Seeker

In the Northern hemisphere, today has the shortest number of hours of daylight. The further north you are, the less light you will see. I'm writing this in mid afternoon light, but today it is nearly sunset time. Where I am, the sky is heavy with rain clouds and it's raining, so there's even less light than usual. I'm longing to see evidence of the nights getting shorter and the days longer, a process that begins after today. After sunset today, it may be possible to see a 'Christmas Star', a bright light in the sky when the planets Jupiter and Saturn will appear close together, although in reality will still be 400 million miles away from each other. This is a very rare event. In the UK it may be possible for some people to see it by looking south-west from about an hour after sunset. But, given the current weather, I'm not expecting to see it. It is a dark time for the world in so many ways today. We are in the middle of a pandemic, which where I live is ...

There are only a few more days of Advent to go before the celebration of Christ's birth comes on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this last week of Advent feels very different this year. And when Christmas comes it will not feel the same as other years, due to restrictions to protect ourselves and others from transmission of the virus. Perhaps as an antidote to the anxiety many of us feel, I'm drawn more at this time to music that is soothing. Lullabies have greater appeal just now than some other musical genres. That is why I am revisiting, the beautiful video by Christine Sine, about 'Awaiting the Christ Child'.  Christine Sine is the founder and creator of Godspace - a site well worth exploring. In the video 'Awaiting the Christ Child' the music is Christ Child Lullaby played by Jeff Johnson. The theme of the visual meditation by Christine Sine is encouragement to await the coming of Christ with expectation and joyful anticipation. ...

This last day of Holy Week is Easter Eve or Holy Saturday. It is the day after Good Friday. On Good Friday Christians remember Jesus' crucifixion. Today, Holy Saturday, we remember that Jesus was dead and buried in a borrowed tomb in a garden. Tomorrow the great celebration of Easter begins but if we try to rush into that joy too quickly I think we miss something important. We miss entering into the desolation and grief of Jesus' mother Mary or of his close friends like Peter, John Mary Magdalene and others. We miss sharing with all who this Easter weekend are mourning the death of someone close, whether from Covid-19 or any other cause.  We miss getting in touch with our private fears, griefs and sorrows and finding a way to express them. The deepest joy is that joy that comes after tears. So, this year I have found the words of a new hymn helpful. It is designed to be sung to the well-known tune 'Abide with me'.  Ally Barrett has written this hymn fo...

Here is how John's Gospel account of the crucifixion of Jesus begins in John 19: 16 - 18: "So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.   There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them." One musical work I love to hear on Good Friday is the oratorio 'Crucifixion' by John Stainer. My favourite chorus within that is 'God so loved the world'. It is based on John 3: 16 - 17 (the King James Version): "For God so love the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,   that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.   For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through him might be saved." Here it is sung in 2019 by the choir of St Paul's Cathedral, London. Image Credit: Pixabay, CC License

Harmony is the word for Day 12 in the Advent Calendar I am following. And today is polling day in the UK General Election. The various election campaigns have been anything but harmonious. People in the UK are deeply divided on many political issues, not least Brexit. And whatever the final result of this General Election, it will not act like a magic wand to immediately heal divisions and create #harmony between people of widely differing situations and political ideologies. The word harmony makes me think of music. A melody, sung or played by an individual or group in unison, may be beautiful, but for me it is harmony in music that I love most. There is nothing like an orchestra or band with a variety of instruments playing different notes that all work together. Or a choir of different voices singing in harmony of 4 parts or more. That is, of course, if they are all playing or singing their separate parts in tune, on beat and in line with the composer's and conductor'...

Christmas can be really hard to get through, for those who are grieving or feel they have nothing to celebrate. Some churches put on a special quiet service before Christmas for those who simply cannot face the crowds or joyful singing at the usual Christmas and Carol Services. A quiet alternative service like 'Blue Christmas Service' can be just what some people most need at this time. Such services give permission not to be merry, say it it OK to grieve while others rejoice. We are still in the season of Christmas and during these 12 days from Christmas Day to Epiphany (January 6) the church calendar has a number of special days that often get forgotten. Today's commemoration certainly gives permission not to "laugh and be merry". Rather, it gives permission to weep, to protest, to rage in anger, to ask 'why do the innocent suffer'? Today, the 4th Day of Christmas is called 'Holy Innocents Day'. It commemorates t he story of a dreadful ...

