Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Resistance to being free…?
This morning I listened to a Podcast from the excellent site On Being. If you have 50 minutes to enjoy some very stimulating Midrash on the Exodus story with a Jewish woman scholar and author click here. (Hint: I listened while I did the ironing!!) The psychological, spiritual and current political dimensions of this story were opened up for me in a way that makes me want to find out a whole lot more about Jewish Midrash!
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Flowering the Cross and Feasting
At our church (Ponsonby Baptist) we have a lovely Easter Sunday ritual of Flowering the Cross: adding flowers and signs of new life to the cross at the front of the church. We also have a "feast" - celebrating the joy and community sharing of resurrection day. These photos give a feel for the joyful, interactive celebration this morning!
Friday, April 18, 2014
A Good Friday Walk
I went for a leisurely meditative kind of walk this morning, glad for a sunny day after cyclone Ita's rampage yesterday. I soon came upon trees in Long Bay regional park that had been battered by the storm. Five of them had been stripped, scarred or broken off in the wind.
As I wandered round the roped off area and took some photos an elderly local man joined me. He surmised that the rangers would cut down the whole group of trees. "Well" he said, "it's a process... life, growth, aging, decay, death and re-cycling. All the elements will be returned to the earth. Nothing wasted." I said that was an apt Good Friday/Easter theme: life, death and new life for us too. "My wife believed that," he said rather wistfully as he wandered off.
Another symbol greeted me as I walked back down the drive at home:
New life growing out of a drain surrounded by concrete. Nothing wasted!
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Death is...
I was listening to an interview between Tami Simon and Ariana Huffington (of Huffington Post) this morning when this line really struck me. Ariana said:
"I think of death as dropping off my rental car and flying."
What a wonderful image - especially as we enter into Good Friday and the Easter events.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Noah - the Movie
I had mixed reactions to watching the movie Noah last weekend.
First of all, sitting through the pre-show programme of other movie trailers was a horrifying experience. They all seemed to be about terrifying and violent "end of the world" scenarios. I don't know if they were chosen to "match" the Noah movie, but whether they were or not I was sickened to think that this is the onslaught of images general movie goers are subjected to.
Then the movie itself: as a story in its own right it was gripping, well acted and engrossing. For anyone who didn't know (or care) about its accuracy to the Biblical narrative it would probably score as an action packed movie with some good moral themes. It certainly raised issues that are very contemporary - like the way we ravage the planet, the violence and selfishness of humanity, that "the axis of evil" is within all of us (as the movie Noah himself realized) and that love and mercy win out in the end. Watching it with Easter approaching it also shows very clearly a death and resurrection motif.
But I was disappointed that the movie was, as one review said, "loosely connected to the Biblical account". Yes, very loosely in places. One major aspect of the movie plot revolved around Noah's three sons and whether or not they had wives… and when children were born (on the ark) what might become of them. I won't give too much detail if you haven't seen the movie yet! But none of that was consistent with the Biblical narrative.
Key to the movie plot were the "watchers" which were an attempt to give life to the mysterious Nephilim of the Genesis account. To me these were overdrawn and almost ridiculous.
Noah's concept of God and what God was asking of him was interesting to say the least. But I have to agree that we really have no idea what was going through Noah's mind so maybe…
And the way the movie maker coped with keeping all those animals in the ark was a stroke of convenient and creative genius!
Having said all this you may think I would not recommend the movie! But in fact I do. I was engrossed... saddened and challenged by its parallels in our own day... and sent back to Genesis 6-9 once again to check out where it connected and where it diverged from the Biblical account.
And in case you conclude that I am a Biblical literalist - I'm not. I don't necessarily think the Genesis account is historically factual and "really happened". As a perceptive child once said: "A myth is a true story that never happened." But since it is a sacred story in the Jewish scriptures I would have preferred that the movie stayed closer to that version of the "true story".
If you want another take on this movie click here for a review on the Spirituality and Practice site which I found helpful to read prior to seeing the movie. That review also gives a lot more about the writer, producer and actors.
First of all, sitting through the pre-show programme of other movie trailers was a horrifying experience. They all seemed to be about terrifying and violent "end of the world" scenarios. I don't know if they were chosen to "match" the Noah movie, but whether they were or not I was sickened to think that this is the onslaught of images general movie goers are subjected to.
