Tag: Mr G

Swallows go south

**Swallows near Tarn Hows. Gill Henwood**

This is a photo taken by my friend, Gill Henwood, of swallows preparing to leave us for different climes. It is a sure sign that the Season are changing and that Autumn will soon be here. (Though the heatwave in Britain at the moment suggests that there may be a short delay!)

Today I received a letter from another Lakeland friend, Lesley, and she too makes reference to the Swallows. This is what she said:

I have been watching the swallows gathering on the wires that weave this way across gardens and fields. It is interesting to watch the birds jostle to claim and make space on the wires for themselves, some more forcefully than others.

They look so vulnerable. It is hard to imagine the long journey they are preparing to make back to their winter quarters. Soon they’’ll go, flying through difficulties but obviously with an inner certainty about it all. They are held through and beyond the struggles in God’s fantastic plan of Creation.

Even the sparrow find a home
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and My God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise.

[}Psalm 84 v 3-4[]

Lord, your psalmist sings of the birds, the sparrows and the swallows
finding a home and a nest in your presence
where you take care of them with tremendous love.
They fly now to winter pastures but they trust you on that long journey
and they know confidently that you are near them
and enfold them in your love.

May we be filled with that same confidence, trust and faith
wherever our lives journeys take us.
May we find our home in you,
May our song of praise, like the bird song,
sound out in joy and thanksgiving.

[inspired by Psalm 84 v 3]

Lammas Bread

August 1st is Lammas Day. On this day, particularly in rural areas, it is cutomary to give thanks to God for the gifts of food and the provision of all we need to sustain life. In more ancient times, the beginning of August coincided with the harvesting opf the crops for the milling of flour and thebaking of bread. The ‘first loaf’ was sometimes present to the local church and became the bread used at the Eucharist or the mass – Hence Lammas – Loaf Mass.

Two tales of Bread

Torn from plastic wrapping,
The slab of bread, processed flour,
tumbles unappetizingly, onto the plate.
It is a source of calcium, good for the bones,
with Iron and Niacin, B3 of course,
a small sprinkling of Thiamin adds to the cocktail
of goodness and well-being.
Yeast, salt and water is tinged with Rapeseed Oil,
reminding of spring fields painted radiant yellow.
Lest we lose sight of all this goodness,
Calcium proportionate adds a chemistry lesson
for our delectation and preservation.
Not forgetting, of course, those amazing emulsifiers
E472E and E481
all doused with ascorbic acid.
Bread. Yummy!

Mr Deakin’s Bread

The oven door opens in Mr Deakin’s bakery.
Wafts of delicious, tantalizing
aromas fill the air, tempting the nostrils
with the unmistakable freshly baked bread.
Sacks of flour wait quietly for their turn.
Mr Deakin knows the Miller
who lives near the farmer,
who gathers the crop dancing
in the breeze of his own fields.
We take home the bread still warm.
Crusty yet yielding if pressed,
giving off a rich enticing smell,
whetting the appetite.
Held in trembling hands of expectation,
we break off a little, raise a morsel to our lips.
And another.
Real bread!

[Mr G]

Mary of Magdala

Today, July 22nd, Christians celebrate the Feast of St Mary Magdale.
Here is a short reflective prayer.

Father, may we joyfully celebrate Mary Magdalene
and give thanks that you appointed her as your Apostle
in the Garden of Easter morning.
In her you kindled a fire of love for Christ,
whose word had set her free.
You gave her the courage of love
to follow him even to the cross.
Seeking her teacher after his death,
so great was her longing
that you made her the first to behold him
risen from the dead,
and the first to announce to the apostles
his new and glorious risen life.
Her words still ring throughout your Church,
to strengthen faith and encourage hope.
Stir up afresh the Good News of Jesus, our Risen Lord,
that our hearts may be filled with deep joy as we recognize him
as ‘Rabbouni’, our Lord and King.
Like Mary Magdalene may each of us tell that joy to all whose lives we touch.
In the Name of him who knows and call us by Name.
We pray this prayer.

(part of this prayer is based on the Proper Preface for the Eucharist on St. Mary Magdalene’s day)

[Mr G]

Papaver

This photo is of poppies in a Dutch garden of my relatives in Lindelaan, near The Hague. They are headlined, Danielle’s Poppies and the photograph was taken by Marijke and Piet, friends of our family.

Our tears came like drops of blood
when in that garden of destruction
men died in trenches and the mud.
The Somme was void of living,
towns laid waste, homes wrecked,
people empty.

In the rubble of humanity we hid our seed,
our flowers the grave-markers of friend and foe:
a bitter proclamation of a conflict that needs remembering.
Blood red poppies – stained with futility.

But there is more.

Long ago, on a far away hill,
blood drenched the ground where a young warrior
offered up not myriad victims, but himself.
From a wooden cross, his death became his weapon.
Red – the colour of blood and of love –
transforming hatred and pointlessness
into peace and meaning.

Blood red poppies – we are heraldic flowers;
calling all to a new way,
a way of re-membering:
of piecing together all that is good,
peaceful and true.

A resurrected sign of God’s love.

[Mr G 14^th July 2023]

Inspired by a visit to the Somme and working alongside the Royal British Legion.
Dedicated to the people of Ukraine.