Showing posts with label historical landmarks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical landmarks. Show all posts
Monday, 26 April 2010
Saturday, 24 April 2010
High Jinks, Holy Days, Consecration, Celebration and Community
This past week (and more) has been a time of great preparation for Saint George’s Day (yesterday - Friday) and for tomorrow (Sunday). If you are a Church singer-person, a church-flower-arranger-person, a church-server/steward/organist/cleaner/administrator-person, or any other variety of person-in-the-pew-type-person, you may well have insight and understanding of this phenomenon of preparation for a Notable Church Event. The best ones see church folk exploring concepts of community – AND still speaking to each other - as they wield mops, dusters, polish and glass cleaner to ensure clean and sparkling surroundings, whilst administrator-persons type Drafts 1 – 10 of the Order of Service, negotiate the many minefields of ticket allocation, and arrange marquees, seating and coat hangers, and senior clergy meantime dream nightmares of Everything Being Other Than Ideal, and pass sleepless nights planning processions.
Yesterday the Scottish Episcopal Church was adding a new member to our College of Bishops, drawing clergy and others from not only our local diocese of Glasgow and Galloway, but from all over Scotland and – despite the best efforts of a certain volcano in Iceland – a few visitors managed to arrive from across the seas as well to join the gathering.
A Local was wielding his camera, and has produced a most creditable collection of photographs of the proceedings, which you can find here.
The High Jinks continued today as ChickPea weeded and re-arranged pots, and TH heroically wrestled with the lawnmower to achieve the first cut of the season (anyone able to recommend a small but reliable lawn mower ? – our current machine needs to be pensioned off to the Local Dump........).
Tomorrow evening we look forward to welcoming singers from around the diocese to a collective Choral Evensong for further Celebration to welcome Gregor as Bishop.
Do join us at 6.30pm for the service – you, too, will be most welcome.
Do join us at 6.30pm for the service – you, too, will be most welcome.
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Just a Moment........
What a moment that was for Mr Mutt yesterday. Pity it didn’t prevent the moment that happened later, when he tried to bite The Hand That Feeds Him. It was a very near miss – no blood flowed – but previous trust was shaken to the core, and all in all, a great disappointment overwhelmed us. We thought we were moving forward, but THAT moment raised the old spectres again.
Life is full of moments. And maybe, when we get to the end of it, we will look back and feel a whole lifetime is but A Moment. It only took a moment to sign up for the many who lost their lives in the world-and-subsequent-wars. And for those who Gave Most And Got Little Thanks. And but a Moment for a Life To Pass On.
This is Remembrance Day, and I am so sad that now so many of Those Who Survived have gone, NOW the media is screening so very very many programmes about the conflicts…old film footage……. insights and revelations of mishap and mayhem….…. So much that could have helped Those Who Have Now Gone to find a point of inner resolution, of personal forgiveness, of peace. So many must have been like my Dad, unable to speak of most of their experiences of The Conflict - perhaps fearful of recrimination or condemnation from the generation who followed who had so much in consequence, but understood so little – and who could understand even less when so much was contained, withheld, bottled up. And now it is too late to offer consolation, to offer Love and Understanding. But never too late to gain understanding...........
It was good to Share The Sacrament of Silence of those sacred minutes on Sunday. For A Sacrament Silence Is (or can be). Unnamed as such by The Church maybe, but Sacrament nonetheless. Good that the church now again accepts and embraces the mysticism and ‘magic’ of silence within liturgy. Our services had got very ‘busy’. In trying to be relevant to our daily lives, services not only reflected but became that very same busyness……. And forgot To Reflect. But now we are again given the sacraments of space and silence – and of Refection - and this is good.
ChickPea tried for those moments of silence again today – but as waiting for a jobseeking-related appointment kind of intervened, the moment passed. In her early schooldays she recalls that life would stop for those minutes – traffic would stop, radio would cease, a local bell - or a foghorn, or similar local loud noise – would signal start and finish of the Time for Silence. The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month……….
