My friend, Gill Henwood, has sent me this photograph of cattle resting from the heat near Coniston in the Lake District. Here’s her short refection.
The Belties (Belted Galloway cows) and their recent calves have chosen deep shade on the felltop, where a cool breeze is lifting from Coniston Water up the hill towards them.
An essay on how to keep cool. A couple of mornings ago, they were down at the water edge of Tarn Hows. They are free range around the National Trust fells, choosing the best resting places for the young calves. As parents do.
As our heavenly Father does when we listen in Creation to the wind and shade and the weather warnings…
Paper Cranes at the Hiroshima Childrens’ memorial, Japan Photo by Gill Henwood
My friend, Gill, is touring Japan at present and has sent me photos of a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.
Whilst there she was able to share in the practice of making Origami Cranes (Orizuru). This is a traditional Japanese craft of paper-folding symbolizing hope, peace and healing.
It became linked with the Childrens’ Memorial at Hiroshima through the inspiration of Sadako Sasaki, a 12 year old girl who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Japan by the USA, but who later died from leukemia. She was encouraged by a Japanese legend that folding 1,000 cranes grants a wish. When she was suffering and facing death she folded the paper cranes and this became a global icon for peace and the inspiration for the Children’s Peace Monument.
A Monument in the Peace Park is entitled ‘Atomic Bomb Children’. It was designed by Kazuo Kikuchi and Kiyoshi Ikebe, using money raised by Japanese school children. The figure of Sadako Sasaki is on the top and a boy and girl at the sides. Sadako holds a wire crane above her head. Behind the Statue are glass cases containing paper cranes.
Sadako’s wish, when making the paper cranes, was doubtless of personal healing, but her greater wish was to have a world without nuclear weapons.
When Gill and friends made their paper cranes they left behind a statement common to thousands of visitors of a desire for a world without nuclear war.
This desire is in forefront in many minds just now as we try to live with Global upheaval threatening the whole human race. Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan are names that easily trip off the tongue but are easily forgotten when other struggles take up the media’s attention. Even the struggle between Israel, the USA and Iran have become linked with whether the cost of petrol might spoil our Easter holiday! Humanity is sadly fickle and can be self seeking. Yesterday Holy Week began with the ‘Hosannas’ of Palm Sunday but how quickly that moved to ‘Crucify Him!’ by Good Friday.
It is often hard to fathom human motives.
We know that the regime in power in Iran is a danger and threat to the world (not least to its own oppressed people!) It might therefore be a justification by Mr Trump and his ally in Israel for the action they are undertaking. Yet there appear to be other motives which are drawing humanity to the kind of brink we saw in mid-1930’s Germany.
Perhaps the difficulty in trying to see similarities between the Nazi era and now is that it is far more complex. Too many vested interests are swirling around a vortex of demonic activity. To me, this feels like Satan’s time and it isn’t clear who are his agents. It would be wise, I feel, to remind ourselves of the events of August 6th 1945 and take heed.
It is always much easier to make war than it is peace and easier still to use God and religion to justify it but there are consequences leading from this which are not always taken into account. For example, the World Economy and resultant poverty and anxiety.
So, yesterday’s warning by Pope Leo is pertinent. Speaking during the Palm Sunday Mass, he said:
“Jesus is the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.” He lamented the many wounds of the human family in our world today, as people cry out to God with the “painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war.” “Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from His cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters!” said the Pope. [source:Vatican News]
In this Holy Week of the Christian Church we are therefore reminded how Jesus confronted the evil, which so easily grips humanity, with the power of God’s Love. John’s Gospel makes it very clear that the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a Victory. It is a Victory of Love over all that is unlove (sin) in the world. It is also a victory in which God’s plan for all of Creation is renewed by a deep outpouring of total freely given Love. That seems to run counter to the way human beings seem to be behaving. However, the paper cranes have a message too. They only happen when they are fashioned and made in that chosen image of peace. So, a renewed humanity only happens when we are fashioned and remade not with paper but with the love of God.
As Professor John Barton, in his book, Love Unknown, says, Christians share Christ’s victory through sharing his … vocation to be the love of God for a fallen world, and like him going out to embody God whatever the cost.
In her own way that is what Sadako Sasaki achieved, So may we.
One of the emblems of Saint David ~Daffodils. Photographed by Gill Henwood in their natural habit.
Today, March 1st, we celebrate St. David’s day, though perhaps not as boisterously as some Welsh people may do! I once had a memorable visit to St. Davids in Wales, an highlight of which was a cliff-top walk which led to St. Non’s Well. (St. Non was David’s mother). The well is reputedly where David was baptized and today it is still flowing gently and pilgrims strew flowers on its waters. David himself was very fond of water – the only liquid he drank, except the wine of the Eucharist. He and his followers were known by the Latin word Aquati meaning ‘water drinkers’,because of this.
Through living simply with God and teaching of the Love of Jesus, David lay down a pattern of life for his own disciples to follow. On his deathbed he reminded his monks of this in his final words to them (and therefore, to us): “Brothers and sisters, be joyful Keep the faith and do the little things that you saw and heard from me.”
The little things which David taught included prayer, being present for the breaking of bread at the Eucharist; reading scripture; speaking only when necessary and helping the poor. He believed also that we should have a deep respect for others; that we should always be lowly, possessing a humility which never expresses itself arrogantly and which steers us away from pride. He also set great store on hospitality – always being ‘at home’ for others and for God – having time for both. These ‘little’ things are the bedrock on which faith is built. Neglect of them leads to spiritual deprivation. Attention to them leads to faith expressed joyfully. It is the little things we do in Christ’s name which matter most.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta expressed much the same thing when she said that she and her sisters didn’t do great things but rather little things with a great love. St. David would have approved of that.
During this season of Lent we might try to improve our understanding of faith and pay more attention to the little things which build it up. The obvious faith-building things of prayer, bible and worship combined with a concern for the poor need our attention as much as anything else. We also should pay more attention to others especially when there is disagreement and difference of opinion between people and groups. Learning to listen to each other with real love is a way towards greater understanding but it also leads to godliness. Allowing our hearts to be open to others is real hospitality, especially because, quite often, whenever we open ourselves to others, God can also slip into our hearts and feel ‘at home’ with us.
This is certainly much more to be desired than trying to impose our opinion and views upon others!
Mr G's Ponderings 