ITs that time of year again and from the National Gallery an advent calender for art lovers.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/features/advent/default.htm
blessings
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
Atonement
This guy has been blowing my mind with a theology which seems to articulate a lot of what i've been feeling for a long time without properly being able to express it .
check out this on the atonement
http://www.jamesalison.co.uk/texts/eng11.html
and may it rock your world[view]
blessings
check out this on the atonement
http://www.jamesalison.co.uk/texts/eng11.html
and may it rock your world[view]
blessings
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The Holy Ground Between Us
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.
Walt Whitman
US poet (1819 - 1892)
Have been musing about friendship since my recent north american sojourn and return home to live in Belfast. CS Lewis said that people need not so much to be taught as to be reminded. The last little while I’ve been reminded just how many amazing people I can call friend. Within a few weeks I reconnected with a lot of incredible people both in Canada and in Nashville. And honestly wondered what I’ve done to deserve to be part of their lives.
And yet the strangest thing is that those who I admire the most and have learnt from - people who have shaped my life and thinking - are perhaps the ones who need your friendship most . It is a scary and humbling thing and one I’m very thankful for. To the good people of Nashville you have my love and respect. There is holy ground between us and always will be. Thank you for continuing to live generously.
Back in Belfast realising how much our community needs each other is reassuring and makes me feel I am in the right place now. The right place to give and to recieve, to push the boundaries and break out of the old ways of thinking ....to listen to our lives and realise what incredible things they are.
I leave you with this from Papa John O’Donohue. May it lift your morning and rain upon your day.
Matins
I
Somewhere,out at the edges,the night
is turning and the waves of darkness
Begin to brighten the shore of dawn
The heavy dark falls back to earth
And the freed air goes wild with light,
The heart fills with fresh, bright breath
And thoughts stir to give birth to colour.
II
I arise to day
In the name of silence
Womb of the word,
In the name of stillness
Home of belonging,
In the name of the solitude
of the soul and the earth
I arise today
Blessed by all things
Wings of breath
delight of eyes,
wonder of whisper,
intimacy of touch,
eternity of soul,
urgency of thought,
miracle of health,
embrace of God
May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Gentle in word,
Gracious in awareness,
Courageous in thought,
Generous in Love .
Amen says me .......... blessings
Walt Whitman
US poet (1819 - 1892)
Have been musing about friendship since my recent north american sojourn and return home to live in Belfast. CS Lewis said that people need not so much to be taught as to be reminded. The last little while I’ve been reminded just how many amazing people I can call friend. Within a few weeks I reconnected with a lot of incredible people both in Canada and in Nashville. And honestly wondered what I’ve done to deserve to be part of their lives.
And yet the strangest thing is that those who I admire the most and have learnt from - people who have shaped my life and thinking - are perhaps the ones who need your friendship most . It is a scary and humbling thing and one I’m very thankful for. To the good people of Nashville you have my love and respect. There is holy ground between us and always will be. Thank you for continuing to live generously.
Back in Belfast realising how much our community needs each other is reassuring and makes me feel I am in the right place now. The right place to give and to recieve, to push the boundaries and break out of the old ways of thinking ....to listen to our lives and realise what incredible things they are.
I leave you with this from Papa John O’Donohue. May it lift your morning and rain upon your day.
Matins
I
Somewhere,out at the edges,the night
is turning and the waves of darkness
Begin to brighten the shore of dawn
The heavy dark falls back to earth
And the freed air goes wild with light,
The heart fills with fresh, bright breath
And thoughts stir to give birth to colour.
II
I arise to day
In the name of silence
Womb of the word,
In the name of stillness
Home of belonging,
In the name of the solitude
of the soul and the earth
I arise today
Blessed by all things
Wings of breath
delight of eyes,
wonder of whisper,
intimacy of touch,
eternity of soul,
urgency of thought,
miracle of health,
embrace of God
May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Gentle in word,
Gracious in awareness,
Courageous in thought,
Generous in Love .
Amen says me .......... blessings
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Yay Yeats
I've always been a fan of the WB -Irelands greatest poet [in the english language] . My good friend Mister Tumnus ( http://mistertumnus.blogspot.com/ )reminded me of this poem recently on her blog and It resonates deeply within the foul rag and bone shop of my own heart . Enjoy
The Circus Animals' Desertion
I
I sought a theme and sought for it in vain,
I sought it daily for six weeks or so.
Maybe at last, being but a broken man,
I must be satisfied with my heart, although
Winter and summer till old age began
My circus animals were all on show,
Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot,
Lion and woman and the Lord knows what.
II
What can I but enumerate old themes,
First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose
Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams,
Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose,
Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems,
That might adorn old songs or courtly shows;
But what cared I that set him on to ride,
I, starved for the bosom of his faery bride.
And then a counter-truth filled out its play,
'The Countess Cathleen' was the name I gave it;
She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away,
But masterful Heaven had intervened to save it.