Many moments have passed. Many more will happen – are happening even now. Good Things, Bad Things. Good – even Best of – Times, and Worst of Times. Some happen Somewhere Else. Some happen to us. Some we share. Some we will never ever be aware of, even when they happened right next to us or around us. Some Moments we have caused to happen, and some we did not prevent, or make recompense for…………Some Good Moments we withheld.
“Just a Moment” ChickPea’s Mum was reported to say, as she passed on. No warning. No time to say more. A while ago now, and many moments have happened along the way since then. Each precious. So precious. Most unmarked, unnoticed. Yet special, and very precious – especially those very mundane or ‘normal’ moments that allow us to breathe, relax, rest, recouperate. Sacredness of the Present Moment.
Life is full of moments. And maybe, when we get to the end of it, we will look back and feel a whole lifetime is but A Moment. It only took a moment to sign up for the many who lost their lives in the world-and-subsequent-wars. And for those who Gave Most And Got Little Thanks. And but a Moment for a Life To Pass On.
This is Remembrance Day, and I am so sad that now so many of Those Who Survived have gone, NOW the media is screening so very very many programmes about the conflicts…old film footage……. insights and revelations of mishap and mayhem….…. So much that could have helped Those Who Have Now Gone to find a point of inner resolution, of personal forgiveness, of peace. So many must have been like my Dad, unable to speak of most of their experiences of The Conflict - perhaps fearful of recrimination or condemnation from the generation who followed who had so much in consequence, but understood so little – and who could understand even less when so much was contained, withheld, bottled up. And now it is too late to offer consolation, to offer Love and Understanding. But never too late to gain understanding...........
It was good to Share The Sacrament of Silence of those sacred minutes on Sunday. For A Sacrament Silence Is (or can be). Unnamed as such by The Church maybe, but Sacrament nonetheless. Good that the church now again accepts and embraces the mysticism and ‘magic’ of silence within liturgy. Our services had got very ‘busy’. In trying to be relevant to our daily lives, services not only reflected but became that very same busyness……. And forgot To Reflect. But now we are again given the sacraments of space and silence – and of Refection - and this is good.
ChickPea tried for those moments of silence again today – but as waiting for a jobseeking-related appointment kind of intervened, the moment passed. In her early schooldays she recalls that life would stop for those minutes – traffic would stop, radio would cease, a local bell - or a foghorn, or similar local loud noise – would signal start and finish of the Time for Silence. The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month……….
Many moments have passed. Many more will happen – are happening even now. Good Things, Bad Things. Good – even Best of – Times, and Worst of Times. Some happen Somewhere Else. Some happen to us. Some we share. Some we will never ever be aware of, even when they happened right next to us or around us. Some Moments we have caused to happen, and some we did not prevent, or make recompense for…………Some Good Moments we withheld.
“Just a Moment” ChickPea’s Mum was reported to say, as she passed on. No warning. No time to say more. A while ago now, and many moments have happened along the way since then. Each precious. So precious. Most unmarked, unnoticed. Yet special, and very precious – especially those very mundane or ‘normal’ moments that allow us to breathe, relax, rest, recouperate. Sacredness of the Present Moment.
Take a Moment. Share a Moment. Give a Moment. Even "Just" a Moment. For you.
Monday, 7 July 2008
The First Eggs.........
As you know from a recent blogpost, Eeny and Meeny took up residence on Saturday 5th July, fluffed up their feathers and now rule the roost. Eeny hunkered down and presented us with our first 2 eggs over yesterday and today. Small. Brown. Perfectly formed. Exquisite even. Miraculous gifts. One each for TH and ChickPea by the end of this afternoon.
You can imagine the dilemma of How To Eat Them !
‘Boiled’ was the final decision………..
