CALLING ALL FAITHS TO PRAYER FOR THE CLIMATE

 

A CARD FOR CHRISTMAS - WARMONGERING ROUND BETHLEHEM

 

This is a 'CLIMERICK at Christmas' card which draws together the horrors of the Israeli actions in the Holy Land and the existential threat of Climate change. The CLIMERICK reads

Bethlehem’s besieged with woes

because of its Zionist foes.

And climate could freeze

its last olive trees.

Round the manger, angst just grows and grows.

(The card is this year a concept design - but if still appropriate, and let’s hope it’s not, and there is sufficient interest, it may be made available next year)

Find out more about CLIMERICK cards at our companion site

 https://eco-verses.blogspot.com

In The Deep and Dark Recesses of Space (A Little Canticle)

The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness could not put it out…

Acrylic by Jenny McLellan.

Earlier this year, we (Pam, my wife and I) visited a long-standing friend of ours who is fortunate enough to live on the Island of Iona, one of our very favourite places. Jenny was among the first people we got to know on the island.

Whilst we were with Jenny, I was very struck by a picture hanging in her lounge that she had painted. I loved its exuberance and asked Jenny’s permission to post it on my blog, to sit alongside one of my writings.

Since then, I have looked, from time to time, among the many things I have written over the years, but, until today, I had not found a piece that felt quite right to go with the painting. Then, looking back to the earliest posts on this blog, I found this, entitled In The Deep and Dark Recesses of Space. I had not in those early days always tried to find an image to accompany my poems or reflections but this now leapt out at me as an appropriate partnering, for in the fifth stanza, the sort of immeasurable momentum the picture conveys to me could conceivably reverberate the turmoil we know to exist in distant and still unknown cosmic regions,  

So here, the picture, and what I style as a Little Canticle, sit side by side and I hope Jenny feels similarly about the coupling I have made. 

In the deep and dark recesses of space, God moves.

In the whirling orderliness of galaxies, God moves.

In the precise and sensitive balances which hold planetary and galactic systems together, God moves.

In the continuously gigantic forces which fashion and refashion stars, God moves.

In conditions of turmoil in the firmament which confound our understanding, God moves. 

In the preservation of the cosmic vastness, God moves.

In the gift of light across the universe and to a darkened world, God moves.

Yet amidst these cosmic realities he is mindful of humanity: he gave his Son to suffer our woes and his Spirit to comfort us.

How can we comprehend the substance of one so great? Who could destroy the universe with a word?

Whose great love has not only given all that we can see and hear on earth and in the depths of space, but far, far more.

Is it little wonder angels worship him? Or that saints give everlasting praise?

Yet this is a God who hears us if we call upon him: He will bid us, "Come".

Not into the great turmoil of incomprehension; but into the tiny stillness of expectant silence.

Open our hearts and our minds, O God; to see your hand in the universe and hear your voice in the quietness of contemplation.

Another meditation on the greatness of God at work in the Universe can be found at Galaxies Tell of Your Might

Other poems, meditations and songs with a SCIENCE & FAITH theme can be accessed HERE

Turn your Church Christmas Tree into a NATIVITY STORY

With just 53 days to go to Christmas Day, this is a final repeat (in 2025) of an invitation to turn a church or chapel Christmas Tree into a vibrant narrative of the Nativity.

Here’s what to do.

First, invite all local craftspeople to make angels which will feature on your tree. These will hang just below a star topped tree - for about one third of the tree’s height.

Cover the centre-third with some of those lovely Palestinian Olive-wood tree hangings. I hope you are beginning to get the picture.

On the bottom third, place hangings of Christmas ‘CLIMERICKS’. These are an idea you will find on my companion blogspot, Eco-verses. You will find lots of these at  http://eco-verses.blogspot.com/

Put any you find particularly meaningful in a Christmas border -several can be found on the web, so they look something like this 

This bottom third of the tree represents our responsibility for the beautiful planet given to us by the `Creator God, Father of the child whose birth we celebrate with the NATIVITY TREE.

TO recap

FROM THE TOP - where, in all probability there is already an angel, add, to just-above-eye-level, your community's LOCAL CRAFTED ANGEL THRONG 

FROM EYE LEVEL to about 1metre off the ground, put Palestinian Olive wood tree hangings, thus vividly recalling the very land where Christ was born 

BOTTOM QUARTER OF TREE - hang CLIMERICKS speaking of our responsibility  for Climate Justice and Stewardship.

In the diagram, there is a further option

AROUND THE TREE - CLIMCUBES (See the same Eco-verses site) to be given away at maybe an Epiphany service - symbolic of our sending Christ’s message of stewardship, and love for our planet, where he lived, further into our communities.

