Month: September 2024

Of Angels.

St. Michael ~ detail~ Statue carved by Josefina de Vasconcellos
~ first exhibited in Manchester Cathedral in the winter of 1991
~ now it is on permanent display in Cartmel Priory, in the Lake District.
photo by Mr. G.
Therefore with Angels and Archangels …

At almost every Eucharist Christians pray: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name.” The picture is of our being part of a great company, invisible but near, who worship Almighty God without ceasing. At this point in the Eucharist we are at what the Celts call a ‘thin place’ when the barrier between earth and heaven is opened to those who have faith to see it. That can be very helpful when we are missing departed loved ones but we are also reminded that our worship is caught up in a greater praise. We, as it were, plug in to a current of worship which is forever flowing and for ever being proclaimed. But for many, angels belong to myth and one wonders what is going through many Christian minds when they reach that point in the Eucharist. Despite the fact that Holy Scripture is crammed with references to angels and they play a significant part in the Christmas and Easter stories, it is easy to dismiss them.
It is also rather arrogant because it assumes that God who is the great creator of everything on earth, is incapable of creating any other order of being than we can actually see. Yet we continue to explore space for other forms of life—assuming, naturally, that what we will find will be ‘human’ life! As we seem to be making quite a mess of our own planet it might be better if we hoped any life form found might not be human! The writer of Psalm 8 praises creation and puts humanity in its place:

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have ordained,
What are mortals that you should be mindful of them;
mere human beings, that you should seek them out?
You have made them little lower than the angels
and crown them with glory and honour.

Though human beings have dominion (or stewardship) of creation on earth we are ‘lower than’ angels. They have a special place in God’s scheme of things—as Defenders in the cosmic battle between good and evil; as messengers of God’s word to humanity as in the Annunciation; as healers and as guardians. Jesus himself spoke of angels in this way saying that God’s little ones have their Guardian angels and he, himself, knew of their ministrations at the end of his wilderness experience. If Jesus believes in angels, who are we to dispute their existence and their part in God’s plan?

[St Michael’s Day is September 29th]

[Mr G]

Equinox

Autumn Equinox Sunrise, Ryhope Beach. Photo by Craig Connor/ NewcastleChronicle

Tomorrow, September 22nd (at 1.43pm in Britain) the Autumn Equinox begins. Here’s a note from the British Meteorological Office followed by a Personal reflection

The Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere occurs twice a year around 20 March (the spring equinox) and around 22 September (the autumn equinox). They occur between the summer and winter solstices marking the point the Sun crosses the equator’s path and becomes positioned exactly above the equator between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. During the equinox, day and night will be around the same length which is evident in the word’s origin derived from the Latin equi (meaning ‘equal’) and nox (meaning ‘night’).
The autumn equinox marks the start of autumn as the night becomes longer than the day.

(From the Met Office)

EQUINOX
The Sun poised over the equator
heralds the day of equal light; equal darkness.
Earth catches her breath in a moment of cosmic stillness,
bringing to mind the delicate balance of solar existence,
of which we are but a small part.
Seasons turn in an astronomical process  in which our human participation is not required.
We are the result of a divine plan, 
of an eternal equality over which we have no control.
This global moment is our reminder that in our vast, unfathomable universe
we are of little significance.
Yet, in the heart of our Creator God,
we are loved and held because of another Equinox,
not on the equator but on Calvary,
where darkness  became light and a new direction was shown to the world.
It is called The Sacrifice of God’s Love for us.
Together, with all on earth we are invited to embrace it.

[Mr G. amended 22nd Sept 2024]

A Tree of Life

photo: Rowan Tree, Lake District. Gill Henwood

Thank you to my friend Gill Henwood who has sent me this photo of a Rowan Tree in the Lake District.
There are a number of legends associated with the Rowan.
They are are known as Mountain Ash because they often take root in mountainous areas, but they are unrelated to Ash Trees.
The Rowan  was cited by Plato, the pre-Christian Greek Philosopher who mentions it in in his Symposium
They have a place in Celtic mythology and were sacred to Druids who saw them as portals between death and rebirth.
It was often planted near homes because ancient belief associated it with the qualities of courage, wisdom and protection, which they treasured.
Early Welsh Christianity refers to it as the Tree of Life because  it was thought that the Cross of Christ was carved from the wood of the Rowan, the blood red berries being symbolic of the blood of Christ.
This thought leads me to offer this little Pondering.

ROWAN.

There are those who say your berries,
rich and red,
remind them of Jesus’s blood
falling as deep droplets;
beckoning us to the Cross
and drawing us into the immensity
of God’s Love for us.

Others, though, see the berries as baubles
on the Tree of Incarnation;
decorating the Manger,
drawing us to the Child who sparkles for us,
beaming with the immensity of God’s Love for us.

Both are right!

[Mr G. 17th September 2024]
Photo by Gill Henwood.