Category: Uncategorized

There is another world

My friend, Joyce Smith, has sent me another of her Photo Tweets. The baby swans (cygnets) are beginning their life on earth so hopefully and with determination! Thank You, Joyce.

New Birth, new growth, new light are all signs that our natural world in the Northern Hemisphere just now is turning towards Spring.

Even the storms of the past ten days haven’t deterred the journey of Nature and that will be true of human conflict in the war Russia is waging at present, aided by Putin’s Puppet in Belarus.
Charlie Mackesy in his beautiful book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, says that the best thing about storms are that they end. As we are now living through the storm caused by Putin it’s something to cling on to. This storm will pass! says Mackesy.

Maybe those words wouldn’t bring any comfort in the Ukraine right now nor for some time to come but history teaches us that despots and tyrants are, in cosmic terms, short-lived. The 20^th century had a number of them – Hitler, Musolini, Stalin, Franco, Mao, Pol-Pot for example. They created havoc and chaos for a while and destroyed peoples’ lives as they demand obedience to their warped and demonic ideas.
We remember them now for the evil they did and the destruction they left behind. This is the work of the devil and it prospers because we have lost any real sense of the demonic. I think it was possibly C S Lewis who maintained that the greatest victory the devil has is when we don’t believe he exists.
Mostly he is a mischief maker because, in truth, he is already defeated. Christianity maintains that defeat was by Jesus Christ who, sacrificially, poured out love as God’s way of defeating darkness, and sinfulness and unlove.
Even so, there are times when the devil can turn the minds of the weak and tortured. Analysts with far more skill than I have, are already delving into the character of Putin and some fascinating things are beginning to emerge.

He is supposedly a practicing Orthodox Christian. I wonder what his priest will be saying to him on Sunday? I think we can guess it won’t be controversial.

The ‘Storm’ will pass but not just yet so the Jewish Proverb has something important to tell us. We are encouraged to turn to God. As in the story of the Prodigal Son, we will then find God running to us.

The Novelist Patrick White in his novel, Solid Mandela quoted some words possibly by the French poet, Paul Éluard : There is another world, but it is in this one.

We find God in unexpected places and especially when we are surrounded by danger, filled with despair and almost paralysed by anxiety.
We do not know how the raging war against Ukraine will turn out and the aftermath is full of unhappy consequences and foreboding.
But in the midst of that desperate world, the other world continues to show signs of hope and of God.
As the lovely Jewish Proverb tells us; We should walk towards it – maybe only one step but enough to know that it illuminates our world with God’s and He rushes towards us to enfold us with His love.

So Joyce’s photo of the little cygnets is itself a message to us to try to trust in and cherish the tender signs of love which come to us from the heart of God’s world and from His Nature. A world of which we are always a part.

[Mr G]

Our Common Humanity

(photo source: Radio Free Europe)

Our Common Humanity

I’ve just been telephoned by my friend Andris who lives with his family in Riga, the capital of Latvia. ). He told me of his anxiety about the situation in Ukraine.

What is happening there may well have implications for the three Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. In comparison to Ukraine they are small countries and therefore, possibly more vulnerable. They are however, part of the EU which gives them added support and a sense of belonging to something which brings its own strength. They are also members of NATO which affords them some protection. However, Andris was still worried about what Putin will do after Ukraine and about the way he is destabilising the region.

So, alongside prayer for Ukraine (and Russia – especially those opposed to Putin), prayer for the Baltic countries and Poland is vital at this time.

As I listened to Andris It occurred to me that I will not be praying for a country but for a people.
For me, Latvia is Andris and his wife, 3 daughters and his mother. They are people I know and have shared hospitality with here in England. Andris works in Healthcare and a few years ago he spent some time with the NHS in our area. He worshipped with us and prayed with us. Over time I have got to know his family. They are real people. They lead good and quiet lives. They do not wage war on anyone.

I do not know anyone at present in the Ukraine, though I have known people previously. I do know people from Poland, the Czech Republic and other East European countries.
Many of us have links with people in other countries throughout the world, including some of our own families.