So the prettified church Christmas Tree (not the tree in your home - those are often part of family history)  becomes a NATIVITY TREE - a  multi-faceted symbol of HOPE and OUTREACH: a glorious transformation.

Please pass this idea on far and wide if you think it has merit 

The Work Box

 

 

In this box lies an invitation to be creative.

Pieces of, as yet, blank cloth, 

silky yarns of many colours,

Scissors, needles.

 

My mind begins to imagine intertwined threads 

to fashion an embroidery that might last for years,

or be tossed aside as an embarrassing memento.

But for now, will focus me on whatever may develop,

as my tentative needle steers.

 

Will it be a poem with a profound insight

drawn from a favourite anthology?

Or maybe, keep it simple, 

like a sampler a,b,c.

 

Could it become a significant building

that has imposed its grandeur on my heart?

Or maybe a depiction of our home,

wherein the essence of our lives

will be what I endeavour to impart.

 

Perhaps it will become a threaded seascape

turbulent or balmy calm;

possibly a boat riding tranquil at its anchor

or in the grip of a monumental storm?

 

Ah! Might I be daring enough to attempt, 

within the fourteen-structure grid

a glimpse of the mighty cosmos?

A woven hint of nebula?

Or a guess at the appearance of a black hole?

So many possible scenarios in God’s mighty universe,

of which my stitched fabrication would be

a minuscule representation 

of an awesome cosmic whole.

 

October 2025: CCW exercise

This poem came about as the result of a Cambridge Christian Writers’ meeting. At each meeting a writing challenge is set, sandwiched by two Zoom sessions. The challenge was to write a short piece about a 'Toolkit for life’ taking one of three objects as the focal point. The three were a Work Box, A Tool box or a Laundry Basket. For me, this felt a marvellous moment to revisit an earlier part of my life when I felt inspired to do embroideries whilst watching TV (and for several more hours each week). The way in which a space-themed embroidery could take shape from the tentative first stitches in the middle of the 14 count material was, I found a delight. So I enjoyed the 35minute exercise and the subsequent editing/ polishing to shape ‘The Work Box’ as an expression of the wonder of human life in the unimaginable depth of the Universe.

It was interesting that other members (all female) who too ’The Work Box' as their theme brought back much more practical/ grounded pieces than mine!  Pieces that evoked memories of patching and mending and the people in the author’s life who they associated with a Work Box.

I am grateful to Yvonne who set the challenge: it evoked a wide response and we all learned a little more about our fellow group members.

For a Few Glorious Moments (Golden Plover at Chare End)

 

Golden Plover:

Image credit E-Bird at Cornell

Murmuration edited from Pixabay free images

 (probably starling not Golden Plover)

For a few glorious moments,

a small swathe of sky

over the tidal flats

is filled with

a sweeping, swooping

murmuration of spangled Golden Plover.

 

White, black, 

brown, gold

dazzling, dull;

bright, shadowed,

changing on each instant,

as the small cloud

shifts from one spectacular shape to another.

 

With no apparent leader,

but each feathered body able 

to avoid collision

with their fast-moving neighbours,

possibly by positioning themselves

relatively to seven of their co-fliers.

 

It is an exuberant, small miracle of creation.

 

October 2025

This poem is one from ‘My Lindisfarne Collection’ which can be found HERE

 

CHARE END, LINDISFARNE

 

Lindisfarne guidepoles

A narrow passage once greeted pilgrims

who had risked being caught by a tide, 

to find peace and healing

on this thin and holy isle.

Now a car park name,

where thousands begin a brief walk

to castle first,

then possibly to priory;

for it is the militaristic

symbol of might 

that attracts, above the holy,

reflecting the combative capitalism

of today.

Yet the poles still stand,

to guide those

who would tread

a similar path

to Aidan, Cuthbert,

and their monks.

Maybe in those poles

lies the true hope 

for a world Criss-crossed

by maniacal motorways.

October 2025

This poem is one from ‘My Lindisfarne Collection’ which can be found HERE

Come Celebrate The Harvest of Energy.(from clean air technologies). Can be sung to the tune of ‘We Plough The Fields and Scatter.

Note for readers: I have used this post to explore a new blogger feature - ‘beta features’. The claim is that the words coloured blue will help in engaging reading experience. Frankly, I’m not sure! It feels to me that the interruption of blue among the prevailing black could deter as many prospective readers as encouraging any. So, please regard this posting as an experiment, so I can test the effect.

Once again on holiday on Lindisfarne (warm sun at the start and the wildness of Storm Amy last night!) and inspiration pays a visit...

Harvesting clean energy

We arrived last weekend and listened to Sunday Morning Worship from Lichfield Cathedral, before going to the Island’s Parish church for an imaginative and worshipful harvest festival with a decidedly ecumenical flavour (Praise the Lord!).

