Seeker

Who are the "two women on the very edge of things"? They could be almost any two - most women in the world are on the edge, powerless or unnoticed. But my title is from Malcolm Guite's sonnet 'The Visitation' published in his collection 'Sounding the Seasons' . The two women in that sonnet are Mary the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist. 31 May is a day to celebrate the visit that the young pregnant Mary made to her much older and more pregnant cousin Elizabeth. You can read the story in Luke 1: 39-56 . I love the sculpture shown in my photograph taken in the courtyard of the Church of the Visitation at Ein Karem in Israel. Sometimes art conveys more than words can. This is not just an old story of long ago. The miraculous pregnancies of Mary and Elizabeth may be unique but so much of their experience is a universal story. It is repeated many times the world over when old and young women without power support and help ...

Explaining the elephant 6 people visited a zoo. They’d been told about elephants. The explanations confused them. They needed to experience an elephant. As they were blind, they used their hands to feel the elephant. “Elephant is like a wall” said the one stroking the elephant’s side. “No, elephant isn’t like a wall, elephant is like a rope”, said the one clutching the tail. “A rope? No, elephant is like a sheet” said the 3 rd, holding the ear. “Elephant is like a soft, thick hose” said the 4 th , grasping the trunk. “ No, elephant is like a tree” s aid the 5 th , his arms wrapped around a leg. “Elephant is definitely like a solid pipe,” said the 6 th , holding a tusk. What's an elephant story got to do with Trinity Sunday? Well, sometimes preachers try to explain the doctrine of the Trinity. After all this is the only special Sunday in the year when the focus is on a doctrine rather than an event. I'm relieved not to be preaching to...

Safer to major on the mystery than explain the incomprehensible? Or ditch the sermon and recite the Athanasian Creed as the Book of Common Prayer directs? Should anyone try to 'explain' God? What do you think? Previous posts on the Trinity: Trinity Sunday The Baptism of Christ