Bearing Witness

Here’s the principle: 

if something is happening 

and we’re the only ones witnessing it, 

we have a responsibility to posterity

Naomi Klein

ADVENT LITANY

Come, Advent God
and complete the special work of Love
which you began in Jesus of Nazareth.

Many are cast down with spiritual needs,
thirsting for the Peace of your forgiveness
and the warmth of your healing Love.
Come to them with the grace they desperately need.
At evening or midnight, morning or midday - Come, Lord Jesus

Many are in despair through physical hardship,
seeking relief from their burdens
and hope in the midst of their cares.
Come to them with the help they desperately need.
At evening or midnight, morning or midday - Come, Lord Jesus

Your church in all the world needs saving
from everything that threatens its mission.
Where it is persecuted, keep it faithful.
Where it persecutes, rebuke it.
Where it is seduced by affluence, shake it to its foundations.
Where it is self-satisfied, thoroughly unsettle it.
Where it is weak, poor, and meek, bless it with your Joy, Peace and Strength.
At evening or midnight, morning or midday - Come, Lord Jesus

Come Advent God, and complete your work in Jesus Christ,
through whom we offer these Prayers.

At the dawn I seek Thee,

Refuge, Rock sublime;

Set my prayer before Thee in the morning,

And my prayer at even-time.

I before Thy greatness

Stand, and am afraid;

All my secret throughts Thine eye beholdeth,

Deep within my bosom laid.

And withal, what is it

Heart and tongue can do?

What is this my strength, and what is even

This my spirit in me, too?

But indeed man's singing

May seem good to Thee.

So I praise Thee, singing, while there dwelleth

Yet the breath of God in me.

Solomon ibn Gabirol

Translated by Nina Salaman

Thoughts for troubled times - 14

This picture comes from here

Righteous art thou, O Lord,

when I complain to thee;

yet I would plead my case before thee.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

Thou plantest them, and they take root;

they grow and bring forth fruit;

thou art near in their mouth

and far from their heart.

...to be continued

 The Book of Jeremaiah 12:1 and 2

Thoughts for troubled times - 13

In the midst of concern for our economic direction, the size our carbon footprint...

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,

that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps,

Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure;

not in thy anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

The Book of Jeremiah 10: 23,24

First Sunday of Advent: 2008

From http://www.earthsong.org.au/

We are being called into a new place
and our creativity is being placed
at the service of Earth,
in a new millennium and a new moment.

There is an awakening of deep energy,
for embracing the interconnectedness of the whole life community
and finding the place of the human within this community.

Living within the Divine Mystery,
we celebrate the sacredness of all beings
and the integrity of all creation.

Drawing on the wisdoms of our past,
we are moving into new expressions
of our response to the creation:
'groaning in one great act of giving birth'.