I thought my dear must her own soul destroy
So did fanaticism and hate enslave it,
And this brought forth a dream and soon enough
This dream itself had all my thought and love.
And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread
Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea;
Heart-mysteries there, and yet when all is said
It was the dream itself enchanted me:
Character isolated by a deed
To engross the present and dominate memory.
Players and painted stage took all my love,
And not those things that they were emblems of.
III
Those masterful images because complete
Grew in pure mind, but out of what began?
A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street,
Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut
Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.
The Circus Animals' Desertion
I
I sought a theme and sought for it in vain,
I sought it daily for six weeks or so.
Maybe at last, being but a broken man,
I must be satisfied with my heart, although
Winter and summer till old age began
My circus animals were all on show,
Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot,
Lion and woman and the Lord knows what.
II
What can I but enumerate old themes,
First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose
Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams,
Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose,
Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems,
That might adorn old songs or courtly shows;
But what cared I that set him on to ride,
I, starved for the bosom of his faery bride.
And then a counter-truth filled out its play,
'The Countess Cathleen' was the name I gave it;
She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away,
But masterful Heaven had intervened to save it.
I thought my dear must her own soul destroy
So did fanaticism and hate enslave it,
And this brought forth a dream and soon enough
This dream itself had all my thought and love.
And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread
Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea;
Heart-mysteries there, and yet when all is said
It was the dream itself enchanted me:
Character isolated by a deed
To engross the present and dominate memory.
Players and painted stage took all my love,
And not those things that they were emblems of.
III
Those masterful images because complete
Grew in pure mind, but out of what began?
A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street,
Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut
Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.
The Power and The Glory [of Broadband]
I apologise for my absence. It was mainly due to a lack of internet access at home. That has now been remedied by the good people of NTL who have installed broadband in my humble home. Since my time in North America I have been musing much on the nature of friendship and one quote keeps popping up again and again.
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.
Walt Whitman
US poet (1819 - 1892)
The last month has made me sure of that . I have to go to work now but the next post will develop that thought more .
Blessings.
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.
Walt Whitman
US poet (1819 - 1892)
The last month has made me sure of that . I have to go to work now but the next post will develop that thought more .
Blessings.
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Eagles Are Coming
So screamed Bilbo at the end of the Hobbit during the battle of the Five Armies.
I'd never seen an eagle in my life before and then last week on Vancouver Island I saw 2 . Different days, different beaches, different sides fo the island but equally stunning. The second time the eagle circled round a few times before settling on a tree just behind us. The Elvish Princess and I stopped our picnic and looked in awe - it was so close we could hear the beating of his wings. If i was a poet I would write a verse but even now I just find myself filled with silent awe at the beauty. Luckily Gerard Manley Hopkins had a smiliar experience a century and a continent apart from mine but his words on seeing a falcon flying one morning are still beautiful and i offer them to you.
blessings
The Windhover
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, - the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
-- Gerard Manley Hopkins
I'd never seen an eagle in my life before and then last week on Vancouver Island I saw 2 . Different days, different beaches, different sides fo the island but equally stunning. The second time the eagle circled round a few times before settling on a tree just behind us. The Elvish Princess and I stopped our picnic and looked in awe - it was so close we could hear the beating of his wings. If i was a poet I would write a verse but even now I just find myself filled with silent awe at the beauty. Luckily Gerard Manley Hopkins had a smiliar experience a century and a continent apart from mine but his words on seeing a falcon flying one morning are still beautiful and i offer them to you.
blessings
The Windhover
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, - the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
-- Gerard Manley Hopkins
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
O CANADA
Dont worry not all my posts will be this long - Just a little something i wrote on the ferry last week going from Vancouver to Vancouver Island.
Vancouver was amazing - a city of contrasts - sea and mountains and my favourite season. Crisp autumn mornings with a nip in the clear mountain air. Sitting drinking coffee and watching the seaplanes taking off from the harbour warmed my soul. Its a big city but didn't feel overwhelming and closed in like London - there was always a sense of space and from almost everywhere you can see the mountains or the sea. Clean and healthy feel , travelling on the electric buses - all human life is here ... it feels good and of course good banter with femininefeminist.
Meantime I’m feeling alive - there is a still a hint of the new world here,its spirit is still felt.The spirit of carving a new life out of the harsh but beautiful wilderness around. We are passing sailboats and forested islands ....there are seaplanes landing, fishing trawlers heading out to the Pacific - it feels real. It feels like life is meant to feel. There is a little clearing at the waters edge with a mini lighthouse , a square white 2 storey house and a fluttering flagpole on a lawn. As we get closer now other houses start to poke out from amongst the tree lined shore. A blast on the ships whistle scares those on the outer deck - a man in a green shirt uses his fingers as earplugs- and somehow looks pained and amused at the same time. We are in a narrow channel between 2 islands - swiss style chalets on one side and more modest abodes on the other.