They are people, human beings like us. We share with them the time we are on Planet Earth. It doesn’t belong to any one of us and any rights we might have are ’common’ rights; ’allowed rights’. We are custodians of the earth and, other tenants in the Natural world of animals and fish and birds of the air, look to us for care of creation and not exploitation.

When we pray we hold all this fragility and vulnerability up to our Loving God, our Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.

So for me therefore, Latvia is not just a land mass but a place where people I know and love, live.

That is true for many of us. So whatever the conflict in the Ukraine will ultimately teach us, we can learn an important lesson straight away. Hold people and their countries in your love. And please remember that even if you don’t know anyone in The Ukraine, you do know that they are fellow humans with you and you are related to them in a common humanity under the care and love of God.

[Mr G]

The International Prayer for Peace,.

Lead us from death to life,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love,
from war to peace,
Let peace fill our hearts,
our world, our universe.
Let us dream together, pray together, work together
to build one world of peace and justice for all.

We pray this in your Name, Lord God.

Pray for Ukraine

May God’s Divine Spirit look after the people of Ukraine during these trying times. We pray that a peaceful resolution be achieved for them and their nation.

Conference of European Churches General Secretary Dr Jørgen Skov Sørensen, on behalf of CEC Member Churches, offers a prayer for peace in Ukraine amid recently escalating tension in the country.

“The role of churches is to offer hope. Prayer offers hope. Therefore, we pray for peace in Ukraine, thinking of all communities, who can directly get affected by the armed conflict,” he said.

Lord God,
We ask you to hold the people of Ukraine deep in your heart.
Protect them, we pray;
from violence,
from political gamesmanship,
from being used and abused.
Give, we pray,
the nations of the world the courage
and the wisdom
to stand up for justice
and the courage too,
to dare to care – generously.
Lord in your mercy,
Take from us all,
the tendencies in us
that seek to lord it over others:
take from us those traits
that see us pursuing our own needs and wants
before those of others.
Teach us how to live in love
and dignity
and respect – following your example.
In your name, Lord Jesus, and for your sake,
Amen

prayer, Ukraine

Delightful Collared Doves

Collared doves can be seen just about anywhere, but often around towns and villages. They’re common visitors to gardens. But collared doves only came to the UK in the 1950s, after a rapid spread across Europe from the Middle East [RSPB]

The Eurasian Collared Dove first bred in England in the 1950’s, in Norfolk.
Because their young like to wander, they could soon be found in more widespread places. It is said that they can travel over 600km from where they were born.

One lovely fact about them is that they are monogamous. Barring accident they keep their partner for life. They also share in bringing up their young equally so they are an example of real partnership.

The Dove, of course, has a deep spiritual meaning and in Christianity is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity.
In the Old Testament, it was the Dove sent out across the waters by Noah which returned with the Olive Branch as a sign of God’s forgiveness and love.
We use the phrase ‘holding out an olive branch’ whenever we seek reconciliation between people and nations who are at loggerheads with each other.
As a result the Dove has come to be known for its gentleness but it has a reputation for being tough and often seen in places of danger and where human striving is failing. The Dove is a much loved symbol of Peace.

It is also a symbol of love, which makes the quotation, chosen by Joyce, from Rowan Williams (former Archbishop of Canterbury) very apt.
For me, it is the partnership of collared doves which speak particularly of relationship and commitment and sharing together which are symbols of love.
Rowan Williams speaks of ‘truth making love possible and Love making truth bearable. Rowan always puts things beautifully but also in a way that makes us ponder the depth of meaning. So to help me work out what he is saying, I turn to the image of the little Collared Doves. They are true to each other and they are together in a relationship which feels like love to me. That is what sustains them and should sustain us.
In a world of shifting relationships between people but also nations and within nations, where truth and love seem to be trivialized and discarded, the collared doves may well remind us of the vitality of truth and love, of comittment and the joy of friendship which makes our lives so rich. We have to work at it!

Where chaos longs to reign,
Descend, O Holy Dove,
and free us all to work again
the miracles of love. Amen

[Mr.G]