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Spiritual sparks flew

Pentecost (Spiritual sparks flew)

They heard it,
a distant rumble like thunder clearing throat
for some announcement,
an important cosmic moment perhaps?

Sky storm-dark, twists and spirals,
trembles as clouds are seared open,
rent asunder.
Thunder claps gleefully.

Wind blowing, strength growing,
Growling, rushing towards its destiny.
It comes.

She comes,
To stir up lives.
Celestial expectancy
melds with devoted self-offering.

They gather.
They wait.

A sudden, violent cacophony of sound,
Wrenching, twisting, gyring.

Then heaven opened its treasures,
tongues of fire, cascading down.
Dervish flame, whirling ecstatically through the sky.
Descending, anointing,
love flowing into lives gathered for meaning.
Commissioned. Sent out.
Spirit filled joy-givers proclaim Jesus, bright God.

And so, spiritual sparks flew. *

[Mr. G. 6.6.2022]

*this phrase was suggested to me by an article I once read by Bishop Richard Harris.

Thank you for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth

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.”

I will sing of the greatness of the Lord.

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?

[Joyce Smith]

Playtime at Latton

“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