We seek to learn new ways,
widening our horizons,
believing in a possible dream,
touching into our deepest experience
to give and to receive life.

~~~~

All Saints - The Anglican presence in Mitcham & Nunawading
Rev'd Dianne Sharrock, B. Theol
Forthcoming Christmas Services
Thursday 4 December
A service of lessons and carols for Advent
organised by the All Saints' Mothers Union
Christmas Eve 24 December
5pm - Family Service with Wombat Divine
11pm - Sung Eucharist with Carols
Christmas Day 25 December
9.30am - Sung Eucharist with Carols
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer of the Day - Advent 1

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came among us in great humility, that n the last day when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MAKE ADVENT YOUR OWN IN YOUR OWN HOME THIS YEAR

Here are some household prayers with daily scripture readings for the weeks of advent

with many blessings from All Saints at Micham & Nunawading

Opening Prayer

Wait for the Lord; be strong and have courage and put your hope in the Lord.

Then then glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together.

Thanks be to God.

Readings

Choose a Scripture reading from the list given below)

Thanksgiving for Light

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

We give you thanks and praise, God of all creation:

You gave us the sun that runs its course with joy, the moon and stars to brighten the sky at night.  

Brak through our clouds of doubt and fear.

Wake us up to your saving awesome works;

Teach us again that nothing is too wonderful for our God.

Make us heralds of your peace to all the earth, bearers of your light to those who are sad and afraid.

Grant us rest this night that we may sleep surrounded by your love.

We pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the world.  Amen

Lighting of the Advent Wreath (if you don't have a wreath, perhaps you can light a candle)

By the tender mercy of our God, 

the dawn from on high will break upon us, 

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

to guide our feet into the way of peace. 

(Luke 1:78-79)

Jesus said:  

"I am the light of the world."  

The nations will walk by this light 

and all people will see God's glory.  

(spoken as the candles are lit)

Responsive Prayer

Jesus, our Emmanuel, 

you promised to be with us in all times and places:

Come now and be our friend.

Come, Lord Jesus.

You came as a baby, born in a manger,

and the magi called you "King":

Come to rule the world with mercy and peace.

Come, Lord Jesus.

You walked through towns and villages,

Healing the sick and feeding the hungry:

Come and show us your way of love.

Come, Lord Jesus.

God sent you to save the earth and all its people; 

your love for us led you to the cross:

Come with joy, and open wide the door of life.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Closing Prayer

God of Light,

you have promised that you will feed us,

hold us tenderly and protect us:

Guide us through each day,

abnd lead us on the highway to your home.

Come to us when we are afraid and uncertain.

Bless us as we prepared to celebrate Christmas.

Gather us into a community of love,

ready to receive Jesus and 

to bring his healing and peace to the world.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Then say the Lord's Prayer

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name....Amen

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The love of God,

and the communion of the Holy Spirit

be with us.

O come, O come Emmanuel!

Advent Daily Scripture Readings

(the list of readings is a *.jpg file.  Please click to enlarge.)

Thoughts for troubles times - 12

Learn not the way of the nations,

nor be dismayed

at the signs of the heavens

because the nations

are dismayed at them,

for the customs of the people are false.

The Book of Jeremiah 10:1

Crittenden Inquiry

A follow up to the posts below, Stephen Crittenden, has been suspended on full pay pending an inquiry into comments he made last week about the axing of flagship programs on Radio National.

Self defensive and attacking #2

This article is in this afternoon's Crikey

What are they doing to Radio National? God help us!

An extraordinary opening comment by Radio National Religion Report presenter Stephen Crittenden this morning (listen to it here) was the first many ABC listeners will have heard about serious changes to the RN schedule planned for 2009. Former ABC religious broadcaster Paul Collins takes up the tale:

Words tell you everything. When you hear "interdisciplinary" you know it means "dumbing down" and "consumer focused" always refers to the lowest common denominator. This is precisely the rhetoric used yesterday by ABC Radio National management to describe their intentions for RN programming next year.

Several specialist programs are being taken off-air including the Religion Report, the Media Report and Radio Eye. The Reports are flagship programs that deal with issues central to current culture. Apparently they are being replaced by a movie show and something about the future. Specialist broadcasters will spend more time responding to opinionated bloggers rather than making programs. God help us!

Let's be clear what ABC Radio management is up to: it is a case of the bland leading the bland. Specialisation is out. Nowadays the belief is that any old (or, more likely, young) "interdisciplinary" journalist can deal with any topic. Well, I've been interviewed literally hundreds of times on ABC radio and TV. My experience is that while most journalists make a reasonable go of it, they just don't know the detail and often have to be led to the key questions.

Take religion for example. There are no more than half a dozen specialist religious journalists in Australia. Two work for Fairfax (Linda Morris and Barney Zwartz) and the rest for the ABC which has had a religion department since the beginning of the Corporation. Stephen Crittenden, John Cleary and Rachael Kohn are able to cover a complex spectrum of beliefs, practices and theologies from a wide cross-section of traditions precisely because they are specialists.

Nowadays religion is a mainstream political, cultural and socio-economic issue with enormous impact on world affairs. To cover it adequately you need specialists. That is precisely what Stephen Crittenden has done on the Religion Report. He knows what the issues are and where the bodies are buried. Sure, he's upset some powerful people, but that's the nature of a free media.

