Quartz at St Johns DumfriesHere is a video made by Simon as part of his chaplaincy work with Dumfries High School.
It was used during mental health week, with an introduction linking the advice given by Jesus to reflect on what is important, and the way in which our social media feed can drag our attention down unhealthy paths.
Enjoy the last wee bit of harvest!
Most of life is filled with questions about “what”and “how”. What do you want to do to day? How will we manage that? Then someone will answer the first question with “For everyone to be happy” or “to have fun” and the second question often becomes very difficult to answer.
This may be because a whole load of “Why?” Questions haven’t been asked, let alone answered.
It isn’t possible, or wise, to only spending your time pondering the why questions – but if your whole life is taken up with how and what then you may find yourself wondering why you are doing any of it at all.
The “why?” questions involve daydreaming about possible worlds, they create fantasies which challenge the status quo. They are also taking time to explore where a curious sound is coming from, or to immerse oneself in the presence of the moment and encounter the profound depth of a changed state of awareness (#SensingAwareness).
This is the theme which surrounds folk stories of Espen Askelad. A daydreamer whose inability to carry out normal everday tasks and think about useful things means that he is relegated to blowing on the fire and getting covered in ashes. (Watch a recording of one of these stories here Askelad/Dustmincher vs the Stoorwurm/Dustdragon) That is, until in the story, his ability to notice the things normal people ignore make him the hero as he succeeds in a challenge normal people find impossible.
October can become a season of mists. After the last of the harvest has been gathered in and before the hard winter has set in can be a time of reflection. Perhaps it can be a time to question our understanding of common sense too. One commonly held modern assumption about life is that the death is better described as the end of life beyond which there can be no knowledge or enquiry, rather than a state change with multiple possibilities for the continuation of personal identity.
But what would you want to know about life after death, other than the straightforward answer about whether it is possible or not. How would you find any trustworthy information anyway? The age in which we live is characterised by a focus on material answers and the practical needs of here and now. Throughout it certain topics have been classed as superstition, or primitive. In colonial settings this has been used to justify the exploitation of land (and people) classified as undeveloped. Here are few who wonder around the topic and such questions. It also led to, or perhaps rose out of, a suppression of spiritual and emotional truth to (mere) private experience. There have always been those who have stood against this and when not dismissed as ‘pagan’ they have explored in the arts especially science fiction and fantasy.
Times are changing. As established ideas of authority are crumbling there is an increasing openness to exploring spirituality, and exploring it as communities as well as privately. Consumerism, fast fashion, gross domestic product and the other children of materialism and a belief in progress still grip our culture. I’m not arguing that we should repeat extremist errors like cancelling Christmas parties, but traditional celebrations like Halloween have become appropriated by commercialism. Yet another festival remembered with a Christian name has become an opportunity to distract people from wondering why they live, and what their lives could be like or how they could recreate the world around them.
The Director and his students stood for a short time watching a game of Centrifugal Bumble-puppy. Twenty children were grouped in a circle round a chrome steel tower. A ball thrown up so as to land on the platform at the top of the tower rolled down into the interior, fell on a rapidly revolving disk, was hurled through one or other of the numerous apertures pierced in the cylindrical casing, and had to be caught.”Strange,” mused the Director, as they turned away, “strange to think that even in Our Ford’s day most games were played without more apparatus than a ball or two and a few sticks and perhaps a bit of netting. imagine the folly of allowing people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase consumption. It’s madness. Nowadays the Controllers won’t approve of any new game unless it can be shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games.” …
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, ch.3
This time of year is an opportunity. If we take time to study the history of our own tradition, and overcome the prejudices we have inherited, perhaps ‘enlightened’ by that experience we will then be able to help people find light. If we take time out to dream and explore issues that have been ignored or dismissed out of hand, then perhaps we will be better able to help those who feel lost.
This link could be a start.
https://ghostsghoulsandgod.co.uk/2021/10/praying-for-the-dead/
Some more thoughts by Alison, blogged by Simon for Quartz. Read part (I) here.
In the first of these reflections Alison described encountering God
“Sitting on a bench looking out at the Solway restores my soul, and through it I sense a spiritual truth and reality. In this place it comes naturally to me as a consolation as a gift and without effort”.
Read part (I) here.
The words of Psalm 19 such as these below express this experience. These moments can be a source of connection and the start of many interesting discussions with people from a wide variety of traditions.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice[b] goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.“The law of the Lord is perfect,
Find the whole Psalm here
reviving the soul“
However, whilst the first section in the psalm is very agreeable the following section is less clear. It is difficult to find such experiences of consolation in reading descriptions about regulations of cloth of mixed fibres or eating shellfish! In what ways does reading the law books in the bible help us experience the reviving of our souls, or taste as sweet as honey?