On this 15th day of Advent the #AdventWord is #rejoice. This elephant seems to be rejoicing in the moment. That is why I chose it for today's word 'rejoice'. Today happens to be the 3rd Sunday of Advent, sometimes called 'rejoicing Sunday' or 'Gaudete' Sunday. Some churches indicate that this is a Sunday to rejoice by using rose coloured vestments or lighting a pink candle among the otherwise purple or blue Advent Candles. For those churches that follow the Revised Common Lectionary, at least one of the Bible readings used in church on this 3rd Sunday of Advent gives a reason to rejoice or has a call to be joyful. It provides a more upbeat tone in what can be a solemn season. How can Christians rejoice when there is so much wrong in the world? When so many people face seemingly hopeless situations that never seem to get better? Isn't that to put our heads in the sand, to use religion as an escape from real problems? What if you are fe...

For the 9th day of #AdventWord 2018, my response to today's word #cry  is a prayer from the Bible. "Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you. do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call." Psalm 102: 1 - 2 (NRSV) And here is another version of that same prayer, set to music by the French composer Jacques Berthier (1923 - 1994). It is a sung prayer from the Taizé community in France . In this short video by Maureen Ward the prayer is accompanied by some lovely peaceful images. If you do not feel the need to pray this for yourself, perhaps you could pray it for someone else who cries today and is in need. Image Credit: Pixabay, CCO License

One Advent theme is finding light in darkness, hope in despair. Today's word for reflection on this 4th day of Advent in the #AdventWord2018 online calendar is #night. In the Northern hemisphere, the Advent season falls at a dark time of year, with short days and long nights.  The long #night of winter d arkness affects us physiologically and emotionally. Darkness can also be a metaphor for hopelessness, for oppression, for feeling lost and seeing no way out whatever pit we find ourselves in. Light is essential for human life. No wonder we like to light candles in the darkness. No wonder we want to light up the #night. One reason to observe Advent, rather than rushing too quickly to decorate our homes and public spaces with Christmas lights, is that where there is darkness, we need to name it. We need to get real about whatever darkness we face within and around us. We need to acknowledge the mess we are in. We can best welcome light when through the #night we have been long...

Why am I remembering the 'March of the Thumbs' on St Cecilia's Day? Well, St Cecilia is known as the patron saint of musicians and I am thinking about the significance of music in my life. The 'March of the Thumbs' was a memorable step in my musical development. I can still remember the excitement of my first formal piano lesson when I was about 5 or 6 years old. In that lesson Miss C taught me how to play the first piece in the beginners' piano tutor book - not only how to play it but also how to play while reading the music from the stave. I already had a love for the piano because my mother played it well. The sense of accomplishment at mastering that first lesson and performing it later to family and neighbours set me on a pianistic journey of progress, setbacks, ups and downs. Like life really - sometimes developing gifts and other times neglecting them. The March of the Thumbs only needed the thumbs of each hand, used alternately to perform it. An...

This last day of Holy Week is Easter Eve or Holy Saturday. It is the day after Good Friday. On Good Friday Christians remember Jesus' crucifixion. Tomorrow the great celebration of Easter begins but if we try to rush into that joy too quickly I think we miss something important. We miss entering into the desolation and grief of Jesus' mother Mary or of his close friends like Peter, John Mary Magdalene and others. We miss sharing with all who this Easter weekend are mourning the death of someone close.  We miss getting in touch with our private griefs and sorrows and finding a way to express them. The deepest joy is that joy that comes after tears. Joy will come 'in the morning', but for today it can be helpful to find the space to pause, to stay in imagination with those who watched Jesus' burial and who grieved. This is how the writer of Matthew's Gospel describes Jesus' burial and the sealing of his tomb: When it was evening, the...

