we can meet up next year” which of course we often say but let’s hope that next year we really will be able to make plans which we can keep and that we will get back together with all those we love.

 

Slow Down!

 

Lisa Meakin took these photos while walking around Goldings in Hertford  

Slow me down, Lord! Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.  Steady my rushed pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
 
Give me, amidst the confusions of my day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.  Break the tensions of my nerves with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
 
Help me to know the great power of sleep, teach me the art of taking breaks; of slowing down to look at a flower; to chat with an old friend or make a new one; to watch a spider build a web; to smile at someone; or to read a few lines from a good book.

 
Remind me each day that the race is not always won by the swift; that there is more to life than increasing its speed.
 
Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
 
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values. That I may grow toward the stars of our greater destiny. 

Based on a prayer byOrin L Crain