Post by JEM on Jun 8, 2020 13:22:48 GMT
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 MAY 2nd
The last few days have been decidedly wet and cold – something of a shock following lockdown weeks where sitting in the garden was a pleasure and our first Damselflies took wing relatively early. The sun is back today. Of course it was there all along, just obscured. As Johnny Nash famously and wonderfully sang, I can see clearly now the rain has gone!
Even the rain can have a strange beauty. Earlier this week I had a minor mishap when I decided to siphon rainwater from an overflowingly full water-butt into one that doesn’t fill quite so readily. It’s a long time since I had reason to siphon anything, and I am still impressed with the physics that makes it possible. However, I forgot that starting the siphon manually almost always results in a mouthful of something unpleasant, and I probably swallowed more than is entirely good for me… Still, it worked. And so, when the rain began again yesterday I was out checking that they were still filling properly.
It was only a passing shower, but somehow the raindrops seemed much bigger than usual. Stood in our garden, which spends large parts of the year dry and in need of rain, the rain shower felt like a strange blessing. The light was intense and the shower was brief, and it was a moment of beauty.
Many years ago I heard a radio interview with an astronaut who commented that NASA had missed an opportunity with the Apollo Moon missions. They had sent military scientists to this alien environment, and then brought them back and expected them to be able to adequately express what they had experienced and how it felt. His playful closing comment was that they should have sent poets instead. Stood in that rain shower I wished I had poetry within me to express the beautiful simplicity of that fall of rain.
During this period of lockdown I have been reading a little more poetry than usual, not least because of the inspiration of Malcolm Guite, a Cambridge based Poet-Priest, who has been filming delightful short YouTube pieces from home – ‘A spell in my study…’ He sits, puffing his pipe of cupping a glass of malt, and pulls a book off the shelf and talks and reads. And the spell is cast, and I am held. At least two slender volumes of poetry have arrived in the post as a result, and I have been moved as well as educated by these moments. Beauty in the midst of lockdown.
Anyway, I have never disciplined myself to write poetry. I can recognise hard work when I see it, and poetry requires disciplined hard work as well as being open to inspiration. And maybe it is the poets eyes and ears and heart and soul that I desire more than the ability to write perfectly chosen words. The ability to be inspired by the amazing in the ordinary. The light and sight and smell and sound of a simple shower of rain – open to beauty in unexpected places.
Our garden is looking good at the moment, not least because of Karen’s disciplined hard work over recent years, and especially during these last few weeks. One of her favourite plants at the moment are the Osteospermums (African Daisy) – which she brilliantly describes as looking exactly like a child would draw a flower. They are a riot of colour in a well established patch towards the top corner of the garden. They caught my attention during yesterday’s rain shower, as they demonstrated well a phenomenon known as nyctinasty (thank you Google). At night, or in cool low light conditions, the flowers close up – presumably offering additional protection to the flower or possibly preserving the pollen for when insects are more likely to be active. They open themselves up to light and warmth, and close themselves down to protect themselves when conditions are not ideal.
That sounds rather like me, and others I know during this strange time of lockdown. Conditions are not ideal for some of us – we do not thrive when shut away. We follow the rules, but it’s not easy. Some of us will fold in on ourselves, we will seek protection and security. These are difficult times for some of us and we do what we need to do to get through. It makes sense.
But I have to believe – I choose to believe – that there will not only be an end to this time, but that there will also be moments of beauty and grace along the way. Moments when something as simple as a shower of rain will remind us that we are a part of a much larger created order, and that the God who has created and is creating can break through if we are prepared to look, listen and encounter. May we be open to hear and see and taste all that God is doing in this wonderful world around us, in our fellow humans and in the whole of creation. May we be open to beauty and peace wherever they may be found. May we be open to God. Amen?
John Goddard, 2nd May 2020
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 MAY 5th
Clearing away the rubbish…
For me, and at risk of oversharing, one of the best days of the Christmas holiday period is when the recycling bin is emptied. This almost certainly means I’m a little weird. Maybe this relates to the one year I forgot to put the bin out and two weeks of overflowing recycling suddenly had to be four. Or maybe there is some deeper psychological significance about a deeply untidy person wanting this one thing to be tidied away…
I think this is probably related to one of the most minor of minor issues of the current lockdown period – the tip is closed. We live about 500 metres from our local Recycling Centre for Household Waste (sorry, it will always be ‘the tip’ in my mind…) and I am a frequent visitor – especially with garden waste that isn’t suitable for one of our multiple compost bins. On numerous occasions I have given silent thanks that the church chose to buy a Manse so conveniently situated for the tip. And now, when I need it the most, it is closed. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why it is closed and I do not wish anyone to do anything other than stay home and stay safe. But when lockdown restrictions are lifted, and normal people are queuing for haircuts and decent coffee, you will know where to find me.
