Post by JEM on Jun 8, 2020 12:20:51 GMT
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 March 27
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A few years ago, and thanks to the generosity of The British Trust for Tantur (see Google...), I was able to participate in an ecumenical Pilgrimage of Reconciliation to Israel/Palestine. It was an amazing experience, with an excellent group of people, and visiting not simply historical places but people living and worshipping in that land of conflict and contrast, beauty and brutality.
I came away from the trip more aware than ever of the need for peace and justice for both abuser and abused, and with the realisation that my simple assumptions of which was which in this wholly unholy holy land would not do. Please pray for the peoples and leaders of Palestine/Israel, for peace and justice for all.
As we drove around the country on our coach I often found the words of an old worship song rolling around my mind. They were so persistent that I sang them as a part of our daily worship in the simplicity of the Chapel at Tantur. They come from Psalm 125 and go as follows:
As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
the Lord is all around his people.
From this time forth and for evermore,
the Lord is all around his people.
Jerusalem, the city on a hill, is surrounded by hills - hemmed in, protected. This ancient city of faith and pilgrimage - encircled, embraced.
At the moment, and for very necessary reasons as we weather the storm of the coronavirus, some of us will be feeling hemmed in, trapped, surrounded, neglected. We know these measures are for our own protection but we still struggle with living a more limited life. We ask not 'how can I be more secure' but rather 'is there a loophole that allows me to escape?' Stay home!
I wonder whether some of us have similar misgivings when it comes to God? To be surrounded by God, enfolded and embraced, might sound terrifying if our image of God is (as Adrian Plass used to say) a cross between a headteacher and a bank manager and you've forgotten your homework and have a huge overdraft! To be surrounded by a God of wrath would be a terrifying prospect.
And yet, if God is truly the God who loved the world so much, who created and is creating, who is love and joy and peace... If this is our God then where better to be than held, encircled, embraced, enfolded?
As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
the Lord is all around his people.
From this time forth and for evermore,
the Lord is all around his people.
Amen?
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 March 31st..
'No man is an island entire of itself...'
Today some parts of the Christian Church remember the poet-priest John Donne, who died on this day in 1631. Among his most famous lines are the much quoted:
'No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.'
This poem reflects on the essential connectedness of humanity and concludes:
'...any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'
It is perfectly natural when dealing with a crisis like the current one to respond differently depending on how closely connected we feel ourselves to be with those who are ill and those who have died. But the reality is that we really are all involved - all connected. We may have different roles to play, with some working heroically in hospitals and supermarkets, and some of us doing our bit by staying put and breaking the chain of transmission. But in some way this will affect us all. Somehow this enforced period of physical distancing needs to be countered with a determined effort to to look out for one another and to remember our essential connectedness. As the Apostle Paul wrote, 'Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.' (Philippians 2:4) If you want to know what spirituality looks like in times of crisis remember Paul also wrote that, '...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.' (Galatians 5:22)
If, like me, the metaphysical poets of the 17th century were not a key part of your education, then Donne's famous line possibly had you thinking of Simon and Garfunkel and their song 'I am a rock.' It is possible that I have always misunderstood this song, but in all the time I have known it, and occasionally sung it, I have never believed one word of it. I don't think we are supposed to. I think that the more the singer sings of their splendid isolation - their walls and fortress, and their self sufficiency, the more we realise just how much we need one another. It is OK to not be OK with the current situation, and the isolation from friends and the lack of (appropriate) touching. We are not designed to be remote islands, unfeeling rocks. Our challenge therefore is twofold - to look after one another in all the ways we can within the current restrictions, and then to work even harder against isolation and loneliness once these current restrictions are lifted. Amen?
'No man is an island entire of itself
.
A few years ago, and thanks to the generosity of The British Trust for Tantur (see Google...), I was able to participate in an ecumenical Pilgrimage of Reconciliation to Israel/Palestine. It was an amazing experience, with an excellent group of people, and visiting not simply historical places but people living and worshipping in that land of conflict and contrast, beauty and brutality.
I came away from the trip more aware than ever of the need for peace and justice for both abuser and abused, and with the realisation that my simple assumptions of which was which in this wholly unholy holy land would not do. Please pray for the peoples and leaders of Palestine/Israel, for peace and justice for all.
As we drove around the country on our coach I often found the words of an old worship song rolling around my mind. They were so persistent that I sang them as a part of our daily worship in the simplicity of the Chapel at Tantur. They come from Psalm 125 and go as follows:
As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
the Lord is all around his people.
From this time forth and for evermore,
the Lord is all around his people.
Jerusalem, the city on a hill, is surrounded by hills - hemmed in, protected. This ancient city of faith and pilgrimage - encircled, embraced.
At the moment, and for very necessary reasons as we weather the storm of the coronavirus, some of us will be feeling hemmed in, trapped, surrounded, neglected. We know these measures are for our own protection but we still struggle with living a more limited life. We ask not 'how can I be more secure' but rather 'is there a loophole that allows me to escape?' Stay home!
I wonder whether some of us have similar misgivings when it comes to God? To be surrounded by God, enfolded and embraced, might sound terrifying if our image of God is (as Adrian Plass used to say) a cross between a headteacher and a bank manager and you've forgotten your homework and have a huge overdraft! To be surrounded by a God of wrath would be a terrifying prospect.
And yet, if God is truly the God who loved the world so much, who created and is creating, who is love and joy and peace... If this is our God then where better to be than held, encircled, embraced, enfolded?
As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
the Lord is all around his people.
From this time forth and for evermore,
the Lord is all around his people.
Amen?
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 March 31st..
'No man is an island entire of itself...'
Today some parts of the Christian Church remember the poet-priest John Donne, who died on this day in 1631. Among his most famous lines are the much quoted:
'No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.'
This poem reflects on the essential connectedness of humanity and concludes:
'...any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'
It is perfectly natural when dealing with a crisis like the current one to respond differently depending on how closely connected we feel ourselves to be with those who are ill and those who have died. But the reality is that we really are all involved - all connected. We may have different roles to play, with some working heroically in hospitals and supermarkets, and some of us doing our bit by staying put and breaking the chain of transmission. But in some way this will affect us all. Somehow this enforced period of physical distancing needs to be countered with a determined effort to to look out for one another and to remember our essential connectedness. As the Apostle Paul wrote, 'Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.' (Philippians 2:4) If you want to know what spirituality looks like in times of crisis remember Paul also wrote that, '...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.' (Galatians 5:22)
If, like me, the metaphysical poets of the 17th century were not a key part of your education, then Donne's famous line possibly had you thinking of Simon and Garfunkel and their song 'I am a rock.' It is possible that I have always misunderstood this song, but in all the time I have known it, and occasionally sung it, I have never believed one word of it. I don't think we are supposed to. I think that the more the singer sings of their splendid isolation - their walls and fortress, and their self sufficiency, the more we realise just how much we need one another. It is OK to not be OK with the current situation, and the isolation from friends and the lack of (appropriate) touching. We are not designed to be remote islands, unfeeling rocks. Our challenge therefore is twofold - to look after one another in all the ways we can within the current restrictions, and then to work even harder against isolation and loneliness once these current restrictions are lifted. Amen?
'No man is an island entire of itself