Author: mrgsponderings

All in it together

Elephant family in harmony with creation,
made, arranged & photographed by Piers Northam

Last Sunday at St Mary-at-Latton our Family Service had a Creation theme. Piers, the leader told a story based on A Year Full of Stories, 52 Folk Tales and Legends from around the world.

The particular story was called Elephant and the Rain Spirit which was sub-titled An African Bushman Story.

It told of an Elephant which was very proud of being the largest and strongest animal, the greatest in the land. Being a big animal no-one dared to argue with him. Until, that is, the Rain Spirit challenged the Elephant.
The Elephant wasn’t used to being challenged and began to protest. What about his great trunk and his fine tusks, not to mention his great big feet which made the earth tremble.
The Rain Spirit then reminded him that it was she who filled all the watering holes so that the animals can drink and watered the plants so that they could grow.
The elephant got quite annoyed at this and insisted that he could find his own food and drink.
The Rain Spirit said that the Elephant could therefore fend for himself and with a flash of lightning off the Spirit went. The Elephant laughed. He had seen the Rain Spirit off. He really was the greatest.

All went well until the Rainy season arrived but there was no Rain Spirit to fill the lakes and water holes, nor water for the plants. The other animals became thirsty and hungry so they went to the Elephant. They asked him to provide water for them to drink and water the plants so they had food to eat. The Elephant was a bit stuck so he told Crow to make water.  Crow did her best but very soon what little was produced was soon used up. Except for one watering hole that Elephant kept for himself. He told Tortoise to guard it which he tried to do.
All the animals tried to persuade Tortoise but to no avail. Until, that is, the Lion came. He moved Tortoise away with his paw and began to drink. The other animals took advantage until all the water was gone.
When the Elephant returned and saw what happened, he became very angry. The Tortoise tried to defend himself but the Elephant punished him by swallowing him up. The Tortoise wasn’t happy either and he made a great commotion in the Elephant’s stomach. The Elephant sunk to his knees in agony.
Then the Rain Spirit returned and the Elephant begged for help. The Rain Spirit said that surely, as the Elephant was the greatest in the land, why would he need help.

The Elephant then realized something. He told the Rain Spirit that though he was the greatest on earth, he wasn’t the greatest in the sky. The Rain Spirit laughed and laughed and the rain splashed down. When Tortoise heard the rain he gave Elephant a great thump and Elephant coughed him out again.

This delightful story has a big lesson. No one is more important than anyone else and that we all depend on each other. Gifts and food and water have all been provided for all of us by God. To enjoy this Providence all we have to do is share it with each other. That also means that we have to look after all of Creation. We are called Stewards which really means lookers-after. We have accountability for this stewardship. That goes for Mother Earth too. We have been given the work of caring for the climate and looking after this wonderful planet of which we are currently the tenants.

But we know all too well that we are failing.
Politicians, world leaders, those who exploit animals, rain forests, oceans, poor people and natural resources because they are greedy or who, like the Elephant in the story think they are the greatest are leading the world into extinction are all failing. So are we!

David Attenborough, the elder statesman of planet and nature conservation together with Greta Thumberg, one of our youngest activists have done more to alert and educate people of our Universal plight than any politician. Young voices are being heard in our own country. The proposed Future Generations Bill with its simple aim to put the well-being of those who follow us at the heart of decision making today. The Bill has been promoted by The Big Issue Foundation and Lord Bird who does so much for the homeless and vulnerable.

The Pandemic is a time when our own vulnerability as  the human race, is something we are being made to face. Whatever happens as we try to tackle the Virus, things are no longer the same and never ever will be. We are discovering that we aren’t the greatest and we never will be. There are truly vital lessons to be learned.

In the Christian religion there is a word – Repentance-  it means expressing sorrow for our mistakes and failings and self-centredness but most of all, out of this, there needs to come a turning round towards God, (The heart of what Repentance means) returning to the source of love and self-lessness. We are to return to the one who is our Provider – who gives and gives and gives all we need.

