Tag: Prayer

Seek Peace

My friend Gill Henwood’s photographs and thoughts regularly appear on this blog. The other day she sent me this photograph of a winter cherry tree at Kew and the thoughts it inspired.

“Here’s a beautiful winter cherry in the Japanese garden at Kew Gardens, yesterday.
The tree is a cloud of delicate blossom in the winter gardens of bare skeletal deciduous trees and dark sombre conifers.
For Gill it speaks to her of “Hope, for peace in the world. Prayers, for Japan and so many places where natural events challenge, and wars destroy. Trust, in the presence of God’s cloud of peace with us, is often unnoticed.
May the gracious, comforting Spirit bring the peace that passes all understanding to sore hearts.”

At a time when intense negotiations are going on about brokering peace in the Ukraine and in the aftermath of Gaza, the photo brings a glimpse of purity in what feels like a dark, sombre and impure world.

What I am constantly hearing and seeing is despair, uncertainty and a sense of futility. The question : What can I do or make a difference, in the sense of not being in a position to affect real change in the International struggles in our world?

Perhaps we could take a more local and personal view.
The late Rabbi Lionel Blue once told a story about meeting an old-time party member of the Soviet Communist Party. He spoke in tears that the Revolution got hijacked because of personal ambition, greed and power. “We tried to understand society to change it, but we didn’t start with ourselves.” (Rabbi Blue).

That is where we all can start – with ourselves. We can cultivate gentleness, kindness, care, approach-ability. We can and should stand up for goodness in our society and acceptance of others. Perhaps even a bit more listening to others rather than telling them what they should be like or believe. Above all we should open our hearts to a hope which isn’t just a feeling but a prayer and an action.

A little story I love tells me that one thing we can avoid is believing that we have nothing to contribute to growing peace in our world.

A little sparrow laid on its back with its legs in the air. Another sparrow walked past and asked the sparrow in its back what it was doing. It replied that it had heard that the sky was going to fall in and thought that it should try and help hold it up. The other sparrow laughed and said, “You’re only a little sparrow with little legs. How can you hold up the whole sky?The little sparrow lying on the floor with its legs in the air, turned its head and said:“I know, but one does what one can.”

Doing what we can is about living in peace and harmony with others and with creatures and the world in which we live. It’s about rejoicing in creation and protecting the part of our world where God has placed us. It’s also about refusing to let our world be taken over by those who would dominate, abuse, bully and live self-centred lives.
It’s about allowing God’s beauty, joy, hope radiate from our lives just as it radiates from the Winter Cherry Tree at Kew.

It’s about praying this prayer, written for world peace in 1978. By praying and seeking to live it out in our lives may we recognizing that we have just increased peace in the world.

A Prayer for World Peace, 1978

We pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding on to what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.

We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men or women to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfil the destiny for which we and all men and women were created.

– Author Unknown, Offered by Beth Amyot
published by Xavier University Cinncinati

[Mr G & Gill Henwood. 11th December 2025]

A Ray of Light in darkness

St Hild, detail from a monument to Hilda of Whitby.

This week, the church keeps the feast of St. Hilda (or to give her the Anglo-Saxon name, Hild).

She was born into the Northumbrian royal family and for the first 33 years of her life led a very different life to the one God was to lead her.
For that call God used the voice of St.Aidan of Lindisfarne. He was the monk from Iona who brought the Gospel to the North East of England and in his monastery on Holy Island he trained up Anglo-Saxon boys to become Missionaries to many parts of England as well as the Scottish borders.
Part of Aidan’s mission plan was to establish religious power houses, monasteries from which further missions could be launched.
These religious houses were built on Prayer and cemented by the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well as translated into Christian Service.

One day, in obedience to God’s plan, Aidan summoned Hild to meet him on the banks of the river Coquet south of Bamburgh.
Here he told her God’s plan for her. She was to establish a religious house, first at Wearmouth and then on the Headland at Hartlepool. From there she was to go on to established her most famous foundation at Whitby (Or Strines at it was then known).
It was to be a ‘double’ monastery in that two monasteries were built side by side, one for men and the other for women.
Hild was to be the Abbess of both.
As Abbess she ruled over both monasteries and was, in effect, the head.

This may surprise some but Aidan belonged to the Church of the West which we call Celtic but which was really Irish. In Ireland women had equality of status with men and particularly in the Church.
Aidan saw no reason why this equality should not be established in England too.
It was only later when the Church of Rome grew in strength that this practice was challenged.

The Venerable Bede, to whom we owe much of the story of Christianity in Britain, and who, if pressed was more generous in his comments about Roman practice, recognized Hild’s specialness and greatness.
He wrote of her:

“All who knew abbess Hilda, the servant of Christ, called her Mother because of her wonderful devotion and grace; she never ceased to give thanks to her Maker or to instruct the flock committed to her care.
Not only was Hilda an outstanding example of holy life to all who were in her monastery, but she also provided an opportunity for salvation and repentance to many who lived far away, and who heard the happy story of her industry and virtue.”