St Cecilia is known as the patron saint of musicians and it is her feast day today 22 November. This painting of St Cecilia and an angel by Orazio Gentileschi (1563 - 1639) and Giovanni Lanfranco (1582 - 1647) really appeals to me. The young woman is concentrating so carefully on playing her organ. The angel is holding the manuscript but Cecilia is not looking at it. Her expression is sad and she seems to be hearing an inner voice to which she is responding. St Cecilia is often portrayed accompanied by an angel. The reason for that lies in the mythical stories about her. She is supposed to have been one of the Christians martyred under the Romans, possibly in Sicily or Rome in the 2nd or 3rd Centuries A.D. The pious legends about her date from the 5th and 6th centuries. You can read one account here . Since she is known as the patron saint of musicians I think one way to celebrate her day is to listen to part of Handel's Ode to St Cecilia and look at some more visual im...

Yesterday there was yet another murderous atrocity, aimed perhaps at stirring up fear in Europe and likely to create division and yet more hatred and violence. This one was in the church of St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray in a suburb of Rouen in France. The elderly auxiliary priest Father Jacques Hamel was celebrating Mass when he was murdered. It was at the table where bread and wine is taken and blessed, the bread is broken and thanks and praise are given to God. This is done in every Christian church as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, in remembrance of Jesus, who gave his life as the all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. How should a Christian respond to such a horrific murder of a faithful priest when was in the very act of public witness to his faith in Christ crucified and risen? An obvious answer is 'with horror, with tears, with prayer for all involved or affected'. Prayer at such times is natural but hard. Then it can be that Christian traditi...

Today, Good Friday (or God's Friday) Christians reflect on the death of Jesus and its meaning. Here is how the Gospel of Luke describes the moment of Christ's death after hours of agonising suffering: "It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent." And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things." Luke 23: 44 - 49 On Good Friday Christians often reflect on the t...

What music would you like to hear just before you die? I'd probably choose something from Mozart or Bach. What could be better? The singing of angels? That is what St Chad of Mercia is said to have heard before his death. On 2 March 672 A.D. Chad, the Abbott and Bishop of Lichfield died. This image of a stained glass window in Worcester Cathedral shows St Chad in the oratory of his house in Lichfield. It illustrates the story of Chad's death as told by the Venerable Bede (673 - 735) in his  ' Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum'.  A ccording to Bede many of the church in Lichfield had died of a plague. Chad's habit was to pray and read in his oratory with 7 or 8 of the monks, but one day shortly before his death he had just one with him whose name was Owine and who later told the story of Chad's death. The following is taken from a translation from The Clerk of Oxford's post . "The bishop was alone reading or praying in the oratory of that pla...

Why are daffodils associated with St David's Day? Not being Welsh I had no idea until I looked it up. According to the Visit Wales website page on National Symbols of Wales the daffodil began to be associated with Wales as recently as the 19th century thanks to the British Prime Minister Lloyd George. It is an optimistic symbol for Wales, rather more attractive to wear on St David's Day than the leek. The custom of wearing leeks in the hat is said to have come from the time of a battle between the Welsh and the Saxons when St David wanted the Welsh to wear leeks so they could recognize other Welsh. St David is the Patron Saint of Wales. There are more legends told about him than there are certain facts. He certainly existed, was probably born in the Dyfed area of Wales, became a travelling priest  and later an Archbishop. He is said to have founded several monasteries including a major abbey at Mynyw where St David's Cathedral now stands. The fact of his existence as ...

Today the winter solstice happened. (Summer Solstice in Southern Hemisphere.) It was at 04. 49 Greenwich Mean Time, so I'm told. That was when the North Pole was tilted furthest from the sun, giving those of us who live in the northern hemisphere the longest night of darkness and the shortest day of light hours. I had to look this up as usually in the UK the shortest day is 21 December. I spent yesterday thinking it was the shortest day but it wasn't. It's today, as it often is here. The winter solstice varies between the 20th - 23rd December. A 20th December solstice is rare. The next one is due in 2080. The last 23 December solstice was 1903 and the next is due in 2303. I won't be around to see those! I looked for the winter solstice sunrise this morning. It was just after 08.00 but there was no sun to be seen for the clouds. I have to take the sunrise on trust. It is light now, but rather gloomy light. I'm one of those people who longs for the ...