Quartz at St Johns Dumfries
In the UK companies are formed to sell disposable plastic bottles. People pay to consume waste, when they could turn on a tap.
Elsewhere people have great difficulty finding clean drinking water.
Where did it go wrong and what can be done about it?
A colourful and hopefully thought provoking series of images placed in St John’s Churchyard for Holy Week. The accompanying leaflet is available on St John’s (Glastonbury) website
Two thoughts from Alison arising from the Lent course…
I was struck by the way in which Jesus responsed to the grieving women in the family of Lazerus. He didn’t try to make them look on the bright side. “At least we know that he is happy in heaven now”. He didn’t avoid their raw grief “No! don’t talk to me about people dying!”.
Instead he met with them and wept, how many of his tears were for Lazerus and how many for the loss experienced by Mary and Martha?
The second thought:
We never know when a disaster will lead to better things. However, while you are expereincing a disaster it will always be a disaster.
She also told me about a poem she found helpful around the time of one of those disasters. It is called “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop and you can read it HERE
Continuing my ongoing pondering of the BBC radio 4 Daily Service, (about the gifts of talents) I reread the 9th century poem a monk wrote about his cat Pangur Bán in the margins of the page in the book he was working on. In it the monk compares his work as the calligrapher of a sacred books with the work of his white cat (Pangur Bán) hunting a mouse.
We all have different talents. Rather than worrying if we have a 5 bar of gold talent, or just a 1 bar of gold one – we should use what we have!
1. I and White Pangur, each of us in his special craft. His mind is set on hunting; my mind is on my special subject.
2. I love resting (better than any fame) at my book, with diligent understanding; White Pangur is not envious of me; he loves his childish craft.
3. When we are (tale without tiredness), in our house, being alone, we have an endless sport, a thing to which we may apply our skill.
4. It is usual, at times, by feats of valor, that a mouse sticks in his net. As for me, there falls into my net, a difficult rule with hard meaning.
5. He points fiercely against an enclosing wall his eye, bright, perfect. I myself direct against the keenness of knowledge my sharp eye, though it be quite weak.
6. He is happy with swiftness of movement upon a mouse sticking in his sharp paws. Which I understand a difficult pleasant problem, as for me, I am happy, too.
7. Though we may be indeed (like this) at any time, neither disturbs his partner; good to each of us is his art, each rejoices in them.
8. He himself is master of it, the work which he does every day. To bring clarity to difficulty, I am at my own work.
Anon translation – found by Alison can be read at Georgetown.edu
#SensingSpirituality is a theme which runs through Quartz activates. This is based on the idea that humans are made of more than just flesh and bones. The activities are often designed to help participants use visual arts, or the physicality of crafts to explore, understand and express intangible feelings like meaningfulness.
But do you ever find your hands growing heavy when you pray, feel warmth, or sense an overwhelming feeling of peace? Has it seemed like the air is “thick” around you, or the veil between heaven and earth is particularly thin?
Even in the press of a crowd Jesus felt the power physically flowing from him.
We are souls who have bodies.
In 2019 we spent time every Sunday walking, watching, #SensingSpirituality and noticing the changes in ourselves and environment.
For Easter Sunday we had a BBQ on a beach by the river. In 2020 during lockdown we did something similar, but with a few adjustments to be covid safe.
This video is probably a good way to wind up #Febreflection for 2021
#SensingSpirituality is not restricted to religon or religious people. There are places which draw you in.
‘Most people, when they stand in an ancient stone circle, can sense the timeless presence of the place… …There is a temptation to be still and to ponder what surrounds you…. …There are ties and bonds between all people and organisations and I hoped that my rope carvings might symbolise that.’
Max Nowell – Sculptor
Having recognised sensations like beauty, timelessness, love, and so on, what do you do about it? Who, having switched the light on, would then hide it somewhere and go back to blundering around in the dark?
You think you know water. But how well do you know water? We experience snow, ice, steam, fresh and salt, different tastes. Water can be moving or still. Our experience can be of a silent, but very present mass, or a rapidly changing and noisy waterfall.
Water is essential to life on earth, but there is an enormous variety in personal experiences if it. It is quite possible to be afraid of water (experienced as, say, the sea) but to delight in drinking a fresh, clean, glass of it.
This years Lent group will be called “Knowing Jesus”. It will be an opportunity to deepen what we think we know – however much we think we know.
(Oh and this insight into water I think counts as my #Febreflection for today)
Telling stories at the start of February, and thinking about the story of St Brigid.
What was the King of Leinster thinking when he was offered the gift of a bride by one of his chieftains? How did he react then she gave away the chieftains sword to a leper in an act of heroic generosity?
Did Brigit consider the option of becoming like Esther and entering the royal court. Using her beauty to serve the kingdom of heaven and look after the poor from within a gilded cage?
Did her generosity, courage, and conviction to ally her life with slaves and outsiders make her too ugly for the Kings taste? Or threaten his confidence in his ability to match her skill and wit if he let her into his court? If someone is willing to pluck out their own eye to demonstrate their commitment to follow Jesus it is difficult to anticipate what they will do if given the keys to your treasure…
And so the phrase which is the featured image for this post becomes my #febreflection . Make of it what you will.
As people send things in to Quartz I’ll be posting them on this blog from time to time. Here are a couple from the first week.
More to follow!
“The few snowdrops look so small and vulnerable in a threatening world, but they will survive.”
Winifred Wilson
Alison is working with paper made from recycled materials, the knowledge of trees, and will be binding her #Febreflections into a book.
We are wrapped in mirk, drenched in the spent blood of politics.
But today, on my table, while it sleets outside, I have an orange with a green leaf on it.
By the grace of God we can achieve wonderful things, and we should not forget that while we seek to reveal the potential the cosmos is pregnant with.
#febreflection