Then the movie itself: as a story in its own right it was gripping, well acted and engrossing. For anyone who didn't know (or care) about its accuracy to the Biblical narrative it would probably score as an action packed movie with some good moral themes. It certainly raised issues that are very contemporary - like the way we ravage the planet, the violence and selfishness of humanity, that "the axis of evil" is within all of us (as the movie Noah himself realized) and that love and mercy win out in the end. Watching it with Easter approaching it also shows very clearly a death and resurrection motif.
But I was disappointed that the movie was, as one review said, "loosely connected to the Biblical account". Yes, very loosely in places. One major aspect of the movie plot revolved around Noah's three sons and whether or not they had wives… and when children were born (on the ark) what might become of them. I won't give too much detail if you haven't seen the movie yet! But none of that was consistent with the Biblical narrative.
Key to the movie plot were the "watchers" which were an attempt to give life to the mysterious Nephilim of the Genesis account. To me these were overdrawn and almost ridiculous.
Noah's concept of God and what God was asking of him was interesting to say the least. But I have to agree that we really have no idea what was going through Noah's mind so maybe…
And the way the movie maker coped with keeping all those animals in the ark was a stroke of convenient and creative genius!
Having said all this you may think I would not recommend the movie! But in fact I do. I was engrossed... saddened and challenged by its parallels in our own day... and sent back to Genesis 6-9 once again to check out where it connected and where it diverged from the Biblical account.
And in case you conclude that I am a Biblical literalist - I'm not. I don't necessarily think the Genesis account is historically factual and "really happened". As a perceptive child once said: "A myth is a true story that never happened." But since it is a sacred story in the Jewish scriptures I would have preferred that the movie stayed closer to that version of the "true story".
If you want another take on this movie click here for a review on the Spirituality and Practice site which I found helpful to read prior to seeing the movie. That review also gives a lot more about the writer, producer and actors.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The Divine Dance
I'm currently preparing a workshop on prayer and spirituality for a group of people preparing for ordination. Instead of talking about "spiritual disciplines" and a "rule of life" which sound rather rigid (good though the intention of those phrases is) I'm encouraging them to think about relationship with God as a divine dance - and to find the rhythm and steps of the dance that is uniquely theirs.
As I walked the beach this morning I reflected on the fact that the walk itself is part of the daily rhythm of my dance and it often leads me to what I call "my seat" where I sit and gaze at the beauty with gratitude and awe.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
When morning gilds the skies...
Sunrise sky with Moon setting!
These were taken out of my bedroom window as I pulled the curtains back this morning!
It brought to mind the first lines of an old hymn I haven't thought of for years:
When morning gilds the skies
my heart awakening cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
It's wonderful how songs seem to stay in the memory bank and pop out at significant times.
If you are interested in the whole hymn here are four verses. (One site gives 12 verses!!) The original was composed in German in 1744 and later translated into English:
When
morning gilds the skies
my
heart awakening cries:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike
at work and prayer,
to
Jesus I repair:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
The
night becomes as day
when
from the heart we say:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
The
powers of darkness fear
when
this sweet chant they hear:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
Let
all the earth around
ring
joyous with the sound:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
In
heaven's eternal bliss
the loveliest
strain is this:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
Be
this, while life is mine,
my
canticle divine:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
Be
this th' eternal song
through
all the ages long:
May
Jesus Christ be praised!
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Lusi and me!
I ventured out for an exhilarating walk this morning in the full easterly blast of Cyclone Lusi. The view of the beach was very different from the usual photos of calm blue water and sunny shores. (See my Post two days ago!) But it was just as beautiful in a different way. The few other people out and about greeted me and each other with extra wide smiles and and a kind of comradely agreement that this was well worth the effort. And it certainly was!
On the way home I was thinking about wind and its many moods - a gentle whisper, an exhilarating wake up call or a devastating death-dealing tornado. The Spirit is like the wind - a gentle whisper, an exhilarating wake up call or a tornado that blows away all that I thought was "the way things were". In "Spirit terms" all of those winds are purposeful.
Blow then, wind of God.
Whisper to me, wake me up,
and if necessary
blow my flimsy world
away.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Morning walk
Cloud covered sky
Rising sun pierces through
With golden shafts of
Reassurance.
(I have to admit this isn't my own photo. But it is as close I can get to what I saw on my walk this morning. I've been resisting getting a smart phone but I just might get one for the convenience of having a camera at hand for these "burning bush moments"!)
Sunday, March 9, 2014
What a way to start the day!
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