I'm not paranoid. I don’t see this as an attack on religion. It's more a lack of appreciation of specialization, derived from the half-witted, post-modern conviction that everyone can do anything. Sure, they can ask a few prosaic, "man-in-the-street" questions. But that's not the task of Radio National. If you think it is, get a job with the commercials.

We need to be clear where this is leading. It effectively spells the end of religion as a specialization in the ABC. If you only have a couple of minor, essentially life-style programs on air you don't need people who know their stuff. All you need is an 'interdisciplinary, consumer-focused' approach, produced by the type of journalist who doesn’t know the difference between an Anglo-Catholic and an Evangelical!

Paul Collins is a former specialist editor (religion) for the ABC

Self defensive and attacking

It was only on Monday that I explained how I try to keep this blog's focus on resources for Desert Spirituality. To-day, I am defending and attacking all at once in defence of one of the great religious resources, The Religion Report on Australia's public broadcasting icon, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and its presenter Stephen Crittenden.

The Religion Report is first broadcast on Wednesday morning's at 8.30am. Each morning on Radio National there is an 8.30am to 9.00am timeslot allocated as follows:

Monday..................The Health Report

Tuesday..............The Law Report

Wednesday...............The Religion Report

Thursday...............The Media Report

Friday.....................The Sports Factor

This morning Stephen had a spray at the beginning of The Religion Report and he has sent me what he said:

This week the new line-up of Radio National programs for 2009 was announced.

The Religion Report has been de-commissioned, along with The Media Report, The Sports Factor, The Ark, Perspective, In Conversation, Street Stories and Radio Eye. These programs are going in order to make room for (quote) 'more inter-disciplinary work on the network', and the 8.30 timeslot is being remodelled to give it (quote) 'more consumer focus'.

The decision to axe one of this network's most distinctive and important programs has been
approved by the Director of ABC Radio, Sue Howard, and it will condemn Radio National to even greater irrelevance.

The ABC's specialist units have been under attack for years, but the decapitation of the flagship program of the Religion Department effectively spells the death of Religion at the ABC. That
such a decision has been taken in an era when Religion vies with Economics as a determinant of everything that is going on in the world almost beggars belief - but you have to remember that just a couple of years ago they axed the Environment program.

The Religion Report has always been fearless - and I don't have to tell you that it has put many powerful noses out of joint. This is a signal to the churches that the ABC has decided to vacate the field. If you care about this program and what it represents, I suggest that you might
consider writing to the ABC Board or the Managing Director, Mark Scott.

I set out below my letter to everyone on my email lists this morning:

Dear One and All,

The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) is a national treasure and an international icon of public broadcasting - although our politicians of the right and left don't appear to regard it as so with their stacking of boards and miserliness with funding.

One of the great pleasures in my life is listening to the ABC's Radio National. If you don't listen to Radio National, don't bother reading further because this is all about trying to save some of Australia's most respected broadcasters and programs at Radio National from getting the axe. To outline this, Stephen Crittenden of The Religion Report has sent me a copy of his statement read at the commencement of TRR this morning. Read it below.

Stephen's spray outlines the proposed "re-modelling" of the 8.30am timeslot but makes no mention of either The Health Report or The Law Report. If they survive in one form or another, will this be because doctors and lawyers have more influence with RN than the rest of us?

The religion programs - which along with Radio Eye are my favourites - are The Religion Report hosted by Stephen Crittenden and The Ark hosted by Rachel Kohn. I would be surprised if there was a better religion journalist/presenter anywhere than Stephen. I have no idea of Stephen's faith perspective - he could be a religion literate atheist for all I know - but his conversation is intelligent, subject literate, perspicacious and insightful. Rachel Kohn is a most distinguished religious presented with great expertise in comparative religion.

The Religion Report covers a wide range of territory - but I think it would not be untrue to say that not all subjects of discussion on The Religion Report would have welcomed TRR reports of their doings. I can think of the Exclusive Brethren and Steiner education to begin with.

Australia has a long and proud tradition of secularism and long may it be so. However, in recent years, there have been clear displays of secular bigotry against individuals in particular and religion in general. Could the axing of TRR be another scalp of secularists who neither understand nor give a fig for the topic of religion?

Australia has a diverse population - and many of our immigrant communities come from old faith traditions which are continued in this country. TRR helps to give a voice to these traditions and to make those traditions known to the broader Australian community. Losing this voice will not only leave us poorer but also also take away from us a vital tool in overcoming our ignorance.

Religious adversaries have brought suspicion, violence and war to the earth in recent years. Australian politics, which were long largely religion free, have now been penetrated with modern political tools by a range of religions. Who will explain this to us if not The Religion Report under the clear and precise dissection of Stephen Crittenden?

