On March 19th, the Church remembered St. Joseph, husband to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Though often rather like the ‘man in background’, Joseph played a vital and significant role in the birth of Jesus and did so in obedience to the will of God. God communicated that will through the message of an angel and did so on 4 occasions. These dreams are all narrated by the writer of St. Matthew’s Gospel. (Chapter 1 verse 18ff, and Chapter 2) In the first dream the angel assures Joseph that, despite his misgivings, it is God who has chosen him to be Mary’s husband and watch over her as she is pregnant with the son of God, Jesus. He is to be the protector, guide and provider of love and security to the Holy Family, to Jesus in his infancy.
The other dreams are instructions from God. In the 2nd dream, Joseph is warned to flee with Mary and Jesus when King Herod ordered the massacre of the innocent babies and young children in order to do away with the one who might be a threat to Herod’s kingdom. Joseph flees to Egypt. The third dream tells Joseph that Herod’s death means it is safe to return home but the 4th dream tells Joseph that there is still some possibility of harm so Joseph must avoid Judea and settle instead in Galilee.
Taking the theme of the first dream, a friend wrote a poem which she gave to me as a special gift. I have her permission to make it known to others, so here it is.
Joseph’s Carol ~ An Angel called my name
Blessed am I, blessed of all men. When dark had quenched the light of day A holy angel came; an angel called my name I am not good, not free from sin, Yet, as I slept and dreaming lay An angel called my name.
A simple artisan, someone Of humble birth, thinks not to see A holy angel bright. An angel came that night Through cool moonlight to sleeping world, From cloud-streaked sky to speak to me, An angel came that night.
Though humble, yet I count as one Whose lineage of David came. The angel seemed so near: the angel voice was clear: “And Mary shall bring forth a Son. God wills that Jesus be his name” The angel voice was clear.
And when that Holy Child was born, In Bethlehem, of David’s line, The angels came to see. The angel melody the dark sky filled. So from that dawn I played my part in God’s design. Oh God. My thanks to Thee.
Fairfield Horseshoe, Lake District, with the Helvellyn range to the left. Photograph by Gill Henwood
God’s Spirit Poured Out
Then afterwards I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
Today’s daily meditation from the Church of England (14th Feb) was by Tom Clammer, who gave his thoughts on the Book Of Joel, Chapter 2 verses 28 – 32 .
Tom Clammer led his readers to make a connection between the prophecy of the Old Testament prophets, like Joel and what, in hindsight they are prophesying about, or rather whom. Tom invited his readers to make the link between prophecy and fulfilment by making the connection with the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Tom Clammer makes this point:
“What happens between Ash Wednesday and the feast of Pentecost is, of course, the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. When we read of portents in the heavens and on the earth’, when we think about darkness and blood, we are not only sitting firmly in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets; we are also in the story of Good Friday.”
He then makes a further link between the darkness experienced by Jesus which enfolds him in his suffering and death. This, he says, is the cost to Love, the cost to our salvation, the price Jesus pays. In paying it, Jesus makes the utterly self-emptying offering, is indeed amazing grace, and the gift to us is the closeness and intimacy of the Holy Spirit.
In the pouring out of God’s Spirit in the Crucified’s action we are reminded that it is the connection made between us and Christ Crucified; between Jesus and the world of the prophets, we are caught up in what Tom Clammer calls an extraordinary act of love. As ever in our involvement with God, we are not spectators but fully involved.
In the context of the passage from Joel, that involvement calls us to become dreamers of dreams and sharers of visions. For this, we must, Tom Clammer insists, pray. At the end of today’s Reflection he makes both a plea and an injunction: to pray once again for the Holy Spirit of God to make us receptive to the dreams and visions that might inspire us for the living of our Christian faith today.
And here lies the challenge for me and I think for many. So many of us are infected with a ‘deep negativity’ which enforces a downward drag of the Spirit of God within us. Very little in the news from ‘the affairs of men’ (and it’s mostly men who are leading us downwards!), give us much to hope for, in the world, in nations and also in churches.
