Music for All Hallowstide

 

Durufle's Requiem

For all the saints

Faure - In Paradisum

Reflections for half term

 

...On 31st October the Church remembers Martin Luther. A few years ago, I carved this pumpkin to celebrate that remembering. 

And this All Hallowstide, saints of all kinds will be remembered too... those featured in church windows, and people who have lived with us, and loved us...

Saints who are symbols of hope

Saints who have known us as closely as it is possible to do so

Saints who remind us of the message of the angels, 'do not be afraid'

Saints who show us there is no Resurrection without death

As we remember them, why not reflect, too, on these questions...

- who has been a saint to you, in your life?

- what might you be able to do at the moment to be, in some way, a saint to others? 

[Photos show pumpkins, carved with - Martin Luther, Noah's ark, Jesus, A smiling angel face, and a Sacred Heart]

Today the Church remembers St Luke the Evangelist...

 

Known as a doctor and icon painter, Luke is both the patron saint of artists and physicians.

Two things that go together really quite well... the ability for art to relax, invigorate, inspire and bring peace is amazing. 

I've shared several icons before, so here's a different piece of art. One my son painted as a present quite a few years ago now:

Maybe you'd like to sit with it for a while today. If so, what does it 'speak' to you?

Today the Church remembers St Ignatius...

St Ignatius of Antioch. Also known as Ignatius Theophorus - 'God bearer', because of his devotion to God; praying and striving that all that he did would be in God's name, and to the glory of God.

'God bearer' because, in some way, God was visible in him to those around him.

It makes me wonder, today... where have you glimpsed God in others, in the past?

...Where might you see God today? or tomorrow?

  

Today the Church remembers St Teresa of Avila...

 Some words of St Teresa, that you might like to use for prayer and reflection today:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours. 



Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

Today the Church remembers Edward the Confessor...

  

One of the main characters in the Bayeux Tapestry.

...How about exploring some other wonderful objects made of fabric today?

Here's a good starting place - V&A museum - Opus Anglicanum

Today the Church remembers Paulinus...

 

Paulinus was the first Bishop of York, and was the first person to begin building a cathedral in York. 

There's no trace of that first structure now, but the building that eventually succeeded it is amazing.

Why not have an explore? - Explore York Minster  

With church buildings having been closed over the last few months - and most are not yet back to being open anywhere near as much as they were at the start of the year - it's been a real time, and opportunity, amongst all the sadness at seeing them locked, to reflect on the buildings, and other places, that are significant to me, and important in some way to my faith. 

There are many, but here are a few...

One is All Saints' Church, Cambridge - a place where I have spent many hours in prayer as an ordinand, where my son was baptised, and where I was one of the 'churchwardens' while at Westcott House. 

Another, St Chad's, Hopwas, is where I first realised that my calling was one to ordination - as it happens, at my own baptism. It's where I found God, through the people that I met there. It's also the church I got married in. All of those together are the reason that my white stole has St Chad's cross on it.

One more place, is The Peak District. Of all the incredible beauty of creation, the Peak District especially helps me to feel close to God - a liminal, 'thin', space where heaven and earth seem to get that little bit closer.

While I reflect on those, and other places that have shaped me and my understanding of God and of my faith, I wonder, too...      ...what places would you add to your list?

Today the Church remembers William Tyndale...

Famous for his work on translating the Bible, Tyndale's legacy lives on not least through the work of 'Tyndale House' in Cambridge.

Here's one offering from them, which you might find interesting if you'd like to look up the meanings and frequency of different words in an book of the Bible - www.stepbible.org

For a free tool, it's incredibly detailed and useful!

Weekend puzzle time

Slightly late this week, but better late than never!

How about this, this week? Shikaku puzzles

(lots of other puzzles available there, too, if you'd prefer!)


Happy puzzling!

Music for the weekend

For various reasons, there'll be a brief gap over the weekend with no new posts.

Some music to accompany the lack of new posts:

Sacred Silence

Today the Church celebrates St Michael and all angels (Michaelmas)...

A reading, a prayer, an acclamation and a couple of hymns, as we celebrate Michaelmas today:



John 1.47-end

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ ⁴⁹Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ ⁵⁰Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ ⁵¹And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you,^* you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

Blessing and honour and thanksgiving and praise

more than we can utter, more than we can conceive,

be to you, most holy and glorious Trinity,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

from all angels, and all people, all creatures

for ever and ever. Amen.

