Green Patches

Lent approacheth

 

 - Bruce Munro's 'Light Shower' at Salisbury Cathedral, January 2011

 

 When Classic FM begins to slip  Gregorio Allegri's Miserere mei Deus  into their playlist, you know that Lent can't be far behind.  So continuing the theme of my last post, here's another Lenten themed recycled Greenpatch: my account of a Grand Day Out a year ago to see artist Bruce Munro's Light Shower and Water Tower's installations at Salisbury Cathedral.

Recycled Greenpatches - Psalm 51

 

From February 2008 - Psalm 51.

Advent - Waiting and hoping

Given my grumblings yesterday, the arrival, not long afterwards, in my feedreader of this Advent sermon by Maggi Dawn was pretty apposite.  God is to be found in the darkness as well as in the light - and :

If we confidently depend upon the knowledge that God's gifts, unlike Santa's, are not delivered to deadlines, then we can live within the seasons knowing that the gifts they represent will come to us eventually - not necessarily on time, and probably when we least expect them.

 - for the rest of the reflection, go here. 

Thanks for the reminder. It speaks very much into where I've been and from time to time  continue to be on my own journey. 

The artwork above comes from my recent retreat at St Beunos, from a grey, grey period halfway through the week when I was struggling with this  sense of 'spiritual  discombobulation.' 

[p.s And for once, the Linkwithin widget's choice of post is entirely appropriate!]

Creation's Hymn

We've been singing this morning, Greenpatchdog and I.    Do feel free to hop over to my other blog to read all about it and to'The Ship,'   if you fancy adding your own 'earworm' to the mix. 

Darkness and thin places

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
        Whom shall I fear?
        The Lord is the strength of my life;
        Of whom shall I be afraid?
        When the wicked came against me
        To eat up my flesh,
        My enemies and foes,
        They stumbled and fell.  
    Though an army may encamp against me,         My heart shall not fear;

        Though war may rise against me,
        In this I will be confident.


        One thing I have desired of the Lord,
        That will I seek:
        That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
        All the days of my life,
        To behold the beauty of the Lord,
        And to inquire in His temple.
        For in the time of trouble
        He shall hide me in His pavilion;
        In the secret place of His tabernacle
        He shall hide me;
        He shall set me high upon a rock.


       And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
        Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
        I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
       Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
        Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
        When You said, "Seek My face,"
        My heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."
        Do not hide Your face from me;
        Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
        You have been my help;
        Do not leave me nor forsake me,
        O God of my salvation.
        When my father and my mother forsake me,
        Then the Lord will take care of me.


        Teach me Your way, O Lord,
        And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
        Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
        For false witnesses have risen against me,
        And such as breathe out violence.
        I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
        That I would see the goodness of the Lord
        In the land of the living.


        Wait on the Lord;
        Be of good courage,
        And He shall strengthen your heart;
        Wait, I say, on the Lord!                         - Psalm 27 (New King James Version)

Musing today on one of my favourite psalms, which also happened to be the one set to be read in yesterday's service.  We heard it again during the second of our church's Lent series on the use of psalms as 'pillars of prayer.'I've collected together just a few of the many different ways in which  Number 27 has been set to music - (psalms were intended to be sung):First off - Alitsen's arrangement, The Lord is My Light and My Salvation, sung here by Rhys Ritter.Then John Rutter's setting,  with its haunting clarinet solo, sung here by Achill Choral Society.More familiar to most may be the Taize version - The Lord is My Light.Rutter's arrangement in particular, puts me in mind of Dr Agnes Norfleet's description of these words as a 'psalm of thin places.'[Currrently experiencing turbulence with software. Font adjustment to follow!]

Ash Wednesday

The Heffalump Psalm

With Monday morning looming large, I was reflecting earlier on the new piece we've chosen for me to learn in my voice classes: Frances Allitsen's setting of Psalm 27 The Lord is my light The soloist here appears to have all the confidence and direction of a ship in full sail. I fear the Greenpatch version - and to be fair I've only been learning it for one week - sounds more like AA Milne's Piglet running away from an imaginary Heffalump ! It does worm its way into one's thinking, however. tum tum tum tum tuuum, tum tum tum tum tum tuuuuuummm tum... I can feel another 'earworm' coming on...