Yesterday I met a neighbour in my road and we passed the time of day. In our own ways we have a deep love of God. As we talked, her two children, aged 6 and 8, politely waited. I said that I felt that my post-war generation had failed in building a fair, just and hope-filled society. I looked at her children and added that I fear for them and all young people throughout the world. What sort of society, world, climate or alternative kingdoms such as that of the animals, are to be our legacy to those growing up today? What hope can we give to them and what vision?
This is the challenge that came to me when I continued to think of today’s reflection from Joel.
Old men, like me, are being called again to dream dreams, and our young are being led to see visions and all, whoever they are, must become people from whom the Spirit of God pours. That can only be so if we move away from negativity to an enrichment of a life which, despite those who are despots and dictators would wish it otherwise.
There is a Proverb in Chapter 29 of the King James Version of the Bible, which reads: Where there is no vision, the people perish. That was quoted to me many years ago now, and I have never forgotten it (though, sadly, I haven’t always practiced it!)
We cannot do this alone because as a well-known prayer puts it, we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. So we must turn back to God. His joyous, glorious vision is always reflected in creation, in a world teeming with real life and growth. God’s love is waiting always to pour over and through us. In that love our visions and dreams begin and blossom.
My friend Gill’s latest photo gives me both inspiration and hope in all this, because as a biblical poet once said in a Psalm (21) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
[Mr G. 14th February 2025]
[][][] The Revd Canon Dr Tom Clammer trained for the priesthood at Westcott House, Cambridge, before serving his Title in the City of Gloucester. After curacy Tom was incumbent of seven rural villages in the Diocese of Gloucester, before becoming Canon Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral. He retired from the cathedral in 2019, and now combines a ministry of spiritual direction and writing with teaching posts at Cuddesdon and Sarum College.
Hawkshead Church in early morning mist. Photo by Gill Henwood.
This photo was taken by my friend, Gill Henwood and is of Hawkshead Church emerging from the morning mist. This mist speaks to me of ‘revealing’, of something that will become clearer as the mist rises; of a beauty present but not yet fully defined.
Today is the time the Christian Church remembers the Conversion of St. Paul, the moment when all that clouded his mind and darkened his thoughts, were lifted by an encounter with the Risen Christ. We are told of it in the Book of Acts, chapter 9 verses 1 to 19.
Paul or as he was then known, Saul, a zealous Jewish Rabbi, had made it his mission to persecute Christians, those Jews who had chosen to follow the teaching of the Apostles about Jesus. He was responsible for the death and imprisonment of many and was thus thwarting the work of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus.
Something had to be done to stop him and it was the Risen Christ who did so. As Paul travelled along the road to Damascus, the Risen Christ appeared and light flashed around him. Paul was blinded by the light and fell to the ground. It was as if a dark mist enveloped him and in the darkness Jesus challenged him, Why are you persecuting me?’ Paul asked who he was and the revelation came to him that it was Jesus. Paul’s heart was converted but though his eyes were opened, he could still not see. First, his spiritual blindness had to be lifted; something Jesus arranged and then Paul became the great champion of Christianity he was destined by God to be.
For me there is something autobiographical in Paul’s famous passage in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13. Having written his classic definition of ‘love’, He made the point that only love will carry us through to the heart of God and that is both our faith and hope. He referred back to his own lack of understanding of the power of God’s love (verse 8 following) and reminds us that on our spiritual journey we move, often haltingly, to a deeper knowledge of love, as God shares His divine love with us. At first our perception of God’s love is as if we are looking through a mirror dimly’ or as the King James Version puts it, through a glass darkly, but then, as God continues to reveal his Love to us, we shall one day meet Him as Love face to face.