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
Find the Whole Psalm here
reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
How can this dissonance between the opening of the psalm and this section be resolved?
Perhaps rather than thinking of “The Law” being laid upon people to limit them, or as a punitive code, we can approach it as a way of expressing our response to meeting God in daily life. In the experience of living out commandments such as:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” and “Love your neighbour as yourself”
Not a direct quote, read more here…
the Law does give joy to the heart. The experience of loving your neighbour can be light for your eyes, in a similar way to the way in which sitting on a bench and #SensingAwareness can. We often talk about feeling at one with nature, oneself, but less often simply experiencing the changed quality in awareness when we feel at one with other people. Once rethink “The Law” and understand it as a means through which people can and do work together to build each other up, then experiences of our awareness of it can be experiences of human being, flourishing.
There will be a third part to this! These are also the themes we are working together towards developing for the contemporary service in St Johns on the 13th of November 2022
From our discussions, some observations from Alison, blogged by Simon for Quartz.
If you think about it, in the bible we meet God as a bush, or at least Moses does in his story. We also meet God as a bird descending onto a humans head in the story of the baptism of Jesus. Of course, we can also meet God as a person as the human Jesus. The person of the historical Jesus shows us a way to live, and the Church has been trying to follow this for 2000 years. This takes effort! Most people sense something like a rift between heaven and earth, or what we hope for and what we observe happening
She says, “This can be where #SensingSpirituality comes in. Sitting on a bench looking out at the Solway restores my soul, and through it I sense a spiritual truth and reality. In this place it comes naturally to me as a consolation as a gift and without effort”.
There is an article by Richard Rohr which stood out to her:
For some Christians, the split is overcome in the person of Jesus. But for more and more people, union with the divine is first experienced through “the Universal Christ”—in nature, in moments of pure love, silence, inner or outer music, with animals, or a primal sense of awe. Why? Because creation itself is the first incarnation of Christ, the primary and foundational “Bible” that reveals the path to God.
read the full article below…
These thoughts resonated in her reading of the first half of Psalm 19
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God,
and the firmament[a] proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice[b] goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.In the heavens[c] he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens
and its circuit to the end of them,
and nothing is hid from its heat.
Perhaps this track by songwriters Brian Eno / Darla Eno will resonate with you as well, as you contemplate and wait on God to warm you. The rays of the sun ripen the grain, green turning to gold as it flourishes, ready for harvest.
The soul of it
Is running gay
With open arms
Through golden fields
(Deep)
(Sun)And even though
The corn is high (Sun)
(Sun) And sometimes harsh
Against the heelsWe open to (Deep)
The blinding sky
And let it in
And let it in (Deep)
(Sun)
(Sun)Through open hearts
And burning fields (Sun)
(Sun) The soul of it
In gorgeous flames (Deep)
(Sun)
The whole of it (Sun)
In gorgeous flames (Sun)
(Sun)We let it in
Source: Musixmatch
(Deep) We let it in
(Sun) We let it in
We let it in (Sun)
We let it in
We let it in
We let it in
We let it in
Songwriters: Brian Eno / Darla Eno
We Let It In lyrics © Opal Music
For those of you who are reading through the Psalms, here is Jeremy Irons reading them for you.
https://jeremyirons.net/2019/04/23/jeremy-irons-reads-the-psalms/
They were recorded for the BBC and are read as poetry, with some music to accompany them.
Lock down forced a lot of people to spend more time with a few people in a small physical area. It also expanded the daily lives to catch up with old friends who are geographically distant (for those of us connected online at least). Another recent experience is the growth of staycationing, slow tourism, and a move away from one size fits all mass consumption. Is there anything we can learn about the communities and society we live in from all of this?
The image below applies these thoughts to community development. It asks questions about what sort of scale do you think on? How many people should we aim to work with and how long for. How much time and effort would you invest in one person, or a small group of people, and what would that look like?
German visionary, theologian, composer and naturalist. Remembered on Saturday the 17th of September, walked this earth till 1179AD.
Many people will be aware of the date ‘1066’ and the battle of Hastings. It probably feels like a distant, far off and alien place. But in that year, people were born, they harvested crops, baked bread and went about the general business of being human. Some of everyday life would have been very different. The same sun shone on everyone though, and the forces of tide, time and environment that shape life on earth work on a scale which should encourage mystic respect.
It may have been almost a thousand years since Hildegard walked this earth, but she walked the same earth as us. So some of the imagery described in her visions is very easy to relate to today.
Because the beauty of woman radiated and blazed forth in the primordial root, and in her was formed that chamber in which every creature lies hidden. Why is she so resplendent? For two reasons: on the one hand, because she was created by the finger of God and, on the other, because she was endowed with wondrous beauty. O woman, what a splendid being you are! For you have set your foundation in the sun, and have conquered the world.
