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!
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)
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 14th July 2023]
Inspired by a visit to the Somme and working alongside the Royal British Legion. Dedicated to the people of Ukraine.
The human reputation about care and preservation of Nature and God’s Creation is not always a good one. On the whole humans are more prone to exploitation, persecution, destruction than we are on preservation and protection. A reading of the poem of Creation, which begins the book of Genesis in the Bible, could convince us that human beings have a superior place in the pecking order of Creation. Indeed the writer of the poem observes that according to God’s word we are to subdue the world and have dominion over every living thing. This has led to a view that we have power over Creation which is exercised through control and domination. A development of this is that everything exists for the sake and use of the human race. This has led to a wanton destruction of the natural world—animals, birds, creatures of the sea and also of the natural resources which we have exploited for our own ends. Too often we have lost sight of something else expressed in the Genesis Creation poem, that everything in precious in the sight of God, the Creator. He clothes the lilies of the field and he watches over the birds of the air. Alongside the idea of ‘dominion’ is the principle of stewardship. We are custodians of the earth and of the world of nature and we are to be stewards. Stewards have to give account of their stewardship—and to God. So it is good to highlight something good that we have done in this respect.
I was reading recently about the successful project to save the Red Kite bird of prey which was facing extinction. I first met these birds a few years ago when I was walking along the Ridgeway on the Buckingham/Oxfordshire border. My attention was attracted by large swooping birds which danced and wheeled on the horizon and then through the valley below before soaring up into the sky way above my head. These birds were common in Shakespeare’s time. He mentions them in some of his plays. In later times, they had a particular function when they were common in towns and cities where they scavenged for scraps. It was a crime to kill one as they were so useful for rubbish management. Then things changed for them. Persecuted and made almost extinct, these amazing birds with their 185cm wingspan and striking eyes were in great danger. Successful reintroduction projects have now helped the species to recover. They can be seen in a number of places. The best areas to find them in the UK are central Wales, central England – especially the Chilterns, central Scotland – at Argaty and along the Galloway Kite Trail. They are a protected species under Schedule 1 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Woodland Trust
RED KITES (Poem) GC 19.6.2023
We soar and swirl on the uplift of the wind swooping gracefully, wheeling majestically. Free to be.
It was not ever thus. Humans hated us, hunted, poisoned, drove us away on orgy of persecution. Lordship over the earth, over the world of nature, is seemingly always stronger than stewardship.
A new choreography for our dance of life was composed, nurturing, protecting the few of us left but we did not trust them.
Yet over time, hesitantly, responding to infinite patience and soft actions, we became tender again to each other. We bore young who knew no fear nor the hate of others. Springing into life they took flight, joyfully circling and chasing and with speed. Quite a performance!
Mr G's Ponderings 