Windows on the world (80)

Seven Kings, 2009

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Van Morrison - And It Stoned Me.

The Wave

UK climate negotiators are off to crucial talks in Copenhagen next week. And what better send-off than thousands of passionate people dressed in blue encircling Parliament. That's what our Peace & Justice committee at St Johns Seven Kings think and they will be meeting at the church at 9.30am on Saturday 5 December in order to travel into Central London together to take part.

We want our message of climate justice to be ringing in the governments' ears, reminding them to seal a strong and fair deal for the world's poorest people. That's why Tearfund, among others, are joining with the Stop Climate Chaos coalition for The Wave church service and march this Saturday, 5 December.

The day will look like this ...

11am: Church service at Central Hall, Westminster, SW1H 9NH, central London (opposite Westminster Abbey). From there we will walk together to join the march. Maps will be provided on the day.

1pm: March leaves Grosvenor Square. Assemble there if you can't make it to the service.

3pm: Encircling of parliament followed by tea and cakes with Tearfund at the Mothers Union, Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton St, SW1P 3RB

Or join The Wave in Glasgow and Belfast city centre on the same day.

To get in the mood, why not take e-action from Tearfund's website. Also please pray for The Wave, the climate talks and the people most affected by climate change.

Oxfam say, "These marches are the best chance we have to tell the UK government and world leaders that we care about what is agreed at the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this December."

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The Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby.

Art & Christianity meme

Instead of simply responding to memes I've decided to start one. The instructions for this meme are:

To list an artwork, drama, piece of music, novel, and poem that you think each express something of the essence of Christianity and for each one explain why. Then tag five other people.

• Artwork: White Crucifixion by Marc Chagall - the violence of the world is visited on the scapegoated Christ whose sacrifice becomes the centre around which history revolves.


• Drama: The Singing Detective by Dennis Potter - multi-layered clues in fiction, fantasy and autobiography combine enabling betrayal to be reinhabited which in turn releases the central character from the prison of his own distress and self-loathing.


• Music: Credo by Arvo Pärt - an arc of emotion beginning in the confidence of belief and moving through an agony of doubt before emerging chastened but still trusting. The arc of faith expressed through sound.


• Novel: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky - a rigorous and dramatic exploration of what it means to genuinely live out the Christian faith in the world.


• Poem: The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot - the world viewed in the light of Christ is fragmented, tormented and desolated but in the act of holding the fragments together the presence of Christ - the third who walks always beside you - is glimpsed.

I tag Banksy, Paul, Philip, Sam, and Tim.

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T-Bone Burnett - River of Love.

Waiting

Advent is a time of waiting. Waiting to celebrate the first coming of Christ and reflecting on our wait for his second coming.

Waiting is a common experience; one that used to characterise the British as we were known for our ability to wait patiently in queues. Now that would seem to have changed, as adverts claim that impatience is a virtue.

Reflect for a few moments on the spiritual significance of waiting through the use of two meditations. The first, by Alan Stewart, simply lists some of our common experiences of waiting:

Waiting

Waiting for news
News you long for
News you fear
Waiting for answers

Waiting to rejoice
With tears of laughter
Tears of regret
Waiting to grieve

Waiting to remember
Waiting to forget

Waiting to greet
or to say goodbye
Waiting to embrace
or to push away

Waiting to feel
Waiting not to feel

Waiting in emptiness
Waiting in pain
In discomfort
In anger
Waiting in shame

Waiting to heal
Waiting to destroy

Tired of waiting
Inspired by waiting
Frustrated by waiting
Elated by waiting

Waiting for a beginning
Waiting for an end

Waiting for birth
Waiting for death
For growing up
For growing old
Waiting for growing helpless

Waiting for marriage
Waiting to break-up

Waiting to work
Waiting to rest

Waiting for rain
Waiting in the rain

Waiting for harvest
Waiting for justice

Waiting for gunfire
for a knock at the door
For freedom
For sanctuary
For sanity

Waiting alone
Waiting together

Waiting for God
And in the waiting
God waits
With us.