(…)
Commentary: Themes and Theology
by Nathaniel M. Campbell
Dr Eldridge is reported as saying “Viriditas means literally ‘green truth’, or greening power, which was one of Hildegard’s key philosophical or cosmological ideas,” … “In simple terms, for humans to be healthy and happy, then the natural world needs to be happy and healthy too.”
She explored this in a festival of music, visual arts and readings in 2019 and the article describes how an initial encounter with the music introduced her to Hildegard and led her to explore the life of the abbess much further.
This time of year is also known by some as ‘Mabon’. As such is it one of eight festivals which mark the changing seasons in the “Sacred Wheel of the Year”. These are rooted in an attempt by people to explore connections with the ancient past, and current reality. Some of these festivals have been well researched, and abound with practices supported by a long tradition of practice. Others are perhaps more inspired by romance and a reaction against the grinding brutality of industrialisation, with less concern for factual historical accuracy.
The quote from Hildegard I have used above was written in response to a query about the properness of her dressing her nuns in flowing white, silk veils, their hair bound only by a golden coronet.
What if at this time of harvest instead of wondering what is “proper” we could really seek out that which is “True”? Instead of letting ourselves become the judges of other peoples behaviour, can we loose grip of ourselves enough to become the light which helps people see?
This time of year holds many festivals which all wear different clothes. Some of us will be meeting for Forest Church at 1pm outside the Crichton chapel on September the 16th. Some of us will also be heading out to Allanton peace sanctuary to meet with others and pray for peace.
I’m just back from spending most of a weekend in the woods (Barrhill woodland Festival 2022) with the Cluaran part of Wordsmith Crafts. We created a “Land of Legends” where people could listen to epic stories, learn to braid cord friendship bracelets, and test their skills with ancient games. This was part of a wider range of activities all set in a wonderful woodland.
The festival is a gift, a promise waiting to be realised. Most of the events were free to take part in, and all people needed to do was make the effort to walk into the woodland. Those who chose to enter into the promise were able to recieve a rich harvest.
Our activities worked within the woods to help people enter an imaginary realm where time became fluid. The past became present. In the present we could glimpse squirrels in the trees, taste the ripe bramble, and drink in the leafy greens and ruddy browns of the wood. A feast for the physical senses awakening the awareness of the senses we have which make human being more than simple physics.
This song was sent in by Alison. It is part of a growing awareness that something has gone badly wrong in our human relationship with our environment. We have assumed the earth is natural resources to be exploited, or in a more positive sense farmed. We have forgotten that we are dependant on and part of this environment.
Sometimes a gift is given and is a remote exchange of stuff. At other times a gift is the physical component in a deep relationship of mutual exchange and promise. The relationship is the environment within which gifts can be harvested.
Back to the song, can we keep the gift? Not if we smother it in plastic and break it. Much of the time Christians focus on God’s promise to us, and the moral aspects of that. But without an earth to grow in, without bodies for our spirits to live in, or animal souls where our eternal souls incarnate are we only experiencing a reduced version of the gift.
Can we keep the promise, are we able to? Perhaps that starts with re-discovering a relationship lost through developments like urban living, and industrial farming. In our theology by remembering the the significance of the risen Jesus eating fish with friends. In our heritage by rediscovering the green men built into the doors of churches looking out. In the woods, remembering wholeness and bathing in the deep green love that we loose at our peril.
Our reading through words for this week was psalm 19 We also read about Jesus healing a woman on the Sabbath.
This led us on a wandering afternoon.
We were looking for signs of abundance and harvest. We were also trying to be aware of factors which could prevent us from seeing abundance and harvest, similar to the way in which those in the story in Luke were unable to receive the experience of healing with the joy you’d expect.
It takes time for a plant to seal off the connection it has with the fruit it bears, when it does though the fruit is loose to fall to the ground without leaving an open wound. Religion can hold people and groups together when they have a tendency to fly apart, but without a mechanism for growth it can bind us and leave withered fruit left on the tree.
We saw sunflowers, bright red berries on the yew trees, unintended flowers growing from the use of natural fertilisers, conkers! and the signs of leaves beginning to turn.
We have been visiting the Crichton every month for almost a year now. We reflected on how busy the estate is, people running, playing sports, bands rehearsing and more. We wondered how much this is a change of use in the area and how much it is a change in us, allowing us to recognise what is going on.
Here is a short video of our walk – music by Kate
(The sunflower head was already on the ground, detached, in case anyone is wondering).
As usual we were also joined by those who couldn’t physically be there. Here are a couple of photos sent in, taken on the afternoon.
Truth and beauty, Wigtown, Sunday 6.20 am