Under her guidance the Abbey at Whitby grew in stature, capturing her devotion to Christ and the gift of holiness showered upon her by God.
Her advice and prayer was sought after by ordinary folk as well as those of royal birth. She compelled all who were under her instruction to devote so much time to the study of the holy Scriptures and so much time to doing good works that many came to have an enriched and deep faith.
She was also, because of God’s Providence, the right person in the right place at the right time.
It was at her abbey at Whitby that the Church met for an important Synod in 664AD. It brought together Roman and Irish Christians who had differing views on issues such as the date of Easter, the way Baptism was administered, who could ordain and other matters. Hilda favoured the Celtic/Irish view of things but the Roman view prevailed.
This caused a big rift in the Church and it fell to Hilda, along with her friend St. Cuthbert, to try and reconcile the various factions.
To the degree that she was quite successful shows her, not only, to be a person of generous spirit but also one who had a gift of diplomacy.
Hilda, who had sided with the Irish, kept her cool, and she set about healing the divisions which split the Church. With quiet diplomacy, authority and fortitude, she brought the wounded church to some kind of healing from which it was to move forward.
Perhaps because of this she has been described as a ray of light in darkness.

One of the qualities which disciples of Christ are encouraged to seek and use are the gifts that God gives us.
We are all called to support and encourage each other to grow in discipleship by discovering and offering our gifts to God and his people.

An example that we all have gifts but need others to encourage us to find and use them, comes from something Hild did.
It concerns a cowherd called Caedmon, who though not a monks, worked at the monastery and shared its life.
One day he was heard singing. His voice was angelic.
Hild heard of it and sent for him. She encouraged him to write songs that were formed from verses of the Bible.
Soon Caedmon was singing the Scriptures and so edified others. He was encouraged by Hild to use his God-given talents. He became a monk and he was England’s first poet.
Little of his work remains today – just six lines – but his prolific outpouring was well chronicled.
Hild brought out the image of Jesus Christ in people because she lived in God’s brightness.

Today, she Is offered to us as a beacon in our own darkened world and, at times, church. When we are up against it in both world and church, Hild reminds us of a deeper truth and of a greater world. A world where Angels dance and sing; a world where those who die are loved by the Lord into eternal life; a world where we have a joyful witness to carry out. Hilda served this world but her heart was always in another world. Her soul belonged to God and it was in God’s presence that she continually lived. The novelist T H White once wrote that : There is another world and it is in this one.
By which is meant that we are surrounded by the world of God which constantly embraces us and holds us in love.
We don’t have to search for this world by looking up but by feeling it around us. We touch it in prayer; we hear its voice in Scripture; we are fed by it in Worship and we celebrate it in each other.
That is what gave Hild the impetus to serve God and to touch hearts and lives with his Love.
She also shows us a very important truth, often forgotten, that in the eyes of God we are all equal and we are all part of his inclusive love.
We are tasked to discover what that means in a world which acts differently, where lies are easily told and truth is discarded and which uses words rather than actions – e.g. what can we least get away with in global gatherings; A world where refugees are used as pawns and for political ends, a world which defames people of colour and people of differing gender, and a world which still treats women abominably.

I wonder what Hild would do in our world?
I expect she would have sharp words and strong opinions but she would carry these in love, in prayer and in care to God, with repentance for our shortcomings but with a depth of hope in her heart that, despite everything, God’s world will continue to break through and make everything new.

But I suspect she would want each of us to join in making real the vision of a world ruled by Love, Care and kindness.
A world she discovered for herself is found in God alone.

*The Abbey ruins today at Whitby.*
*There* *is an Anglican religious community nearby.*
*There is a lively and faithful parish church in Whitby and*
*other Christian congregations.*

[] [] [] The Statue of Hild pictured above includes coiled ammonite fossils
at St Hilda’s feet – a reference to a legend in which she turned snakes
which plagued Whitby, into stone.
The image was made available by Wilson44691, uploaded by Arienne King
and published on 20th April 2019. The Copyright holder has made the image available and licensed
in the ‘Public Domain’ and specifically made it available for copying purposes.
[Mr.G]

The United Nations ~ a living promise

UNITED NATIONS DAY

Lord,
Lead us from death to life,
From falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world and our universe.
Let us dream together, pray together and work together,
To build one world of peace and justice for all.

[Author unknown – it is thought to be either an adaptation of a Hindu prayer or of a hymn. The first time that it was known to be publicly spoken was by Mother Teresa in 1981.]

The International prayer of peace speaks to God of our desire for a world which lives in harmony, love and justice. We pray it because of our longing that we who have been given this planet as our home may treat it, and therefore all who live on it, as a pure gift. Too often, and throughout history, humanity has treated life here as a right and our planet as ours to exploit and dominate.
Even so, most of us are subservient to the will of a few. Throughout human history we have been dominated by a those who dictate how we are to live and before whose power we fall down and, not to put too fine a point, worship. How else could they have power over us unless we allow it.

