Pitcher plantThe fly,drawn by its addictionto sweetness,enters the pitcher plant. Tired and drugged,slipping on downward pointing hairsit falls into the digestive juicesthat dissolve its goodnessleaving only its hard chitinskeleton.Photo by Mahosadha Ong on Unsplash
I went on a retreat at the end of the summer. As a result of that, I decided I would do the Ignatian spiritual exercises, and as part of those exercises I've written some poems.Warp and weft - I perhaps should explain that I grew up in Huddersfield, and Huddersfield was famous for weaving high quality worsted cloth; it isn't anymore. Warp and WeftThe warpof my lifestretches outon the infinite loomof God’s love.The weft crosses back and forthweaving the thread of my lifeinto the pattern of the world.Here and now,the shuttle passes this placeon the warp of my beingbut my beginning and ending,are tethered in the eternity,that is God.And now I think you can see why I thought that was a good reflection for All Souls Day. Our life starts with God before this world. As it says in Psalm 139, it is God who knits us together in our mother's womb. Our beginning starts with God, not just when we were born but before the universe came into existence, and our ending ends in God as well; in God’s infinite love and God’s infinite being, in the silence that is God. The WaterfallEager waterrushes to the precipiceaspiring to fly freeshoots overfalls down, downaccelerating downhits the wide calm lakeplunges deepthrowing up mistand rainbows.In the depths ofthe lakeslowsbecomes one withstill immense watersand finds freedom.I was thinking about the process of meditation when I wrote this poem, but when I read it back, it makes me think about life and death. Our life is like that water: aspiring, shooting over the edge, and falling down; but on the way down, as our life encounters the lake of God, it throws up mist and spry. As the light catches the mist it makes rainbows. There are rainbows in each of our lives as we fall into God. Thinking about death, our life hits the big lake and the water pushes under, forced by the force of life, until, eventually, it becomes still. Our life becomes one with the still immense waters of God’s being, and in that becoming one with God, we find stillness, and silence, and love, and freedom. So, as we pray and think of our friends and our family who have died, their life hasn't ended but it has become calm, it has become one with the still immense waters that are God.
Friday, 9 September 2022St Alban's Church will be open from 10am to 5pm, 9th September to 18th September. There is a book of condolence, a place to pray and candles.Gracious God, we give thanksfor the life of your servant Queen Elizabeth,for her faith and her dedication to duty.Bless our nation as we mourn her deathand may her example continue to inspire us;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The world around us is so full of beauty, it is a source of inspiration and tranquillity for us. The Christian reason for looking after the world arises out of the idea if stewardship: we don’t own the world, we look after if for God. For people of any faith or no faith the idea of stewardship can bring a rational to looking after the environment, we look the world because we will pass it on to our children.Unfortunately, greed and selfishness cause us to pollute and destroy the environment. That is true for big industry, but it is also true for us. It takes effort and sacrifice for us to look after the planet. It’s not just about simple things like reusing plastic bags, it’s about more difficult decisions such as what we eat and what we wear. Personally, I know that being vegan would be good for the environment, but I find it very hard to go that far. So, I try the lesser good, cutting down on meat, thinking about how high to set the thermostat at home, turning off electrical equipment rather than leaving it on standby, and getting places by walking as much as I can and reusing shopping bags.My actions not going to save the planet, but perhaps if enough people make an effort it will slow global warming. I think big changes will only come if multinational companies can no longer make profits from pollution so I hope that improved and cheaper heat pumps, more energy form renewables and perhaps nuclear fusion will help us save the planet. I can see that renewable energy technology and other solutions are improving. As a person of faith, I pray that they will improve fast enough.