Acclamation

The Lord commands his angels

to keep you in all your ways.

Give thanks to the Lord, all his angels, mighty in power,

who fulfil his command and heed the voice of his word.

Give thanks to the Lord, all his hosts,

his servants that do his will.

Give thanks to the Lord, all his works,

in every place where he rules,

my soul, give thanks to the Lord.

or he commands his angels,

to keep you in all your ways.

♫  Angel voices ever singing

Ye holy angels bright

[Liturgical material from The Church of England]

Monday 28th September

A new experience for us, a couple of weeks ago!

With the APCMs all completed, and the first 'round' of PCC meetings begun, we're wondering 'how can we work together to move forwards at the moment?'

Whether you're in control at the front, or perhaps nervously being carried along by the momentum (or thoroughly enjoying being able to sit back a little and just enjoy the journey, like our daughter!), that photo makes me wonder...
...how are you working with others at the moment?
...are you working together to speed along to new places, or tending to work against each other and slowing each other up? 
...do those answers change if the 'other' you're thinking about is God?



[Photo shows a tandem]

Sunday 27th September

Weekend puzzle time!

Word puzzles this weekend... can you change one word into another by changing one letter at a time, forming a new word each time as you go?

Word ladder puzzles

Saturday 26th September

As I'm officiating at a wedding and a funeral today, how about some musical suggestions that are often found at one, or both, of them?


Abide with me

Jesu, joy of man's desiring

Love divine

Nimrod - Elgar

The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended

Today the Church remembers Lancelot Andrewes...

A 16th/17th century bishop and scholar. One of the translators of the King James Bible, and masterful at preaching.

One of his prayers, for today:


Be, Lord, within me to strengthen me,
without me to preserve,
over me to shelter,
beneath me to support,
before me to direct,
behind me to bring back,
round about me to fortify.
Amen.

Thursday 24th September

A couple of weeks ago my daughter came home from school with a cough. We arranged for a covid test, and went into self-isolation until we received the result.

And with along with us, this blog seemed to enter self-isolation too.

And I'm still not entirely sure why... which is perhaps why my plans to restart the blog over the last week or so haven't quite made it to an actual post until now.
(I'll keep reflecting on it, and hopefully work out the answer soon!)

This blog... life more generally... seemed to freeze, in many ways.
Which has made me reflect on the times in my life when my faith, and relationship with God, has done similar.
About a dozen years ago I went to a service in a different place to usual (as it happens, it was the first time I ever worshipped at Westcott House), and I surprised myself by finding myself saying, as I walked home, 'I remember why I'm a Christian.' 
My relationship with God had frozen, slowly but definitely, in many ways. And that service thawed things suddenly, and completely.

It's an experience, and a feeling, that has stayed with me ever since. It showed me, powerfully, the importance of trying to keep faith 'warm'. And that is some of the prayer that I have put into the hats I've been making recently, to keep people warm more literally:

[Photos are of four crocheted woollen hats - two completed, two in the process of being made.]


...Which makes me wonder, today...

...How do you keep your faith 'warm'?
...Do you have different 'hats' to do this at different times of the year?
...What 'hat' might you like to make and/or 'put on' to warm your faith at the moment?

Friday 11th September

An exciting surprise first thing this morning!

It makes me wonder, today...

...what does that image make you wonder?




[Photo shows a hot air balloon]

Thursday 10th September

Freshly picked today, while I walked Tallis... unplanned, just too wonderful to pass up on.

They make me wonder...
...what unexpected delights have you found recently, in your journeying with God?



[Photo shows some freshly picked blackberries]

Today the Church remembers the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary...

A Collect, as the Church remembers the birth of Mary, today:

Almighty and everlasting God,

who stooped to raise fallen humanity

through the child-bearing of blessed Mary:

grant that we, who have seen your glory

revealed in our human nature

and your love made perfect in our weakness,

may daily be renewed in your image

and conformed to the pattern of your Son

Jesus Christ our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. 

Amen.

♫  Mary's Magnificat

Monday 7th September

A prayer you might like to say today (the alternative collect for this week...)

Almighty God,
you search us and know us:
may we rely on you in weakness,
now and in all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.




♫  A Clare Benediction