Stephen has asked us to write to the ABC Board or the Managing Director, Mark Scott. I would also suggest that we write to the Federal leaders of political parties from the Prime Minister down. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are both known as men of faith - the former an Anglican and the latter a Catholic. I believe it is important that we make ourselves and our views known to them - for the sake of public broadcasting in this country and, in particular, the reporting of religion.Please let me know what you think and - importantly - what it is that you do.

So, Dear Reader, could you please do your bit to keep Australia's major religious communications resource on air and in the public domain. Please note for your records that the protocol for emails at the ABC is lastname.firstname@abc.net.au. Therefore......

Managing Director - Mark Scott .............. scott.mark@abc.net.au
Chair of the Board - Maurice Newman.... newman.maurice@abc.net.au
Board Members
Janet Albrechtsen .................................... albrechtsen.janet@abc.net.au
Steven Skala ............................................. skala.steven@abc.net.au
Peter Hurley ............................................. hurley.peter@abc.net.au
Keith Windschuttle .................................. windschuttle@abc.net.au
Director of ABC Radio - Sue Howard .... howard.sue@abc.net.au
Stephen Crittenden ................................. crittenden.stephen@abc.net.au

It goes without saying...

prayers and miracles are a welcome priority

BTW, the wonderful collection that makes up the Board of Australia's national broadcaster is the result of appointments made by the previous (conservative) Australian government. The current government bears no responsibility for that.

And, dear Reader, after all that, if you still have questions or need assistance for your lobbying, please let me know and I will try to find solutions.

Thoughts for troubled times - 11

Thus says the Lord:

"Let not the wise man gloryin his wisdom,

let not the mighty man glory in his might,

let not the rich man glory in his riches,

but let him who glories glory in this,

that he understands and knows me,

that I am the Lord who practises

steadfast love, justice, and righteousness

in the earth;

for in these things I delight,

says the Lord."

The Book of Jeremiah

9:23-24

Unexplored territory

Ben over at Journey Something has a wonderful poem -

Soul: the last wild frontier.

Please go see.

Thoughts for troubled times - 10

For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
"How we are ruined!
We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
because they have cast down our dwellings."

The Book of Jeremiah

9:19

....and some Canadian Christians are doing something.

Self explanatory

I don't like to insinuate myself too much into the posts on this blog. I like to keep, as far as possible, to the focus of the blog as a resource for those orienting themselves to Desert Spirituality.

I am concerned - well, more concerned than usual - at the weal of the world. I started a series from the Book of Jeremiah as a reminder of and as a commentary on difficult times. Then I disappeared for a while.

Life is full for me at this time...so full that my other blogs have not been kept up to date. Explanation can be found here.

Thoughts for troubled times - 9

This picture came from here

Therefore, God-of-the-Angel-Armies says:
"Watch this!
I'll melt them down and see what they're made of.
What else can I do with a people this wicked?
Their tongues are poison arrows!
Deadly lies stream from their mouths.
Neighbor greets neighbor with a smile,
'Good morning! How're things?'
while scheming to do away with him.
Do you think I'm going to stand around and do nothing?"
God's Decree.
"Don't you think I'll take serious measures against a people like this?

Book of Jeremiah 9:7-9
The Message

Thoughts for troubled times - 8

The picture came from here

You trust in deceptive words to no avail.

Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to false gods...

and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say

"We are saved! We are delivered!"

-only to go on doing all these abominations!

Thoughts for troubled times - 7

The picture came from here

For if you truly amend your ways and your doings,

if you truly execute justice one with another,

if you do not oppress the alien,

the fatherless

or

the widow,

or

shed innocent blood in this place,

and if you do not go after other goods to your own hurt,

then

I will let you dwell in this place,

in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever.

Book of Jeremiah 7: 5-7

Thoughts for troubled times - 6

Stand by the roads, and look,

and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way is;

and walk in it,

and find rest for your souls.

The Book of Jeremiah 6:16

Thoughts for troubled times - 5

. ...from the least to the greatest of them,

every one is greedy for unjust gain;

and from prophet to priest,

every one deals falsely.

They have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, 'Peace, peace,'

when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?

No, they were not at all ashamed;

they did not know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown

The Book of Jeremiah 6: 13-15

Thoughts for troubled times - 4

...this people has a stubborn and rebellious hear;

they have turned aside and gone away.

They do not say in their hearts,

'Let us fear the Lord our God,

who gives the rain in its season,

the autumn rain and the spring rain,

and keeps for us

the weeks appointed for the harvest.'

Your iniquities have turned these away,

and your sins have kept good from you.

The Book of Jeremiah 5:23-25

Vernal Equinox 2008

Picture from here

Christine at The Abbey of the Arts has called for poetry and other writing about the Equinox. Here below is my contribution:

VERNAL EQUINOX
UTC 080922 15.44

It happened last night:
AEST 080923 01.44.

It came in southern darkness
To say that summer isn’t far away.
It came in the sleepy midnight
To say that winter really would go
And the sun would come to stay.

This is my true herald of hope.
The depression and gloom of winter go
Replaced with hope and blossoming life
And a knowledge that sun and heat
Will cleanse my soul
And joy it into play.

Thoughts for troubled times - 3

Whether we like it or not, one way or another, we are called to account for our actions.

It almost certainly will happen in our own lifetime.

It certainly will happen when this lifetime is oveer.