So, God is with us in our waiting. That is the first thing for us to realise and sense. It is something that we see both in the Christmas story and in the wider story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection:

Waiting

Waiting.
Elizabeth waiting years for the conception of a child.

Waiting.
Mary waiting nine months for the birth of God’s son.

Waiting.
Simeon waiting to see the salvation of Israel.

Waiting.
Eastern visitors following a star, waiting to worship the baby born King of the Jews.

Waiting.
Joseph and Mary living in Egypt waiting for the death of Herod.

Waiting.
Jesus working and waiting for his ministry to begin.

Waiting.
Jesus tempted and waiting for his ministry to begin.

Waiting.
Disciples asking, “when will this be?”, and waiting for fulfilment.

Waiting.
Jesus waiting in prayer at Gethsemene, his disciples sleeping, unable to wait with him.

Waiting.
Mary weeping at the foot of the cross and waiting for death.

Waiting.
Jesus in the tomb, waiting for the third day.

Waiting.
Disciples, fearful and hopeless, gathered together behind locked doors and waiting.

Waiting.
Disciples waiting in Jerusalem for baptism by the Holy Spirit.

Waiting.
Church waiting for the kingdom coming through the return of the King.

Love waits.
Birth waits.
New life waits.
Revelation waits.
God waits.

Waiting.
Waiting for human response.
Waiting.
Never demanding or compelling.
Waiting.
Needing, but never seeking, our recognition.
Waiting.
Only complete once we have received.

Why are we waiting? Why does God wait? The answer that the Bible seems to give is that he is waiting for us to respond to him. W. H. Vanstone wrote in Love's Endeavour, Love's Expense: “So it is with the love of God. For the completion of its work, and therefore its own triumph, it must wait upon the understanding of those who receive it. The love of God must wait for the recognition of those who have power to recognise … Recognition of the love of God involves, as it were, the forging of an offering: the offering is the coming-to-be of understanding: only where this understanding has come to be has love conveyed its richest blessing and completed its work in triumph.”

God waits for us; waits for our recognition, understanding and response to his love. So, let us make it our aim and prayer this Advent to see him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly day by day.

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Bob Marley - Waiting In Vain.

Subversion of scapegoating

I've been tagged by Philip Ritchie for the following meme:

Summarise the Bible in five statements, the first one word long, the second two, the third three, the fourth four and the last five words long. Or possibly you could do this in descending order. Tag five people.

My version is a Girardian attempt:

Murder
of scapegoats
subverted by the
act of God becoming
the ultimate sacrifice for all.

Sam and Banksy have also come up with some great responses to this one. I tag Paul Trathen, Elwin Cockett and Tim Goodbody.

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The Staple Singers - When Will We Be Paid.

Windows on the world (79)

Mersea Island, 2009

Windows on the world

My camera shutters
open
a window
on the world.
The lens
frames
a foreground
object
which is itself
a frame
for something
beyond.
This is how
we humans see;
bounded by our own
perspective
yet able
still to see
beyond.

That something
beyond
is the hint
and glimpse
of possibility,
the something
more,
something
different,
the excess
which Ricoeur
sees
as our being,
our human being,
as constant change,
as constantly
becoming
who we are.

Through
free imaginative
variation
Husserl suggested
we can
vary the
form, colour,
material and uses
of an object
in our mind
and by
comparing
what is common
to these
different
possibilities
determine
its essence.

Adam
utilised this
possibility
method
when naming
the animals
in Eden;
after
identifying
the essence
of each animal
in naming
them
he knew
that none
could be
his soulmate
so knew
he needed
Eve.

Different
perspectives
produce
new ways of
seeing,
thinking,
imagining,
being;
living
creatively,
living
artistically,
we know
ourselves
to be
possibility
beings,
creative
children
of creative
being.

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Moby - Wait For Me.

Being

Let there be

Let life exist

Let possibilities be actualised

Let potentialities be realised



Let there be

synergies and union

Let there be

the imagining of possibilities

Let there be

the birthing of new life

Let there be

the nurturing of essence

Let there be

growth and development

Let there be

transformation and change



Let life be

Let life be cherished

Let what is be what it is

Let essence determine development


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David Grant - Life.