 

Two comments in the Sunday Worship service from Lichfield Cathedral, although both slightly paraphrased, particularly caught my attention,

 

 ‘What better time to remember God’s generosity, when the harvest is reaped, when God's bounty from earth and sky and sea yields up its fruits. His gifts. His handiwork.’

 

Then

 

‘ Imagine a world where moral progress advanced as rapidly as quantum computing! ‘

 

By one of those, not necessarily logical(!), mental leaps that occur occasionally, I found myself wondering what celebrating harvest in a quantum-computing-aware world might look like. Here’s the outcome. Whilst writing it, the concept of clean-technology-energy- harvesting went hand in hand with an awareness of how much easier it is/ will be to share energy generation more equitably, when sources do not necessarily have to be tied in to massive grid systems.

Come Celebrate The Harvest of Energy.

Tune: We Plough the Fields and Scatter.

 

Come celebrate the harvest

of energy from wind

produced by lofty turbines

both elegant and kind

to land or sea beneath them

as they embrace fresh air

give thanks for God’s great gifting

of power to wisely share.

 

Refrain

All the good around us

is given by God’s hand, 

providing generous harvests

from farms of sea and land.

 

We thank you for the photons

that burst from sun’s fierce glow,

which can then be converted

so energy can flow

from banks of solar panels

to sub-stations that feed

heat sources, light and power

to serve a worldwide need.

Refrain

 

Give thanks that channelled water

can cleanly generate

vast quantities of power

from tides or river’s spate.

These sources are a Godsend,

when they are planned with care

and like all green-power options

are best when they are shared

                                                                        Refrain

 

So thank God for resources

that help us generate

clean power for the planet

to now improve its state:

please help us use it wisely

in just and generous ways.

And for these mighty blessings,

let’s render thanks and praise.

Refrain

Because of its writing location, this hymn is incorporated in ‘My Lindisfarne Collection’ which can be found HERE

Island Return: Lindisfarne

WE are back on the beautiful Island of Lindisfarne in Northumbia, UK. Here, at times when the island is cut off from the mainland is a deep peacefulness which could very reasonably be described as ‘balm for the soul’. We have been coming to Lindisfarne since 2013 when we visited in November and gained personal experience of why Lindisfarne is also known as The Isle of Winds! But that did not deter us. This  ‘thin space’, inhabited by saints and evincing a beauty which can be breathtaking, has called us back again, and again, and we are always delighted to make it safely across the causeway and be welcomed by the deep-throated song of the seals.  This poem emerged within a day of arriving.

Seals on the northern tip of a sandbank

 at low tide on a previous visit to the island.

 

ISLAND RETURN

With an hour of safe-crossing still to go,

we coast across the causeway

in our newly acquired, zero emissions car.

 

We are heading for our oft-visited

Lindisfarne retreat.

 

To our delight, the seals

are once again waiting

to slither off the sandbags

as the wavelets, inexorably wash over them.

 

Is it too fanciful

to imagine,

that the last heads

to bob above the ripples,

might be deniers

of the inevitability

of rising water?

 

September 2025

This post is part of  ‘My Lindisfarne Collection’, the rest of which which can be found HERE

Cottage on the Cliff

Earlier in the year, we celebrated Pam’s birthday in River View, Iken Cliff above the River Alde.

 I was smitten! So we returned to celebrate my birthday.

                                                                            Arrival!

 

Moonshadows from

 the bedroom window at Iken Cliff

I had yearned to return,

to the cottage on the cliff

that overlooks The Alde.

 

Throughout our journey

(taken in a newly-acquired, used EV!),

I had fretted.

Maybe the retreat would not be

up to my high expectations.

 

We arrived in intermittent rain.

 

Leaving the car and rounding a corner;

kissing the far banks, a glorious rainbow.

 

The tide was full:

Joy in abundance.

 

Make Your Church Christmas Tree tell The Bethlehem Story as A NATIVITY TREE

End of the Summer holidays for many and the shops and garden centres are ramping up their Christmas displays, so here’s a further encouragement to churches to think about one of their seasonal focal points.

Throughout 2023, I was encouraging churches to decorate their Christmas Trees in such a way that they became part of the Christmas story; thus changing them from a near-secular emblem at the front (usually) of the church into a rich symbol of the story from when the angel host hovered over Bethlehem and invited the edge-of-society Shepherds to be the first people to witness the coming of the Saviour of the World, the Messiah.

However, as 2023/24 passed, and our companion site (a less faith-based site than this), has developed the ideas of CLIMERICKS and CLIMCUBES, (see http://eco-verses.blogspot.com/), these two potent symbols of Climate change, Climate Justice and servanthood, offer a further opportunity to turn a Christmas Tree into an even more graphic symbol.

