Yours Paw-fully

Pagli at play – photo Lynn Hurry

Excuse my not very demure posture but as you see I am rather pre-occupied.

As I hope you realize, this is Pagli, main sponsor of the Mr. G’s  Ponderings Blog

You may not know,- and why should you?-that Mr G. has now been sending out his Ponderings for exactly a year. The very nice people at Word press have kindly relieved him of his manual donation (as he prefers to call it) so many more months to come.
That being so, I have allowed him to take a little time off. Knowing how much you will miss the Ponderings, I gently refused his request for a mini-sabbatical of 2 months. Generously, I have given him a few days off this week and about 4 the following week.

This means that you will be Pondering alone for a short while.

As we reach this important anniversary, I congratulate myself for making it all possible with my threats and encouragement a year ago. I can purr and claw at will so Mr G has worked quite hard to keep the Blog fresh. Of course he’s been helped by a number of friends – Joyce and Gill and Diana and Piers (who is a wiz with the graphics) and Kay and Julia and Beth and very importantly Lynn. Her amazing photographs of foxes, birds, and other animals have introduced us all to the Life of the Vicarage Garden in all its variety.
Lovers of the fox pictures will be pleased to hear that we are planning a book of photos and reflections using some of Lynn’s selection. (she’ll have to wade through hundreds!) You’ll be the first to know when the book is produced.

Mr G always thought that his Blog could be a showcase for others and Joyce’s Tweets and Gill’s Lake District views of hills and flowers have enhanced the Blog. The recent little competition brought contributions of art, poetry and photography. There will be more competitions later.

We look forward to more contributions in the future.

Regular bloggers will be aware that God has played a big role in the Ponderings. That’s both deliberate and also joyous. You should always try to write about what you love and in the love that is given to make that possible. The last year or so has been difficult for all of us and we have been trying to focus on the otherness of our world, the contrasting light and amazing things in our world. Maybe we are learning to appreciate our God-gifted planet more than we ever did. The world of Nature,of creativity, of time for kindness with all seem to feel more real and more precious the more we are living closer to the things that threaten us.

We always need to keep telling ourselves – we are Stewards of the earth not owners. We are given the great work of cherishing all that we have received from our Creator. People might use threats that we shall be accountable and judged and blamed on the ‘day of judgement’ but even if that might be so, we cherish, value and enjoy the creative world around us now  because it makes us more human.; We enjoy and we love more because of it. It isn’t future blame but present delight which should enthuse us.

I hear Mr G waking from his nap now so I must scurry off to love creation a bit more. (Even if that means playing with a toy mouse rather than a real one!)

Blogging will return soon.

Here’s something to think over
It’s from a book of ponderings by Dag Hammerskjold who was General Secretary of the United Nations, until a plane crash took him from us. He was also a devout Christian. This little prayer to God, speaks volumes, especially as we move forward after such a difficult time. It also espresses an aspiration which fires this Blog.

For all that has been thanks;
for all that will be, YES!

Meanwhile pawfully and prayerfully I wish you a renewed vision, much joy and a delightful time.

Pagli – Ji

Transfiguring Love

This Icon of the Transfiguration was ‘written’ by Sister Irène-Marie of the Community at the Monasterie of Sainte-Françoise Romaine, Le Bec-Hellouin, Normandy. Sister wrote two Icons. One is in the Transfiguration Chapel in the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, Epping. The other is a personal Icon blessing the home of Mr. G. Sister Irène-Marie used traditional methods to write the Icon undergirded by prayer.

Transfiguring Love 

Thoughts on the feast of the TRANSFIGURATION, August 6th

In the Transfiguration God gives us a snapshot of human glory – Christ transformed and it is as if God is telling us that this is what we can become if we follow his way of doing things. 

