In these testing times, it is my hope that you can draw strength and inspiration from what we share, as we work together towards a healthy, sustainable and prosperous future for all.
Queen Elizabeth
(from the Queen’s message 2001)
“I believe that strong and open communities matter both in good times as well as bad. Certainly they provide a way of helping one another. I would like to pay tribute to so many of you who work selflessly for others in your neighbourhood needing care and support. Communities also give us an important sense of belonging, which is a compelling need in all of us. We all enjoy moments of great happiness and suffer times of profound sadness; the happiness is heightened, the sadness softened when it is shared. But there is more than that. A sense of belonging to a group, which has in common the same desire for a fair and ordered society, helps to overcome differences and misunderstanding by reducing prejudice, ignorance and fear.
I hope that … we shall be able to find ways of strengthening our own communities as a sure support and comfort to us all – whatever may lie ahead.”
31st May. Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. Coptic style icon.
My soul magnifies the Lord.
A meditation on the Visitation of The Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth. Mother of John the Baptist, with special reflection on the ‘Magnificat’.(Luke 1: 39-56) This meditation was part of last year’s offering for Advent & Christmas by our friend, Joyce Smith.
We were both blooming in the joy of our pregnancies. I was carrying the forerunner, and Mary carried the Anointed One.
We had so much to share, we were both so excited, and yet fearful at the same time.
Yet, in all the ups and downs Mary couldn’t keep from singing.
She sang of the greatness of the Lord; that he had chosen her to bear his Son, who would change the world; FOREVER.
This would be no empty political promise, of levelling up and giving out meagre benefits.
Mary’s Son, God’s Son, really would reach out to everyone; seeking justice and fairness for all.
He would give priority to the poorest and weakest; standing on the edge with the powerless and disenfranchised.
Mary, my cousin, sang her song, which will stand for all generations.
Who will sing it now? Who will listen? Who will act?
“A people who dance before their God are generally freer and less repressed than a people who cannot.“
Harvey Cox : The feast of fools
Playful foxes in Latton Vicarage Garden. They are just starting to emerge from their dens. Personal sadness and some despair for the world, whilst devastating is never the final word. That belongs to God. In God’s heart there is always room for festivity. The foxes are embracing life on a path of discovery where everything is new and joyful.
We are a bit longer in the tooth and are more anxious and fearful. That can take the edge of the dance of life. Let the foxes remind us that when we have no control, we have God. How important it is that as a famous saying puts it, “Let Go, and Let God”. I used to think that was just a bit twee but now I understand it.. Come what may, there is always joy to be found. God holds everything in love and even in profoundly difficult places – Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan etc – God will bring us through it.
Harvey Cox, quoted above, said something profoundly important: “God laughs, it seems, because God knows how it all turns out in the end.” Perhaps that’s another way of expressing what Mother Julian of Norwich said : All shall be well,all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.
All photos by The Revd Lynn Hurry. Series 2 : Foxes of Latton 22
Readers of this blog will be familiar with the photographs and tweets from my friend Joyce Smith and the thoughts they inspired.
I am saddened to hear, today, of Joyce’s sudden death yesterday. It is a deep shock. Joyce and I have been friends for 20 years and worked together in ministry for a lot of that time.
As well as a personal friend she was someone who held a lot of people in love and prayer and gave support to so many. People mattered to her and her heart was open for those who needed a friend. She touched people who others might have missed. This was especially true in the places where she ministered as a priest in the Church of England. There will be a lot of grieving hearts in Ninefields, Waltham Abbey and the Diocese of Chelmsford.
For me she was an icon of what Christian vocation is about. God was at the centre of her life and she reflected God’s love to others; she was selfless in her Christian service; she represented the Gospel and she did her utmost to lead people ‘safely to heaven’. There was nothing about her that was self-serving but there was a great deal about sacrifice. Sometimes she felt the need to guide people with a certain toughness and forthright speech but kindness and gentleness were always flowing underneath.
She encouraged so many of us. For me, she was a true friend.
Her love of creation was evident in the photos she took of birds and nature and the short reflections she chose. During the first lock-down she posted extracts from the Psalms with thoughtful photos. Afterwards she began her ‘photo-tweets’ which became regular items on this blog. Many of us enjoyed these. Her love of puffins became so obvious and she would often go to Northumbria and other places where puffins would greet her. We benefited from this.
Some also benefited from her booklets of reflections for the Advent & Christmas Season and for Lent & Easter. This Holy Week, she wrote a story based on the donkey of Palm Sunday which she dedicated to the children of Ninefields School, who all received a copy. I was hoping for more to come! She had such a beautiful way of expressing the sometimes inexpressible.
Earlier this afternoon, my friend Lynn Hurry (who befriends the fox cubs, and takes the photos many of us enjoy!) wrote to me:
“Dear Joyce, Such a lovely soul. She noticed and rejoiced and glowed at so much beauty in this life… and boy will she be shocked and amazed at all she will see in heaven … she will be dying to share it all with Geoffrey for his blogs!”
The photo of the Puffin was taken a few weeks ago, but for some reason I held back from posting it. Its feet are firmly on rock but its face is turned in contemplation of something beyond and in the distance. The quotation is from the poet, Rumi, love of whose poems Joyce and I shared. Reading it I know now why I held the photo back. Joyce lived a life that was balanced between earth and heaven and saw both as a reflection of God. Now she has let go of one to fully embrace the other.
Mr G's Ponderings 