Its a breathtakingly beautiful ferry ride ....this is the way we are meant to live - not in concrete choked cities which suck the life out of those within them. Am listening to the new Duke Special album - it feels like the best work he has ever done. Songs from the deep forest feels appropriate here as I look out on forested islands all around. It also feels alive and young like the country around me. Stunning - I dont love you - half as much as I should . I dont get those pop and idol shows - everybody knows that the good things take a little longer. Its true - I need to write a lot more - give it the time it deserves .
There is a pretty girl in a red and yellow checked coat sitting across the way reading Harry Potter. She wears her beauty like it was a burden and doesnt smile at those who catch her eye but looks away instead. I wish she could hear the Duke singing ...” the sun will rise once more , yes it better / the sun will rise once more if you let her.”
I do feel most at home near the water . I love Nashville and am posting this from there but I'm not sure I could ever live here. I love the restless everchanging sea. If i feel God anywhere its there - feeling my soul resonate with the creation and the creator.
"come on come on come on my soul - i dont wanna stand still - i just want to freewheel."
The river of life has many tributaries .....there are many turns along the way and many different possibilities. Many different scenarios one could fit into. Many different places one could have ended up - sometimes its enough to drive you mad ....... all those possibilities and the self doubt that you have made the wrong choice ... lived the wrong way ..... how to find peace within that ..well look at the sea and realise we end up in the right place in the end - some of us just have longer journeys.
till next time Blessings upon you .
Vancouver was amazing - a city of contrasts - sea and mountains and my favourite season. Crisp autumn mornings with a nip in the clear mountain air. Sitting drinking coffee and watching the seaplanes taking off from the harbour warmed my soul. Its a big city but didn't feel overwhelming and closed in like London - there was always a sense of space and from almost everywhere you can see the mountains or the sea. Clean and healthy feel , travelling on the electric buses - all human life is here ... it feels good and of course good banter with femininefeminist.
Meantime I’m feeling alive - there is a still a hint of the new world here,its spirit is still felt.The spirit of carving a new life out of the harsh but beautiful wilderness around. We are passing sailboats and forested islands ....there are seaplanes landing, fishing trawlers heading out to the Pacific - it feels real. It feels like life is meant to feel. There is a little clearing at the waters edge with a mini lighthouse , a square white 2 storey house and a fluttering flagpole on a lawn. As we get closer now other houses start to poke out from amongst the tree lined shore. A blast on the ships whistle scares those on the outer deck - a man in a green shirt uses his fingers as earplugs- and somehow looks pained and amused at the same time. We are in a narrow channel between 2 islands - swiss style chalets on one side and more modest abodes on the other.
Its a breathtakingly beautiful ferry ride ....this is the way we are meant to live - not in concrete choked cities which suck the life out of those within them. Am listening to the new Duke Special album - it feels like the best work he has ever done. Songs from the deep forest feels appropriate here as I look out on forested islands all around. It also feels alive and young like the country around me. Stunning - I dont love you - half as much as I should . I dont get those pop and idol shows - everybody knows that the good things take a little longer. Its true - I need to write a lot more - give it the time it deserves .
There is a pretty girl in a red and yellow checked coat sitting across the way reading Harry Potter. She wears her beauty like it was a burden and doesnt smile at those who catch her eye but looks away instead. I wish she could hear the Duke singing ...” the sun will rise once more , yes it better / the sun will rise once more if you let her.”
I do feel most at home near the water . I love Nashville and am posting this from there but I'm not sure I could ever live here. I love the restless everchanging sea. If i feel God anywhere its there - feeling my soul resonate with the creation and the creator.
"come on come on come on my soul - i dont wanna stand still - i just want to freewheel."
The river of life has many tributaries .....there are many turns along the way and many different possibilities. Many different scenarios one could fit into. Many different places one could have ended up - sometimes its enough to drive you mad ....... all those possibilities and the self doubt that you have made the wrong choice ... lived the wrong way ..... how to find peace within that ..well look at the sea and realise we end up in the right place in the end - some of us just have longer journeys.
till next time Blessings upon you .
Into the world of blog .... I am still not entirely comfortable with what Lawson so well described as this benevolent act of narcisism. I'm not convinced that my life or anyone elses, is interesting enough to share every day ....but some days ... yeah some days you smell the rain , breath in the sunshine and feel the Oran Mor - The rhythm of Life - and you have something to say. Or you have a need to write and there is a hope that out there somewhere what you write will resonate with another human being. Or it coluld be that you are a bad writer and the only way to become a good writer is to start bad , write lots, and hopefully maybe one day we will run faster , try harder ........ but no we beat on boats against the current , born back ceaselessly into the past.
more later my children - blessings and salutations
father M
more later my children - blessings and salutations
father M
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