To make this shift complete, the ecological symbols also need the help of some of those lovely Palestinian Olive-wood tree hangings. I hope you are beginning to get the picture.

That picture is, overall, almost breathtaking in its simplicity and explicit messages. Just Look!

FROM THE TOP - where, in all probability there is already an angel, add, to just-above-eye-level, your community's LOCAL ANGEL THRONG as follows:

As there is still time, ask local craftspeople to make angels to hang on the church tree, in their own medium. You will then have a beautifully diverse fellowship of angels for the tree AND an opportunity to invite the crafters in for their own pre-Christmas celebration and dedication of their work hanging in the church, which at its best is the beating heart of any community.

FROM EYE LEVEL to about 1metre off the ground, put Palestinian Olive wood tree hangings, thus vividly recalling the very land where Christ was born 

BOTTOM QUARTER OF TREE - hang CLIMERICKS speaking of our responsibility  for Climate Justice and Stewardship. You will find lots of these little verses at  http://eco-verses.blogspot.com/

AROUND THE TREE - CLIMCUBES (See the same Eco-verses site) to be given away at maybe an Epiphany service - symbolic of our sending Christ’s message of stewardship, and love for our planet, where he lived, further into our communities.

So the prettified church Christmas Tree (not the tree in your home - those are often part of family history)  becomes a NATIVITY TREE - a  multi-faceted symbol of HOPE and OUTREACH: a glorious transformation.

Please pass this idea on far and wide if you think it has merit

A Bible Framework for a Pilgrimage

Note for readers: I have used this post to explore a new blogger feature - ‘beta features’. The claim is that the words coloured blue will help in engaging reading experience. Frankly, I’m not sure! It feels to me that the interruption of blue among the prevailing black could deter as many prospective readers as encouraging any. So, please regard this posting as an experiment, so I can test the effect.

PIxabay free image - scallop shell

emblem of pilgrimage..

Our parish group from the East side of Cambridge starts a parish retreat to Lindisfarne tomorrow. We (my ordained wife, Pam and I) were asked by our Team Rector to produce a worship and liturgy booklet for the four day weekend.

I looked extensively around the internet for a framework but although there were several sites offering ‘Bible passages for a pilgrimage’ (or similar), I couldn’t find anything helpful to build on, so we set out to produce something that might be helpful to others too.

Bible Readings reflecting the pattern of our Pilgrimage

·      We Leave Home not quite knowing what to expect as did Abraham Hebrews 11. 8 – 10 (Friday Morning Prayer)

·      We will travel Together as the Israelites did through the wilderness: we know little bits about each other and will learn more as we journey – Exodus 18. 7 – 11 (Friday Evening Prayer)

·      We are travelling to a Holy Place -Lindisfarne  is among many Holy places known as ‘Thin places’ and remind our selves of this through the story of the Transfiguration Matthew 17. 1-8 (Saturday Morning prayer)

·      We will be celebrating The saints  of Lindisfarne and in that celebration we join with Christians across time and space  with the help of Revelation 4. 9 – 11 (Saturday Evening Prayer)

·      Returning home our journey towards our day-to-day experiences/ normal life Psalm 23 (Monday Morning Prayer)

For Personal Prayer:

·      Throughout we will have a Common experience of worshiping together – as the Jews did and especially as they travelled to Jerusalem with a Psalm of ascent Psalm 121

·      There will be a Personal impact – hopefully opening us to unexpected encounters with God: The calling of Matthew Matthew 9. 9 -13 

       How  will it change us what will we want to talk about ? -  Mary :Luke 1 46 -55

 

* * * * *

We Leave Home: Hebrews 11. 8 - 10

 

⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

 

We travel together: Exodus 18. 7 - 11

 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. Having greeted each other, they went into the tent. ⁸ Moses then told his father-in-law of all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and of all the hardships that had beset them on their journey, and how the Lord had rescued them. ⁹ Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness that the Lord had shown Israel in rescuing them from the power of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ “Blessed be the Lord,” he said, “who has rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for he rescued the people from the power of the Egyptians when they treated them arrogantly.”

 

We are travelling to a Holy Place: Matthew 17. 1-8

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. ² There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. ³ Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

⁴ Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

⁵ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.Listen to him!”

⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.⁷ But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”⁸ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

 

We will be celebrating with the Saints:  Revelation 4. 9 - 11

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.”

 

We will have the experience of Worshipping together: Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

 

There will be a personal impact Matthew 9. 9 -13

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

We Return Home: Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

 

How Will It have changed us? Luke 1 46 -55

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.”

You may also like to look at an earlier post on this blog entitled ‘Embracing Silence: Prayer for contemplating or starting a retreat'