The Elephant had to learn a big, big lesson about our mutual dependency on each other. We all have a special place in the life of the world. However, that special place is not greater or better than anyone else. We have to try and help people to realize that and also, that together we can do lovely and wonderful and beautiful things.This depends on mutual care, love, acceptance, celebration and cherishing each other. Also, developing a growing recognition and gratitude that God who really is our provider, makes life (ours and all creatures that inhabit our Planet) very special.

Our picture above shows a family of rather gentle elephants. All those at the service made their own versions of it. May it remind them and us of how much better it is if we work together with others – human and otherwise!

[Mr.G.]

#The book, A year full of stories. 52 Folk Tales and Legends from around the world, is written by Angela McAllister and is wonderfully illustrated by Christopher Corr. Published by Francis Lincoln Children’s books 2016 ISBN 978-1-84780-859-2

#There are a few photos of the children’s elephants on the St. Mary-at-Latton Facebook page (under photos).

Reverence for all creation

This prayer is the Church of England’s alternative Collect for last Sunday.

It moved me by the beauty of its words and the desire for a love of our world. Creation and our planet as well as us as God’s people and Stewards, need all of that very much at the moment.

I’ve had the photo in my library for some time and as an expression of the prayer it feels just right.

Please pray the prayer and live it as gently and meaningfully as those lovely collared doves.

[Mr G]

Given

A poem by Daryl Madden whose blog I follow.
He is an active member of St Thomas a Becket Parish in Reston VA, USA and a minister at Holy Communion.
His poetry on religious themes are regularly available on his blog—https://darylmadden.wordpress.com

He took, blessed, and broke
Then He gave the bread
A miracle to all
Five thousand souls were fed

And for His last supper
Again, He took and blessed
He broke and He gave
His love to friends, professed

The chosen One was blessed
On His cross was broken
God incarnate, given
He is the Word spoken

Walking to Emmaus
With bread of which to share
Took, blessed, broke and gave
Our Lord to them appeared

And so, as His beloved
Through Him, spiritually
Chosen, blessed and broken
And given, let us be

Based upon words by Henri Nouwen
Reproduced with Daryl’s permission

A Future Not Our Own

Here is another Picture Reflection from my friend Joyce Smith.

The ponder quotation is attributed to Oscar Romero, the saint and martyr who died for his faith in El Salvador on 24th March, 1980 It is a thought contained in a very special prayer. The next words of the prayer are:

This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

The Prayer, A Future Not our own,  is worth praying through slowly because it has much to say to our souls particularly in these days when we are perhaps impatient to  get on with things and frustrated, perhaps even despondent and in despair with the Covid restrictions.
May the prayer reflection  have something meaningful  for us.

Prayer…. A FUTURE NOT OUR OWN

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete,
– which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

That is what we are about.
We plant a seed that will one day grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

The prayer is known today as The Romero Prayer though, in truth, there is no evidence that he every prayed it! It was Cardinal Basil Hume who unwittingly first attributed it to St Oscar Romero. Delivering a paper at Westminster Cathedral on Catholic Education in 1997 he misattributed it. When the paper was subsequently published, the attribution remained and was taken up by CAFOD and Caritas Internationalis  in Rome. From then it went round the Global church and in the process became known as The Romero Prayer.
The prayer was actually composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, who drafted it for a homily for the celebration of a departed priest. The homily was delivered by Cardinal John Deaden.
It has become established as the Romero Prayer mainly because, though St Oscar may not have written or prayed it, it could easily have been. It has the essence of the Saint’s own teaching, theology and spirituality.  It is no surprise therefore that it has been ‘owned’ by devotees of the Saint who find so much in his teaching and example to guide, form and enrich their own thinking and praying.

To pray this prayer and own it would go a long way to helping us to look at what it is happening to us and to our disfigured world, and placing everything and our future into God’s hands.
Under God we are indeed prophets of a future not our own. We are prophets, heralds and signs of a new future which is God’s. In the many issues in which humanity has tried to rule and dictate how we treat the Planet, we  are being called to work afresh with God to reclaim everything for a new vision of what it means to be stewards and cherishers of the amazing ‘gift of our stupendous earth.

Maybe this virus will come to be the turning point of a genuine global repentance as we return our planet back to God for His safekeeping.

[Mr G and Canon Joyce]