~~~~~~~~~

Your ways and your doings

have brought this upon you.

This is your doom, and it is bitter;

it has reached your very heart.

The Book of Jeremiah 4:18

Thoughts for troubled times - 2

Jeremiah dictating to Baruch.

Picture from The Evolution of Jeremiah.

What wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
……
And I brought you into a plentiful land
to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
but when you came in you defiled my land,
and made my heritage an abomination.
……..
Has a nation changed its gods,
even though there are no gods?
but my people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
be appalled, O heavens, at this,
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
says the Lord.

The Book of Jeremiah 2: 5, 7, 10-12

Thoughts for troubled times - 1

There are many things happening in our world

to give us pause for thought

environment and sustainability

surfeit and hunger

consumerism and financial security

individualism and community

war and peace.

While the problems abroad in the world may be new to this generation, the nations and peoples of the world have been troubled before. And, if the Lord tarries in His coming, such troubles may come again.

In this light, I thought it might be time to go back to another troublesome period in history, and look to some of the words of that period. So, beginning with this post, we will pay some brief visits to the words of Jeremiah. I hope these words can be taken to your heart, store there, reflected on, and perhaps they - in turn - will lead to further reading and reflection. Indeed, these are meant to be thoughts for The Journey.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

".......I am watching over my word to perform it"

God's words to Jeremiah as a young man

Reported in The Book of Jeremiah 1: 11

The broken wheel of life

Photo by Ted Szukalski

Man is born broken.

He lives by mending.

The grace of God is the glue.

Eugene O'Neill

Choice: the Kingdom of God or Tyranny

This picture came from here

We can move in the direction of justice,

but if our personal relationships don’t become more human,

we haven’t moved in the direction of the reign of God

and, in the long run,

we will discover that our point of arrival is just another form of tyranny.

Arturo Paoli

Great Spirit

Native American Prayer
Author Unknown

Great Spirit,

Give us hearts to understand

Never to take from creation's beauty more than we give,

Never to destroy want only for the furtherance of greed,

Never to deny to give our hands for the building of earth's beauty,

Never to take from her what we cannot use.

Give us hearts to understand

That to destroy earth's music is to create confusion,

That to wreck her appearance is to blind us to beauty,

That to callously pollute her fragrance is to make a house of stench,

That as we care for her she will care for us.

Give us hearts to understand We have forgotten who we are.

We have sought only our own security.

We have exploited simply for our own ends.

We have distorted our knowledge.

We have abused our power.