Gill’s photograph of Hawkshead Church suggests to me another illustration of this. Our experience of God’s love for us, may seem at times to be as if we are looking through the mist of understanding. It contains all that will be revealed but we must let God work in our souls as he did in Paul’s. Then, slowly but surely, the mist will lift and the glorious vision will open our eyes and our hearts to a deep and abiding love. In the photo we already see the promise coming clearer. The scene contains all that needs to be revealed. So that is for us. If we open ourselves to the possibility of God lifting from us all that prevents His love to flourish, then it will become a reality.
The Conversion of Saint Paul
Brooding mist blurs edges of perception. Colours muted. A whisper of wind kisses the air rippling through the soul. Visibility impaired, a cloak of quietness drawn across the mind. Stilling all movement. Intentions passionately held, melt into deep darkness. Yet this is not the cause of fearfulness nor of despair. Out of the shadows, of seeing “through a glass darkly” there is a pinprick of growing light which slowly, perceptively, burns away the haze as new vision takes shape.
A Voice, crisp, gently directive, unfettered by illusion, beckons, touching eyes to see a wonder, “face to face.” The waypath is irrevocably changed.
Lakeland hills appearing like a desert. photo by Gill Henwood.
A Voice from the Desert ~ St. Antony of Egypt. (f.d. 17th January)
There are significant dates in our lives, which can lead to a change of direction and a new way of living.This was very true of St. Antony of Egypt, also known as ‘the great’. Antony was born in Egypt in 250AD, the son of a prosperous farmer. His family were Christian and he grew up hearing the Gospel read each Sunday in his local church. His parents died and Antony gained a rich inheritance which he shared with his sister.
The significant day in his life was when he was 20. He went to church one Sunday morning and he heard the Gospel including the words: Go, sell all you have, and give to the poor; and come, follow me. Antony heard God calling to him through those words and he left the church, made provision for his sister and then sold all his goods and gave the money to the poor. He then left home and, after a time of spiritual preparation, he eventually set up a simple hut in the Desert of Egypt where, for the rest of his long life, he lived in solitude and prayer. He became one of the founders of the monastic life.
We might think that Antony was rather extreme in his interpretation of the Gospel. After all, how many times have we heard those words and not acted upon them in that way. Yet Antony knew that he had heard God’s voice. For him this was a clear sign of his vocation and he had the courage to respond. He lived a life dedicated to prayer, fasting, daily recitation of the psalms and to combating those forces in the world that are against God, including personal temptations and the battle for true holiness. Others were attracted to his way of life and communities began to be formed of people who sought a pure prayerful life. Antony became a spiritual guide to many, including streams of Christians living in towns and cities and who came to him for guidance. Some of that guidance was collected as ‘words’ which remain available to us today in collections of sayings’ of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.
Antony died in 356, over 100 years old. By the time he died he had learned the most important thing that every Christian must learn—he learned how to love God and to respond through this love to the immense and unconditional love that God had for him, as God has for all of us.
Few of us today are likely to be called to live in a deserted place, though those who have found time to do so, even for a short while, know just how valuable and precious that time is for communing with God without distraction. Some, of course, are called, like Antony, to live as members of Religious Communities as monks and nuns. But all of us are called to dedicate our lives to God and to serve him in whatever way is right for us. We can’t get away with saying something like, “it’s all right for Antony and the other desert dwellers.. They had a spiritual greatness that few of us can even get near.” Actually they wouldn’t claim to be specially great. But they did recognize the greatness of God and they wanted to respond to this in some way. Saints are important for us simply because they are ordinary Christians like us but who knew the Gospel to be extraordinary. It changes lives. If it doesn’t then we wouldn’t be Christians at all. Because it changed Antony’s life, the Church became more Godly and the world more lovely. That can be just as true for us today. Listen and let God tell you how.
Tau Cross. Symbol of St. Antony of Egypt.
St Antony, You had everything. Then one day you heard the voice of God. “Antony, go sell all you possess and have nothing.” So you did, and then you had everything.
Mr G's Ponderings 