What follows the Transfiguration is the journey to Jerusalem and to our Lord’s death on the Cross.  There, Jesus absorbed all human pain, conflict and hurt and he became the instrument of our transfiguration.  He absorbed human sin and nailed it to the Cross and he did so out of sheer love for humanity and for the world. What transforms the Cross is love because the Crucifixion is God’s ultimate statement of His love for us.  “You can do this to me,” his actions say, “and yet I will go on loving and you cannot stop me for it is only love that transforms humanity.”

A young Russian priest was arrested when communism took over his country. For years he was held in a prison camp and there he was beaten and tortured. When he was eventually released his friends asked him what was left of him. ‘Nothing’ he said, “they have taken everything away. Only Love remains.”  

That priest had discovered the one thing that changes every human situation and disarms every human conflict – sacrificial self-giving love. It is through The Cross which Jesus took upon himself on our behalf that we can all be changed– and when we are changed, the world is changed.  Only Love remains – only love will conquer the human heart. Only love will Transfigure the world.  Perhaps we are unable to see that as a possibility in conflicts throughout our world and amidst the effects of Covid but there is one area where we can see this possibility and that is in our own lives and in our own dealings with others. Wars do not begin on foreign  battlefields far from home. They begin in our hearts – when we refuse to allow others dignity or understanding. When we refuse to accept and celebrate them for who they are. When we want what we want come what may and when we believe our own views to be the only right views – a sure way to begin oppression of others.

 That is not God’s Way.  As Mother Mary Clare of the Sisters of the Love of God put it so clearly, God’s way is to call us to stand at the place of the Cross – at that intersection where human pain, hurt and conflict meet and are held by the transforming love of God.

It is only when we stand in this place where God in Jesus Christ always stands – the place of transforming love – that we will begin to see the glory in each other. That is a lesson from the Transfiguration. If we do not grasp it then not only will we mistreat others, we will also diminish ourselves – and, more importantly, we will deny God and His saving love.

[Mr.G.]

Father in heaven,
whose Son Jesus Christ was wonderfully transfigured
before chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain,
and spoke of the exodus he would accomplish at Jerusalem:
give us strength so to hear his voice and bear our cross
that in the world to come we may see him as he is;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Looking afresh at the world

newly fledged wrens at a small reserve in Scarborough! Photographed by Joyce Smith

My friend Joyce has sent me her latest Tweet.

These baby Wrens are signs to us of the joy of Creation.

They demonstrate to us that God is constantly renewing the earth despite all that we are doing to destroy it. As we continue to exploit the planet and refuse to heed all the warnings, which may well include mysterious diseases like Covid, one dominant and deeply self-centred species which has, supposedly, intelligence, fails to use the gifts and exercise stewardship responsibly. Ironically our actions demonstrate how extremely stupid we are!

So to be remind that there is an alternative, more innocent vision of creation is also to be given an invitation to see our world with new and more responsible eyes.

We are invited to see things with joy, exuberance, and vision.  We are being invited to be re-born as little children (or in a way, as new born fledgling birds). We are being encouraged to fill our lives with hope, wonder and awe.

 Jesus had a view that this requires humility and simplicity and thanksgiving. So, for example in Matthew 18 2-4 he said this:

Jesus called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven

Why we need to re-think this is caught up in a saying from the book, The Little Prince:
All grown-ups were once children … but only a few remember it!

We need the kind of vision which believes that, with determination, we can see bigger and better and more amazing things in a world which belongs equally to all, because if we don’t then Jesus’ words will show us that we are going about things the wrong way.

A boy was once drawing a picture. He was transfixed with concentration as he worked carefully and with determination.

His father asked him what he was drawing.

“A picture of God”, the boy replied.

“But nobody knows what God looks like” said his father.

“They will soon” replied the boy, “I’ve nearly finished.”

The little wrens are a picture of God’s making. They reflect God so we can see a little bit more what God is like. They are drawing us a picture!
Maybe we can be encouraged to  find a way of showing a bit more of God in us, so that we reflect his glory and beauty a little better.