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A Skinny Fairtrade Latte in the Food Court of Life - Page 122

  • Old Words...

    I'm planning to use one of my all-time favourite hymns on Sunday, and reverting one of the lines to original form because the word it uses is, in my opinion, especially wonderful.  The word (which is replaced by 'in faith' in the newer versions of the hymn) is "darkling". Acording to the online dictionaries, it means simply "in the dark" but that's not all that helpful, and I don't think is the intent in the hymn.

    As part of our English Literature studies at school we 'did' a lot of Thomas Hardy, both prose and poetry.  Among his poetry was this, 'The Darkling Thrush'...

    I leant upon a coppice gate
          When Frost was spectre-grey,
    And Winter's dregs made desolate
          The weakening eye of day.
    The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
          Like strings of broken lyres,
    And all mankind that haunted nigh
          Had sought their household fires.
     
    The land's sharp features seemed to be
          The Century's corpse outleant,
    His crypt the cloudy canopy,
          The wind his death-lament.
    The ancient pulse of germ and birth
          Was shrunken hard and dry,
    And every spirit upon earth
          Seemed fervourless as I.
     
    At once a voice arose among
          The bleak twigs overhead
    In a full-hearted evensong
          Of joy illimited;
    An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
          In blast-beruffled plume,
    Had chosen thus to fling his soul
          Upon the growing gloom.
     
    So little cause for carolings
          Of such ecstatic sound
    Was written on terrestrial things
          Afar or nigh around,
    That I could think there trembled through
          His happy good-night air
    Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
          And I was unaware.

     

    I would have been about 14-15 when I first came across this poem, and the thrush who sang hopefully into the gloomy darkness.  So around the same age as when I encountered the hymn we'll be using on Sunday.  For me, 'darkling' in the hymn doesn't just mean 'in the dark' but rather, 'hopefully into the dark' or 'hopefully into the unknown'... it has a sense of courage and determination even when the context could all too easily become overwhelming.

  • Mysterious Ways!

    It is certainly the case that God works in mysterious ways, and no more so than in the past few days.

    On Sunday, we explored 'The Compassionate Life' - or social justice spirituality - and one way or another I've found myself 'putting my money where my mouth is" in a number of ways.

    As part of my office declutter, I culled the vast majority of my craft stuff, and a fair amount of stationery, something that felt right to do at this time.  Yesterday someone collected that huge stash of stuff and took away.  Already someone has said that their prayers were answered to receive a small proportion of that stuff.  Yes, that makes me feel good (it's nice to be able to do things like this) but it also made me have a little 'hmm' moment because of the timing.  Lord, you sometimes speak in spontaneous desires to get rid of stuff...

    This morning an email landed in my inbox, inviting me to sign something (currently embargoed) that is very public and overtly political... which, given Sunday's service, well, hmm...  Again, the timing... I set the service theme before I could have known how things would emerge over these months. 

    It's not that I think God neatly lined up all the timings, rather I think that God made me alert to things that otherwise I might have let slip past or shied away from, because it just so happened that the timings coincided.

    So, whether its the craft stuff, or the signature on a letter, or any of the other 'hmm' moments that may yet arise this week, somewhere in it all God is active.

    Oh, and yes, we're singing the song 'Lord you sometimes speak in....' this Sunday coming.

  • Happy Kitties - and Happy Catriona

    One thing the kitties definitely like about the tidy office is having their 'bunk beds' back in operation.

    This afternoon I was able to sit down and concentrate on the book project I'm involved with without having to balance my laptop on top of books and papers.

    I also managed to find someone who can re-home all the craft stuff, which means I now have a clear kitchen table too!

    All in all, then, it's been a very good weekend.

  • A Good Day's Work....

    Today has been devoted to one task, and one task only - decluttering my office.  Following the recent cull of around 500 books (some still waiting to go to the charity shop) today it was the window cill, the cupboards and the desk.  Eleven and a half hours later, seven black sacks full of rubbish, and two IKEA bags of stuff to the charity shop later, and it's almost there.  Still need to deep clean the carpet and clean the windows, and my kitchen table is buried under craft stuff waiting for a new home.  But overall a good day.  And the kitties are certainly happy now all their favourite sleeping surfaces are clear!

  • Summer Reading...

    Sometimes what you need is a little bit of feel-good stuff, and this is just that!

    I also have Michelle Obama's "Becoming" as an audio book, and am looking forward to listening on some up coming train rides.