While I'm on the Subject...

Since I'm in poetry mode - here is, probably, my favourite. The language is really beautiful and clever and it's a real joy just to read the words and hear the sound of them. But the ideas and the complexity behind it makes me reflect on issues which are close to my heart.

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves -- goes itself; _myself_ it speaks and spells,
Crying _What I do is me: for that I came_.

I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

What does it mean? - I think it's worthwhile taking some time to think about the themes of this poem. It's talking about the unique thing that each created thing does. The reason for it's creation and being true to that calling, whether a dragonfly or a stringed instrument. It's talking about the interiority of our being - a good Ignatian theme - inside ourselves (indoors) - our very essence - what we're here for. What I do is me - it's more than just something objective - it's at the very heart of me - it is me.

What does the just person do? - they 'justice' - what does a Christian do - what is our essence - surely it is to 'Christ'. There's an interesting thing to reflect on and pray with - what does it mean for me to 'Christ'? The word Christian literally means 'little Christ'. Christ plays through us, through our hands and our feet, through our faces. We were created to reflect our Creator and everywhere we go, to take his likeness. To keep grace - that keeps all our goings graces.

The Summer Day

I recently came across this poem again which I love;

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
The one who has flung herself out of the grass,
The one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
Who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass,
How to kneel down in the grass,
How to be idle and blessed,
How to stroll through the fields,
Which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver

It's a challenge - we only have the one life; wild and precious - what will I do with it?

Books Books Books

I said I'd come back and let you know what I am reading just now.

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They are all worth a look and although from very different Christian traditions - are remarkably in tune with one another. I am about to start "Foundations of Christian Faith; Introduction to the Idea of Christianity" by Karl Rahner. I'm looking forward to this as I've just finished reading one of his more devotional books, "Encounters with Silence" which is interesting as, although quite profound (he is a philosopher and theologian), is very much rooted in the everyday and our experience of God within this context. Now that I've read a bit about Rahner through the SPCK introduction, this seems to be very much his concern, and the Ignatian influence in his work is very strong.

His work also appears to be notoriously difficult to read, but I like a challenge, so I'll keep you posted as to how I get on!

Bells and Buchanan Street

Had an interesting experience - I was walking down Buchanan Street towards Central Station at lunchtime and the Tron church bell was ringing. It really struck me as quite unusual - you don't really hear church bells that often, particularly in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day and it rang for quite a while. I thought my reaction was interesting. I became aware of the church, and the sound caused me to look up - up to the bell tower and beyond that, up to the sky. And it made me think - I was conscious of this sound breaking into the day and into the consciousness of hundreds of shoppers and business people as they walked through Glasgow. When the bell stopped everything returned to normal - the noise returned and the momentary sense of being aware of something different and unusual, passed.

It really stayed with me - there was something about it. To take a moment to look up and recognise a reality outside of yourself and the everyday. To become aware of a church and all that that might signify of God, of something transcendent. I know that seems a lot to get from just a bell ringing but it reminded me that the church can create something different, change the usual atmosphere and cause people to look outside of themselves and become aware of the sky, of some higher reality. Maybe it was just a tiny bit prophetic.

"The Flying Monkey Loves the Cinemarrr"

The great thing about Sky+ is that you can pause the telly for a few minutes and then fast forward the adverts, because lets face it, most of them are absolutely rubbish. However, recently I've found myself surfing the channels for a particular advert which I love, it's a bit surreal, clever and makes me laugh like a wean.

YouTube - Orange Wedensdays: Vicki and The Witch and Flying Monkey

Enjoy!

So Many Books - So Little Time

Had a number of books that I had lined up for these holidays - a couple I needed to finish and 4 new ones. So far I've completed one of my "finish off" books and couple of my new ones.

What I found quite interesting was that I was reading books from quite different Christian traditions but in fact they were dealing with pretty much the same territory. It's the "more than" gospel. Christian belief and practice are more than "getting saved - going to heaven" - it's about Christ's life, death and resurrection "for us" but also his ongoing work "in us". It's about what we believe and how we behave. It's about being better "for" our communities and our world, rather than better "than". It's about the "done" and the "continuing". Christ continues to form us. We're not loved because we are Christians - we are loved because we exist, because we have been created. It's not personal salvation, it's never been personal salvation, it's about salvation for the entire universe, the whole of creation being brought back into harmony with it's Creator. And we have a part to play in that. It's a way of life, me living more and more in harmony with God, which goes on forever. We are returning to what we were originally created to be, we are returning because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

And to live there we have to trust that what God says about us is true - we are the beloved of God. We are "first fruits".

It reminds me of a couple of Annie Dillard quotes

"All day long I feel created. I can see the blown dust on the skin on the back of my hand, the tiny trapezoids of chipped clay, moistened and breathed alive."

and

"We have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful?"

Maybe we're asking the wrong question - not "How am I saved?" but "Why am I saved?"

Gym or not to Gym?

I had to decide whether to renew my gym membership recently, which I really could not justify as I'd hardly gone at all the previous year, in spite of being in pretty intensive fitness training so I could trek along the Great Wall of China!! Then when I came back from China, I was determined to keep my fitness up - so much for that notion.

Anyway had been chatting to a friend and he was extolling the virtues of the Wii Fit - so I decided that there was more chance of me using that than using the gym membership (and it was cheaper) so took the plunge and now once I get through my programme of yoga and muscle stuff I love to play on the step and the hoola-hoop and snowboarding and ski jumping. But my favourite thing of all time is the jogging.

The best dog to follow is the one just as you're coming off the first bridge - I love to run after this dog cos then you get to run along the beach, waving at all the Miis, with the tide sweeping in and out and when I see my daughter's Mii it gives me an incentive to go faster and overtake her!! Wii Island - where the sun always shines, people are friendly and the scenery is extremely cool.