Photo: BBC. ‘A Beautiful World, from Xavier University, Cincinnati USA
Cherish God’s World, Cherish each other. Love God.
Our Common Humanity
Month: October 2023
Contrasts
And sheep will safely graze is a good title for this photo sent to me by my friend Gill Henwood. She took it at one of my favourite places, namely The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, off the Northumbrian coast. Today it is a contrasting place being a place of Pilgrimage and a place for visitors, of which there are many. Holy Island can hold these two roles in creative tension because twice a day, thanks to the North Sea tidal waters, it becomes an Island. Those who have experienced the moment when the visitors have gone and the Island becomes truly that, will sense that the land seems to sigh deeply and take a breath. Of course, there is a third group of people for whom Lindisfarne is ‘home’. The small but dedicated folk who live on the island are its heartbeat. It is not easy to scrape a living but it is also itself a way of life.
The Island has a history steeped in the Christian faith and is rightly regarded as the Northern cradle of faith because it was here that St. Aidan of Iona, trained and then sent out missionaries to proclaim the Christian faith to the North, the Midlands, the Yorkshire hills and the coastal plain of Essex.
It has suffered much over the generations, from raiders from the Viking lands and many others. Today it is more peaceful with an abiding sense of holiness. That itself is a reminder that holiness is conferred by God on those who are steadfast in the faith. It is a gift which cannot be earned, and is given to those whose lives are steeped in love and prayer and service. Corporately, it is possible to say that this Island has achieved just that.
Gill took the photos and then pondered the contrast between Lindisfarne today and the world far away where violence has again erupted. The Contrast is between Holy Island and the Holy Land. This is her poem. [Mr G]
Contrasts…
Here where Vikings ravaged the peace of the monastic settlement
Long before a castle was fortified
Where prayer echoed the song of the larks overhead
And the hidden nesting of the Eiders quietly inconspicuous
Here there is peace again.
On a far coast, in a place of repeated conflict over millennia
People pray, fearful in the violence
O Lord have mercy upon us
Gill Henwood, Lindisfarne October 2023
Contraries
CONTRARIES
The world erupts,
burning with anger,
screaming, maiming, killing,
as humans do so well.
A blood feud.
Far away and unaware,
a swan
quiet on the water
reflects the peace
and stillness.
Silent.
Just being …
Mr G. 7th October 2023.
The day when the conflict between Palestine and Israel
added to the world’s despair.
Swan in Hatfield Forest, National Trust, Essex.
Photograph taken by Mr. G
Hawthorn Jewels
My friend, Gill Henwood, has sent me photos of a Hawthorn bush on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, in all its autumn finery. It is too delicious not to share it.
The Woodland Trust says that the Hawthorn has great value to wildlife.
“Common hawthorn can support hundreds of other species. It is the foodplant for caterpillars of moths, including the hawthorn, orchard ermine, pear leaf blister, rhomboid tortrix, light emerald, lackey, vapourer, fruitlet-mining tortrix, small eggar and lappet moths. Its flowers are eaten by dormice and provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The haws are rich in antioxidants and are eaten by migrating birds, such as redwings, fieldfares and thrushes, as well as small mammals.
The dense, thorny foliage makes fantastic nesting shelter for many species of bird.”
Autumn dripping leaves of weary gold
Exits quietly, fading through the trees.
Hawthorn shakes her cloak of ruby fire.
Naked to the woods and twisting breeze…..
… Winter’s breath now lingers in the air.
[From a poem by, Karen Neary, Winter Song . Copyright © Karen Neary.
The full poem and others by her are to be found on the website, Poetrysoup
PoetrySoup.comhttps://www.poetrysoup.com/poems
[Mr G]
Mr G's Ponderings 