Alongside dictators and despots there are people always willing to serve them. It is usually because they share that power and bask in a self-interest which leads to a sharing of injustice and evil.
The obvious example of this demonic is the Nazi party which grew up around one who had many personality defects but who somehow caught the mood of the moment. Hitler was in many ways a weak and infantile man who happened to touch nerves of those who had been demoralized by circumstances which took away the self-respect of a nation.
Hitler, and fellow dictators, like Stalin, Mussolini, Franco, Emperor Hirohito, exploited a mood of despair and, surrounding themselves by thugs, used evil to corrupt good.
Here we can place what people did to Jesus and go on doing, sometimes outrageously in His name! Today Hitler and his cronies have been replaced by modern day despots because History has a habit of repeating itself.

Because we have often failed to see that our Creator God has allowed us to tenant planet Earth and appointed us to be Stewards – custodians – of all the good and joyful world of nature, the animal kingdom and the birds of the air and fish of the sea, human beings have fallen into a trap. We have fooled ourselves that it’s all ours for the taking. Humanity has tried to replace God. So hell-bent (and that’s a thought!) are some humans on exploiting each other and the earth for personal gain that that whole world is in turmoil.

I recently found this Native American saying from the Ute Tribe, which spoke a truth to my heart:

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.

That feels like a context against which we should live our lives on earth and it’s interesting that those we call Generation X are increasingly taking a view which echoes this.
Maybe there lies our hope. There are always those who not only choose good over evil but who are prepared to work for that goodness to prevail. It is, after all, what is at the heart of the Christian and other faiths.

Each generation who has followed a despot has also produced others who challenge and show us a good and better way, even and perhaps especially, at great cost to themselves. I think instantly of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Maximillian Kolbe, and in the post war world, Dag Hammarskjold (second General Secretary of the United Nations). He sought to forge a new way of living peaceably, nation with nation, which, though fragile today, is still the force for tremendous hope and goodness.

We celebrate the UN today not just because for the past 80 years it has been a forum for peace but because through many differing ways it works for education, caring, peace-keeping, seeking to eradicate poverty and injustice and in this it represents all of us who try to lived goodly lives (and for many of us, Godly lives) dedicated to shaping a better, more equal, caring, just and liberated world.

Speaking of itself as a symbol of hope for Global Unity, The United Nations maintains that “There is no other global organization with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact of the United Nations. No other global organization gives hope to so many people for a better world and can deliver the future we want. Today, the urgency for all countries to come together, to fulfil the promise of the nations united, has rarely been greater.
UN Day, celebrated every year, offers the opportunity to amplify our common agenda and reaffirm the purposes and principles of the UN Charter that have guided us for the past 80 years!”

António Guterres, the present UN Secretary, in his message for today, says

The United Nations is more than an institution. It is a living promise – spanning borders, bridging continents, inspiring generations.
For eighty years, we have worked to forge peace, tackle poverty and hunger, advance human rights, and build a more sustainable world – together.
As we look ahead, we confront challenges of staggering scale: escalating conflicts, climate chaos, runaway technologies, and threats to the very fabric of our institution.
This is no time for timidity or retreat.
Now, more than ever, the world must recommit to solving problems no nation can solve alone.
On this UN Day, let’s stand together and fulfil the extraordinary promise of your United Nations. Let’s show the world what is possible when “we the peoples” choose to act as one.

*Gaia ~ Artistic representation of The Earth by Luke Jerram*
*photo by Mr.G.*

Prayer for the United Nations Organization.

God of compassion,
walk alongside all of your global stewards who work to create a more just and peaceful world.
Equip the United Nations community with a sense of urgency and humility that lets your will be done.
Each day you give bread enough for all, grant us also the wisdom to ensure that everyone has enough.
Teach the world’s leaders to forgive, to extend welcome across borders.
Show the world a new path beyond greed, oppression, and division.
We pray for a world united.
We pray for the power to save succeeding generations from war.
We pray for a glory that reaffirms the dignity and worth of every person.
We pray that your grace might ensure life in larger freedom forever,
for all of your children.

Amen

Gentle Simplicity shining forth

*St John Baptiste Vianney. Statue in Eglise Sainte Trinité – FALAISE : Normandy*

One of my special saints is St. John Vianney, known more often as the Curé D’Ars. He was a faithful parish priest in the village of Ars, France, for many years. He was almost not ordained because he couldn’t pass exams but his Bishop saw beyond that into his soul and he ordained him. For the rest of his life and ministry he devoted himself to helping people to move that one more step towards God. After his death he was acclaimed a saint and is regarded as the Patron Saint of Parish Priests. Every priest should aim to have a ministry like his.
However, he wasn’t just concerned with the spiritual journey of individual Christians. He had a yearning for the journey of the Christian Church to be a holy one—one which embraced others and built up a community of faith based on praying together.He said: Private Prayer is like straw scattered here and there. If you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames, but gather these straws into a bundle and light them and you get a mighty fire rising like a column in the sky..”

Here is a reflective poem by Piers Northam, inspired by the statue of the Curé d’Ars in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Falaise, Normandy. It is also inspired by his forthcoming ordination to the priesthood on September 27th.

[Mr G. 26 Aug 2025]