Great Spirit,

Whose dry lands thirst,

Help us to find the way to refresh your lands.

Great Spirit,

Whose waters are choked with debris and pollution,

Help us to find the way to cleanse your waters.

Great Spirit,

Whose beautiful earth grows ugly with misuse,

Help us to find the way to restore beauty to your handiwork.

Great Spirit,

Whose creatures are being destroyed,

Help us to find a way to replenish them

Great Spirit,

whose gifts to us are being lost in selfishness and corruption,

Help us to find the way to restore our humanity.

The ancient Christian tradition of hospitality

Rublev Trinity Icon - Abraham entertains

I'm seeking to start a conversation on ancient Christian hospitality.

A couple of things have stimulated this.

1. My local parish (St Thomas) runs an Open Church program. It is quite simple. Its purpose is to keep our parish church doors open from 10am to 2pm Monday to Friday irrespective of whether there is anything on at the church. It is run by volunteers who staff the program with 2 volunteers operating in pairs and each pair doing two hours each - so that is four people every day Mon to Fri. This means our chapel is open for prayer/quiet times. In winter a back pew is made comfortable with cushion, blanket and heater! The volunteers are happy to give a coffee to any one who drops in and have a chat with them as well. Emergency food parcels are available for those who need them - although like any organisation who provides such a service, there are some boundaries.

2. Anti-Poverty Week is coming up in Australia from 12-18 October. I am on the Christian sub-committee here in Victoria. I have been trying to think how I might be able to stimulate involvement and interest in this. What I would like to do is to have St Thom's through the Open Church ministry host a multi-faith day for our area with an emphasis on Hospitality within the different faith traditions. I believe it would give a profile to our Open Church program so that others might imitate it and so we might have fewer locked up churches in Melbourne. There might be other faith communities who have their buildings closed during the week who might consider how they could keep their buildings open to the community. And, of course, hospitality spins off into meeting with those at the margins, getting to know them, serving them and thus serving Christ.

In focussing on Hospitality I also have a hidden agenda and that is that our program at St Thom's might come to a deeper understanding of the role and function of hospitality within our tradition and how that tradition impacts us in our Christian walk and how, through hospitality, we might impact the lives of others.

I am aware that, for instance, the Benedictines have an ancient tradition re hospitality which I would like to hear more about. I have heard that locking doors goes against the ancient Christian tradition. Does anyone know about this? I am sure there is more that can be said - so I wonder if you could help me to learn more about hospitality in our tradition so that I can get a clear and deep focus on it to the extent that I am able to articulate this clearly to others. Documents that I could pass on to others to read might be a help as well.

Justice is always associated with the desert experience

Photo: The Sydney Morning Herald

Jarrod McKenna, our energetic peace-loving peace-making Aussie, has written over here of a great Olympic story. It is the story of a prophetic and public moment in the lives of three Christian men. Two of these men were black Americans. The third, a white Australian. The white Australian was Peter Norman.

What Jarrod didn't mention was that when Peter died in 2006, the solidarity of the three men that was so publicly and irrevocably evident at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 was evident once again. Tommie Smith and John Carlos were here in Melbourne for Peter's funeral and they helped to carry his coffin.

Dear Reader, you have no idea how much this meant to us in Australia. That such athletic comrades from almost forty years ago should do such honour by coming half-way around the world will not be easily forgotten by Aussies.

To-night, I will watch the opening ceremony of the historic Beijing Olympics. I am a great admirer - in spite of things that get in the road sometimes - of the Chinese, their history, their culture and above all the Tao Te Ching. I am conscious of Australian's long involvement with the Chinese people. But if, like our Prime Minister, I could be a forthright friend: there are issues of justice in China and some of its relationships which can be difficult to overlook. Some people, perhaps, at these Olympics will feel strongly enough to make a public - and possibly prophetic - stand.

I pray that if this is the case that such people will remember the time forty years ago when three men decided to make their stand: representing two very different cultures these men really stood for something. The speedy and gentle Australian did not raise a fist. He wore a badge and, with Christ in his heart and his motivation, stood beside his black brothers. After all, Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in my name: there I am in the midst of them.