The reason for the tip being so necessary at the moment is that we have been spending time in the garden in recent weeks. This has occasionally involved a cold drink and a sit down, but more often than not it has been about tackling those gardening jobs that you never quite get around to. In particular, war has been declared on the ivy. Two of our boundaries consist of hedging and trees, and ivy had taken hold over many years. At times we have pulled some out and cut some off, but this time we are digging deep and clearing not just the visible, but the hidden, twisted, clinging roots as well. If the mountain of rubbish bags is anything to go by then I think we are winning! But I’ll be happier once all the bags are emptied, up at the tip…
Years ago one of my favourite Christian writers and performers, Adrian Plass, published a collection of songs and poems titled Clearing Away the Rubbish. Using his wit and humour he tried to encourage us to look at some of the unnecessary complications of life in general, and of the Christian faith in particular, with the aim of sweeping away some of the rubbish to find a clearer path to the truth. I think that was actually what he was doing in much of his writing, beginning with his Sacred Diary and others in the series, and in gems like An Alien at St Wilfred’s and View from a Bouncy Castle. Not everyone appreciated his insights – with one Bible bookshop I knew of back in the 1980s refusing to stock his books because of something he’d said – but many, many more of us were blessed by the way his wisdom and humour helped us to clear away the rubbish and find the path once more.
In this time of lockdown, when some of us are tidying gardens and clearing our back rooms and utility drawers, is there some other clutter that could be dealt with as well? What are the things that are hindering us as we seek to walk with God? Have we allowed our understanding of God to become obscured and veiled by our own prejudice and expectations? What might we need to clear away in order to see once again the generosity and beauty of God’s grace revealed in Jesus? Is there pruning to be done to allow new life to flourish?
As the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 51, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.’ Amen
The last few days have been decidedly wet and cold – something of a shock following lockdown weeks where sitting in the garden was a pleasure and our first Damselflies took wing relatively early. The sun is back today. Of course it was there all along, just obscured. As Johnny Nash famously and wonderfully sang, I can see clearly now the rain has gone!
Even the rain can have a strange beauty. Earlier this week I had a minor mishap when I decided to siphon rainwater from an overflowingly full water-butt into one that doesn’t fill quite so readily. It’s a long time since I had reason to siphon anything, and I am still impressed with the physics that makes it possible. However, I forgot that starting the siphon manually almost always results in a mouthful of something unpleasant, and I probably swallowed more than is entirely good for me… Still, it worked. And so, when the rain began again yesterday I was out checking that they were still filling properly.
It was only a passing shower, but somehow the raindrops seemed much bigger than usual. Stood in our garden, which spends large parts of the year dry and in need of rain, the rain shower felt like a strange blessing. The light was intense and the shower was brief, and it was a moment of beauty.
Many years ago I heard a radio interview with an astronaut who commented that NASA had missed an opportunity with the Apollo Moon missions. They had sent military scientists to this alien environment, and then brought them back and expected them to be able to adequately express what they had experienced and how it felt. His playful closing comment was that they should have sent poets instead. Stood in that rain shower I wished I had poetry within me to express the beautiful simplicity of that fall of rain.
During this period of lockdown I have been reading a little more poetry than usual, not least because of the inspiration of Malcolm Guite, a Cambridge based Poet-Priest, who has been filming delightful short YouTube pieces from home – ‘A spell in my study…’ He sits, puffing his pipe of cupping a glass of malt, and pulls a book off the shelf and talks and reads. And the spell is cast, and I am held. At least two slender volumes of poetry have arrived in the post as a result, and I have been moved as well as educated by these moments. Beauty in the midst of lockdown.
Anyway, I have never disciplined myself to write poetry. I can recognise hard work when I see it, and poetry requires disciplined hard work as well as being open to inspiration. And maybe it is the poets eyes and ears and heart and soul that I desire more than the ability to write perfectly chosen words. The ability to be inspired by the amazing in the ordinary. The light and sight and smell and sound of a simple shower of rain – open to beauty in unexpected places.
