Green Patches

Advent Blog of The Week - The Mercy Blog and Weeble's Wonderings

 

Advent Prayer

 

Lord, still us this today and in this Advent Season – keep us wide awake in these days of waiting. Take from us our anxieties and our preoccupations, our distractions and our despair. Let us be empty in this time before, awaiting your coming with empty hands, and open hearts…

 

Lord, prepare us for your coming. Fill us with the hope of your judgement, and a longing for your justice. Let our hope and our prayer be always for this broken creation of which we are part. Have mercy on all who suffer, human or animal. Help us to bring the good news of your coming, the comfort of hope, the joy of this new kind of waiting…

 

Amen

 - with thanks to Mike F of The Mercy Blog

One evening last week, I was  in  our contemplative prayer group at church, when, towards the end of the session, I was suddenly, as I've described it to myself 'hi-jacked' by a memory  of an item which I'd read in the paper earlier in the day: a particularly horrible example of  pure, gratuitous violence towards a poor, helpless animal, the which defies all belief and about which I simply can't bring myself to give any more details here.  There followed  a  fraught few minutes whilst I  tried alternately to a) push the distraction aside, or b) give  it to God, which last unfortunately and again without giving any details (shudders) seemed unavoidably to involve 're-living it.'  All clever theological explanations seemed pretty irrelevant  just then, and to be honest, pretty feeble, too. We're back to that evergreen topic of theodicy 'How could you, God?'

I've since re-commbobulated myself, so to speak...just, and can see, I think, that this struggle was likely the latest in a series of 'answers,' to a prayer I made leading on from what I brought out of retreat. Why I should be surprised, I don't know. I do think prayer should come with a health warning, though.  Do Not Be Surprised If You Get What You Ask For. 

So the petitions in the prayer "Have mercy on all who suffer, human or animal..." resonates with me as we begin Advent.

 

 

Over on A Weeble's Wonderings Avila reflects on the ever-present struggle with life-work balance and the need to know when and to press those 'recharge' buttons. I chose it for personal reasons; thanks be to God their situation is not my own although some of the issues mentioned do touch several loved ones close to home. It was the final paragraph that spoke to  me however. The 'Who Am I? What Am I?' question and my tendency to define myself solely in relation to the role (I perceive) other people see me in and to whether I shape up to that perception,  has been around now as long as I can remember. We Are Improving slowly....which is good...yet still very much a Work In Progress...

I started with the title 'Who am I? What am I?' - when we can no longer answer these about ourselves, rather than just in relation to other people or roles, then it is a sign we need to find respite, and to find ourselves again.

 - A Weeble's Wonderings - Who Am I? What Am I?

 

  

 

 

Blog of The Week - A Reader in Writing

 

So, with nearly a week between myself and Greenbelt, the GP 'Blog of The Week' goes to A Reader in Writing for her brave, honest, and for me personally, serendipitous reflections on some of the difficulties she enountered  in herself  there as a first-time visitor and camper. In spite of my upbeat blog post earlier in the week, I've been struggling to process my very mixed feelings on my GB this year; RIW, when I stumbled across your blog, I breathed  a huge sigh of relief - so much resonated with my own experience - and, from the other comments you received, with many other people too.

There were echos, too,  of this in church this morning. Our theme  was pilgrimage and faith journeys, as a large group of us had been away on our annual pilgrimage the week before GB.  We talked about  the hopes and fears involved in moving on to new stages of our journey: a new class, new school, uni, work, marriage, house moves, retirement... Then the need to acknowledge  our often mixed feelings about these transition times and the (natural) human reaction of either denying the situation or wanting to run away and hide.  Yet, with this, the need to hold to  the knowledge of God's presence with you on the journey.

Chatting after the service, I found myself able to be honest when asked how Greenbelt went and to to acknowledge that yes, for parts of the time it was a lonely experience for me; but also to balance this with some of the many positives without feeling that I was putting  a gloss on things and compromising my own integrity. Quite a step along the road for me. Again, many many thanks.

Maybe for this week only I should rename BOTW - The Golden Tent Peg!

 

 

Reprise

of Keep Right On...

"Who am I?"

"...Am I then really all that which

other men tell of?

Or am I only what I myself know of myself...

Who am I? They mock me,

These lonely questions of mine,

Whoever I am,

Thou knowest, O God, I am thine!"

      - Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Letters and Papers from Prison

A time to give and a time to receive

To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not mean that we have to talk with that person about our own suffering. Speaking about our own pain is seldom helpful for someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is someone who can listen to a person in pain without having to speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived through a painful depression, we can listen with great attentiveness and love to a depressed friend without mentioning our experience. Mostly it is better not to direct a suffering person's attention to ourselves. We have to trust that our own bandaged wounds will allow us to listen to others with our whole beings. That is healing...

It is important to know when we can give attention and when we need attention. Often we are inclined to give, give, and give without ever asking anything in return. We may think that this is a sign of generosity or even heroism. But it might be little else than a proud attitude that says: "I don't need help from others. I only want to give." When we keep giving without receiving we burn out quickly. Only when we pay careful attention to our own physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs can we be, and remain, joyful givers.

There is a time to give and a time to receive. We need equal time for both if we want to live healthy lives.