Transfiguration

To-day is the Feast of the Transfiguration. Three years ago, the fruit tree beside my home office window was covered in blossom (the picture is from 2005) but my fruit trees have very few blossoms at this time and my magnolia seems to have blossom as a permanent condition since they have been there so long without flowering.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Easter coincides with new life in nature. In the Southern Hemisphere, Easter happens in Autumn when the leaves are falling and nature prepares for Winter.

I love the Feasts but, on those occasions when we observe those that are not Easter and Christmas, I think we talk about them in a way which does not give any depth to the experience. I think that, in the main, this is how the Transfiguration is treated.

The Transfiguration was a supernatural event intervening in the natural order of things. It was transforming and predictive of the new life to come. Just like the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing at this time. How wonderful then if people in the south of the globe could take this great season of the soul and transform it to mirror the wonder of regeneration that is happening in the environment. We could then experience both the transfiguration of our environment and of our spirits.

The Transfiguration Lyrics

~~~
When you can do nothing else: bear witness.

A monastery of her own

The role of the older single woman in society has always been surrounded by ambiguity - particularly post-menopause. In fact, we do well to remember that until just over one hundred years ago the pattern of a woman's life was to go from her father's house directly to her husband's house - except for the occasional exceptions where a woman entered a nunnery.

The formerly married single woman - in other words, the widow - has always been difficult and all the more so if she had dependent children. No longer virginal, a woman with sexual experience, and, once post-menopause, frequently seen as sexless. Now if this woman was not submissive and self-effacing and 'modest', she might be seen as dangerous, as a troublemaker, and - in some periods of history - a witch.

So what to do with such women? It is only in the last fifty years that most of us have controlled our fertility sufficiently to establish true independence - personal and economic. Prior to that, our biology was a factor in our dependency on the male of the species one way or another and a factor in the male ability to control women.

As an older woman, a widow, I have often thought of what it might mean to live in an intentional community with other women like me for mutual support. The sort of thing I have in mind would be be living independently in a building suitable for the purpose but having communal periods and, because we would be an intentional community, able to give our energies to projects that we were unable to carry out individually.

However, there are few totally new ideas in this world. No new thing under the sun, Ecclesiastes 1:9 says. Because, dear Reader, in medieval times someone actually thought of that and did it.

All those blokes, well probably the best of the blokes, went off to the Crusades and left the women at home - widows in every meaning of the word except death of husband although that might have happened and the news not yet arrived. Some women were single and could not marry because of the lack of men and some were deserted while the men did their "spiritual" duty. Out of this social milieu, came the Beguines. They were later to be followed by a male equivalent, the Beghards but, in this instance, the women led the way.

I was reminded of this when dipping into the Travel section of The New York Times and found this beautiful piece: A Lost World Made By Women. Sadly, the Beguines have gone from among us and their buildings live on as relics of an anachronistic idea.

But, you see, I don't think the idea is anachronistic. I think the idea could become a contemporary ideal for many women bearing in mind the words of the the Franciscan Friar Gilbert of Tournai in 1274:

There are among us women whom we have no idea what to call, ordinary women or nuns, because they live neither in the world nor out of it.

The Beguines and their story/ies give us much food for thought. Their ideal need not and should not be lost to us. But we need to learn lessons from their experiences:

• recognize how easily independent, autonomous women threaten male hierarchies, particularly clerical ones;
• provide structures for ourselves of ourselves that ensure we can act in a way that is true to ourselves so that we are susceptible neither to co-option nor marginalization;
• discover what beautiful intellectual structures we can build for ourselves when our own feminine leanings and desires are given free rein.

Faith, Hope and Peace

Jesus sowed his seed in our hearts, then off he went....

He knew things would not be ideal.

There were the birds and the droughts,

the weeds and the insects,

the parasites and the blights.

But there was also the power of the seed itself.

Joseph G. Donders

teacher and chaplain

at the University of Nairobi, Kenya

The Word and Community

The lack of a caring community