Our garden is looking good at the moment, not least because of Karen’s disciplined hard work over recent years, and especially during these last few weeks. One of her favourite plants at the moment are the Osteospermums (African Daisy) – which she brilliantly describes as looking exactly like a child would draw a flower. They are a riot of colour in a well established patch towards the top corner of the garden. They caught my attention during yesterday’s rain shower, as they demonstrated well a phenomenon known as nyctinasty (thank you Google). At night, or in cool low light conditions, the flowers close up – presumably offering additional protection to the flower or possibly preserving the pollen for when insects are more likely to be active. They open themselves up to light and warmth, and close themselves down to protect themselves when conditions are not ideal.
That sounds rather like me, and others I know during this strange time of lockdown. Conditions are not ideal for some of us – we do not thrive when shut away. We follow the rules, but it’s not easy. Some of us will fold in on ourselves, we will seek protection and security. These are difficult times for some of us and we do what we need to do to get through. It makes sense.
But I have to believe – I choose to believe – that there will not only be an end to this time, but that there will also be moments of beauty and grace along the way. Moments when something as simple as a shower of rain will remind us that we are a part of a much larger created order, and that the God who has created and is creating can break through if we are prepared to look, listen and encounter. May we be open to hear and see and taste all that God is doing in this wonderful world around us, in our fellow humans and in the whole of creation. May we be open to beauty and peace wherever they may be found. May we be open to God. Amen?
John Goddard, 2nd May 2020
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 MAY 5th
Clearing away the rubbish…
For me, and at risk of oversharing, one of the best days of the Christmas holiday period is when the recycling bin is emptied. This almost certainly means I’m a little weird. Maybe this relates to the one year I forgot to put the bin out and two weeks of overflowing recycling suddenly had to be four. Or maybe there is some deeper psychological significance about a deeply untidy person wanting this one thing to be tidied away…
I think this is probably related to one of the most minor of minor issues of the current lockdown period – the tip is closed. We live about 500 metres from our local Recycling Centre for Household Waste (sorry, it will always be ‘the tip’ in my mind…) and I am a frequent visitor – especially with garden waste that isn’t suitable for one of our multiple compost bins. On numerous occasions I have given silent thanks that the church chose to buy a Manse so conveniently situated for the tip. And now, when I need it the most, it is closed. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why it is closed and I do not wish anyone to do anything other than stay home and stay safe. But when lockdown restrictions are lifted, and normal people are queuing for haircuts and decent coffee, you will know where to find me.
The reason for the tip being so necessary at the moment is that we have been spending time in the garden in recent weeks. This has occasionally involved a cold drink and a sit down, but more often than not it has been about tackling those gardening jobs that you never quite get around to. In particular, war has been declared on the ivy. Two of our boundaries consist of hedging and trees, and ivy had taken hold over many years. At times we have pulled some out and cut some off, but this time we are digging deep and clearing not just the visible, but the hidden, twisted, clinging roots as well. If the mountain of rubbish bags is anything to go by then I think we are winning! But I’ll be happier once all the bags are emptied, up at the tip…
Years ago one of my favourite Christian writers and performers, Adrian Plass, published a collection of songs and poems titled Clearing Away the Rubbish. Using his wit and humour he tried to encourage us to look at some of the unnecessary complications of life in general, and of the Christian faith in particular, with the aim of sweeping away some of the rubbish to find a clearer path to the truth. I think that was actually what he was doing in much of his writing, beginning with his Sacred Diary and others in the series, and in gems like An Alien at St Wilfred’s and View from a Bouncy Castle. Not everyone appreciated his insights – with one Bible bookshop I knew of back in the 1980s refusing to stock his books because of something he’d said – but many, many more of us were blessed by the way his wisdom and humour helped us to clear away the rubbish and find the path once more.
In this time of lockdown, when some of us are tidying gardens and clearing our back rooms and utility drawers, is there some other clutter that could be dealt with as well? What are the things that are hindering us as we seek to walk with God? Have we allowed our understanding of God to become obscured and veiled by our own prejudice and expectations? What might we need to clear away in order to see once again the generosity and beauty of God’s grace revealed in Jesus? Is there pruning to be done to allow new life to flourish?
As the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 51, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.’ Amen