Now ChickPea last boiled an egg about 20 years ago…… since then she got married, and gained half shares in an egg timer. She had always wanted an egg timer. One of those elegant glass creations of two conjoined sealed bulbs with fine sand enclosed therein. Designed to Ensure A Perfectly Boiled Egg. And here, at long last, was the opportunity to test it out. There was Discussion, Agreement and then Implementation. .....
As TH opened his egg, it rapidly became evident that it was Underdone. But as the shells were both open, a few moments in the microwave appeared appropriate to complete the cooking. TH manged this aspect of the Undertaking. Admirably. All Was Well.
ChickPea and TH sat down to eat…….. the spoons were poised…………
BANG !
ChickPea’s egg EGGSPLODED ! Myriad tiny specks of thoroughly cooked yolk absolutely covered her face, hair, polo shirt, the sofa, TH…….. it even reached the window and the ceiling ! (Mr Mutt responded valiantly when called upon to help out - so got his share of the feast too... )
Aye. A Most Memorable Egg – and an Eggstrordinary Eggsperience !
ChickPea and TH sat down to eat…….. the spoons were poised…………
BANG !
ChickPea’s egg EGGSPLODED ! Myriad tiny specks of thoroughly cooked yolk absolutely covered her face, hair, polo shirt, the sofa, TH…….. it even reached the window and the ceiling ! (Mr Mutt responded valiantly when called upon to help out - so got his share of the feast too... )
Aye. A Most Memorable Egg – and an Eggstrordinary Eggsperience !
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
'Scottish Episcopalian' ...... ?
So wot’s this then ? Is it dangerous ?
Sometimes – tho maybe not often if you live in UK.
I’d been Christened ‘Anglican’ as a babe in arms, went to Baptist Sunday School (‘cos it was just around the corner), graduated to essentially non-denominational ‘Crusaders’, enjoyed the pride that goes with carrying first a Brownie Pennant, then Girl Guide Colours at Church parades. Then in teenage years I spent most of my Sundays with schoolfriends at the local Free/Evangelical/Non-denominational/Non-conformist church, encountering an intense spiritual crossroads of memorable and life-changing significance which turned all the switches of my deep inner life to ’On’. My Christian Life seemed well mapped out - until a No-Nonsense Nudge From The Almighty resulted in a Mighty Move into my local English parish church. Hello, High Anglicanism. Wow – now That was a surprise ! Evangelical Folk Singer to Traditional Sacred Choral Church Music in 6 months. Mmmmn.
When I first came to this city, far-ish north of UK, I was living across the road from a big church. So I eventually called in one Sunday morning – and the eucharistic setting was ‘Merbecke’ – HEAVEN ON EARTH ! - HOME ! And I met folks who became closer than my far-flung relatives, and I got kinda stuck onto the superglue of the place………
And that’s how I became a Scottish Pisky…………..
Sometimes – tho maybe not often if you live in UK.
I’d been Christened ‘Anglican’ as a babe in arms, went to Baptist Sunday School (‘cos it was just around the corner), graduated to essentially non-denominational ‘Crusaders’, enjoyed the pride that goes with carrying first a Brownie Pennant, then Girl Guide Colours at Church parades. Then in teenage years I spent most of my Sundays with schoolfriends at the local Free/Evangelical/Non-denominational/Non-conformist church, encountering an intense spiritual crossroads of memorable and life-changing significance which turned all the switches of my deep inner life to ’On’. My Christian Life seemed well mapped out - until a No-Nonsense Nudge From The Almighty resulted in a Mighty Move into my local English parish church. Hello, High Anglicanism. Wow – now That was a surprise ! Evangelical Folk Singer to Traditional Sacred Choral Church Music in 6 months. Mmmmn.
When I first came to this city, far-ish north of UK, I was living across the road from a big church. So I eventually called in one Sunday morning – and the eucharistic setting was ‘Merbecke’ – HEAVEN ON EARTH ! - HOME ! And I met folks who became closer than my far-flung relatives, and I got kinda stuck onto the superglue of the place………
And that’s how I became a Scottish Pisky…………..
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