that incarnates the Word

makes us more and more incapable of being heard.

Melba Maggay

Filipino theologian

Contemplation, Witness, Resistance

Christine Valters Paintner over at the Abbey of the Arts has given us a link to her article: The Practice of Contemplation as Witness and Resistance. Please take time out to read this since it provides a balanced view of the contemplative life in modern practice. Such a life is not mere navel-gazing but the seeding of an active, prophetic life. The post is here.

I have snitched this quote from Sacred Threshold who seems to have got it from inward/outward. It is from Henri Nouwen.

You are Christian only so long as you constantly pose critical questions to the society you live in, so long as you emphasize the need of conversion both for yourself and for the world, so long as you in no way let yourself become established in the situation of the world, so long as you stay unsatisfied with the status quo and keep saying that a new world is yet to come. You are Christian only when you believe you have a role to play in the realization of the new kingdom, and when you urge everyone you meet with holy unrest to make haste so that the promise might soon be fulfilled. So long as you live as a Christian you keep looking for a new order, a new structure, a new life.

Desert spirituality: definition and experience.

A beautiful post on the definition and experience of desert spirituality at Theguyoutsidethewalls.

We search and we search and yet find no meaning.
The search for a meaning leads to despair.
And when we are broken the heart finds its moment
To fly and to feel and to work as it will
Through the darkness and mystery and wild contradiction.
For this is its freedom, its need and its calling;
This is its magic, its strength and its knowing.
To heal and make meaning while we walk or lie dreaming;
To give birth to love within our surrender;
To mother our faith, our spirit and yearning;
While we stumble in darkness the heart makes our meaning
And offers it into our life and creation
That we may give meaning to life and creation
For we only give meaning we do not find meaning:
The thing we can’t find is the thing we shall give.
To make love complete and to honour creation.

Leunig

in When I talk to you: a cartoonist talks to God

2004, HarperCollinsPublishers

The Light in Mid-Winter: a story for the winter solstice

Lantern Parade.

THE LIGHT IN MID-WINTER
A story for the Winter Solstice

The Earth is in winter once again. The Sun gets out of bed later to find the Day and tucks itself away earlier to bring Night.

But there is a place that we can’t touch or feel. We scarcely notice it when it is come and it is gone. It is Mid-Winter. The Winter Solstice. This is a very special time. Before this time the hours of The Sun are getting shorter and shorter. After this time, the hours of The Sun are getting longer and longer. Or we can think of it another way. Before Mid-Winter the hours of Great Darkness are getting longer and longer. After Mid-Winter the hours of Great Darkness are getting shorter and shorter.

The Sun is s-o-o important to us. It is the bringer of Life and Light. When we put our plants in the ground to grow our food, to produce beautiful flowers, and start big shady trees on their journey of life – our effort will be wasted if there is not Light. We need Light to live. And while plants and animals and human beings have adjusted and adapted to living with cold in most places on The Earth, we do need Warmth. The Sun gives us Warmth. Our life is in Light and Warmth – not in Dark and Cold.

Our bodies love to be warm. They do not like to be shivery cold.

But it is not just our bodies. We human beings are not just our bodies. We are spirit too. And sometimes, in our spirit, we do not feel warm. Sometimes, in our spirit, we do not feel full of Life and filled with Light. We feel the Dark and the Cold coming inside of us and this does not make us feel happy. Instead, we feel s-o-o sad. We don’t want to get out of bed. We don’t want to talk to people. We want to huddle into ourselves because the sunny parts of our lives feel as if they have gone away never to come again.

So what do we do when we feel dark in our spirit?

It helps to look around at the world created for us. When we make a garden we have to think of all that a plant needs. This includes thinking about the Light. If the garden is too shady because of big trees, we have to prune and shape the trees. The plants in our garden will receive more Light to grow.

We look at our spirit in the same way. We do this by sitting quietly. We sit quietly so that the spirit inside us can listen. We sit quietly so that the spirit inside us can be still and not disturbed. As we still our spirit inside us, it is like pruning and shaping that big shady tree. As we are sitting, as we are still, as we are quiet we find the Light comes to our spirit just as the Light comes to our growing plants.

A long time ago a man called George Fox learned about the Light. He said then – and his words have come down to us to this very day – I saw an ocean of darkness and death BUT – and this is a great, lovely, big BUT – and infinite ocean of light and love which flowed over the ocean of darkness.