 

 - Henri Nouwen

With the last session of  my course  tomorrow,  and with it, the stocktaking, reflection and 'Where to nows?' the arrival of the same Henri Nouwen passage in my feedreader via two different writers  is pretty apt, don't you think?  It says much about the steep learning curve that we've all been on. Do read Mike F and  A Man Breathing's Andy Wilkes take on Nouwen's thoughts on the wounded healer.   

Challenges

Ah the joys - of the Worldwide Web!  Being aware that Holy Week is approaching, I found a couple of blog entries in my feedreader this morning that  challenged me.

First off, as one who loves to wade around in personality-type theory like Myers-Briggs MBTI and the Enneagram, infpBlog's reflections on making relationships in  'special is as special does.'  packed a punch. I'll not quote any of it here; just go read the piece in its entirety. 

Then to Maggi Dawn and 'Fast? Slow!'

"Spirituality that bears fruit is not a fast food business. You can try to make the Kingdom of Heaven more efficient if you want to; you can try and maximize effort and produce more fruit per hour of work. But in the end, like growing wheat, real spiritual growth has an optimum speed, and accelerating the growth and maximizing the harvest will be about as much good for the soul as fast food is for the body. Some things just take time..."

Read the rest here.  Nothing revolutionary, simply  that some of us need reminding more than others. I think  these reflections should be made compulsory reading for all New Christians, Old Christians and Plodding Along  The Road Inbetween Christians.

Procrastination rules...

Living in the Present Moment versus those pesky critters that contribute to the oh-so-familiar "attack of the oughteries." With thanks to Pithlessthoughts.

 

One Green Life

Ms GP and myself were at a family gathering a few weeks ago - to celebrate the life of an uncle, one of your original 'Green' activists long before such issues became fashionable. The ceremony took place in a woodland burial ground; probably a 'first' for many, if not most of us attending, yet for him, it couldn't have been more appropriate.  The (edited) tribute below was given  by my aunt.

A Tribute to ---- - his green life

Not fashion or culture or sloppy idealism. Not a hobby or a pursuit to pass the time, but a clear-sighted vision of the direction we should all be taking in order to save the planet.

----'s passionate adherence to the ecological approach to daily life, was over the past forty years, dedicated to keeping up with Green thinking and translating this not in a slavish, but in an innovative way, with imagination, integrity and ingeniousness, into reality.

---- urged us to listen, to pay attention and respond to evolving events and their environmental significance. To those as yet unaware of the need for action, his enthusiasm may have seemed excessive, even tinged with madness!

From his arrival in ------, he took part in demonstrations, attended conferences and gatherings and edited newsletters in support of spreading the green ideal. The first ecology group met at his home.

On behalf of us all, as we stand here in deep affection and respect to say a last goodbye, let us take up ----'s message and pass it on to use our personal time and ability with concern for how it will affect others in the world and indeed the future of mankind.

Not success or fame was his objective but having regard to the necessity of conserving a civilisation now at its pinnacle of development (having been touched, some would say, in it's origins, by the finger of God) but rather is not this to "dance to the muisc of time!" ----'s desperate and repeated injunction towards the end of his sufferings. Possibly this command will remain enigmatic. We hear you, ----, and with gratitude for your selfless life, will listen and ponder on these words and do our best to do as you have done, and "Dance to the Music of Time!" As the years go by, rest in peace in your woodland arbour. 

Gardening tips

Believe in the voice God has given you: It is the voice of an apprentice angel. Believe in the voices God has given other people.

John Bell, Iona Community, in Heaven Shall Not Wait

The faith of a cabbage plant

 

What is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like an Honesty seed which a ma…(pc alert!) person  took, planted on their windowsill before potting out in their garden. It grew  and became an ever so slightly bigger plant, and the slugs, snails and others of the Almighty’s tiny  creatures which wander wild and free perched in its branches and redesigned its leaves into a subtle, minimalist masterpiece.

You'll guess from the above that my ongoing attempts to cultivate Lunaria Annua  have hit yet another setback.    Though happily, the same doesn't apply to my potterings  on the faith front. These last few weeks have yielded quite a few points  for reflection, and I'm happily musing on seeds, wheat, honesty and integrity.

To return  to my green fingers -  or lack of them - I spotted some huge clumps of Honesty plants in the park this morning, so if the worst comes to the worst, I'll know where to replenish supplies. Just as well; The Franciscan sisters at Compton Durville are generous to a fault but I think when they invited guests to 'take advantage of [their] wild garden', wholesale harvesting of this beautiful plant wasn't quite what they had in mind!

Never mind, my plants may pick up and meanwhile the paper offers some handy hints.

Incidentally, I became terribly excited earlier after discovering that Lunaria is in the same plant group  - Brassicaeae as the humble mustard seed. My spiritual antennae began to go into overdrive. (Yes, I heard the Luke 13 parable  twice on Sunday and yes, I am trying to grow the tiny seed we were given then.Sad, I know!).  Said thrill was slightly dampened, I must admit, on learning  that they also  share the classification with over 3,000 other plants, including the ever so glamorous cabbage, cauliflower and turnip. 'The Kingdom of God is like a cabbage? I think not.

Though when I was  gardening  this evening, I spotted a bushy, yellow flower growing in amongst the 'birds 'n bees' assorted flower mix. It looks sort of familiar. I've checked it out and you'll never guess...it might just be....