'The Heavens Declare...' by Susan Sanderson

Following an invitation put out on the Association of Christian Writers blog for others to contribute guest items with science and faith themes, Susan Sanderson contributed this and some other poems which will appear on this blog in due course. Thank you Susan. It is good to have the topic of light pollution introduce this short poem and be reminded of the issue. We were recently in Northumberland witnessing the exquisitely dark skies in the vicinity of Kielder Observatory in Northumberland and it was startling to see the difference that intense dark makes compared to our skies just north of Cambridge UK and Ely. What an array of beauty there is when our vision is less challenged!

Star trails over Kielder from the Observatory website

The heavens declare…

The street lights’ glow in the city

makes it hard to see the stars.

It’s a pity city dwellers

Rarely see Jupiter and Mars.

Where land is flat vast skies appear

with clouds that drift, changing shape.

From industrial fields stars

(on moonless nights) make people gape.

Where mountains cause the rain to fall

rainbows renew the promise

God made to Noah in his ark –

significance most people miss.

When storm clouds hide both sun and moon

and rain comes down like stair-rods,

it’s hard to remember times

of brightness and grey are both God’s.

(c) Susan Sanderson  June 2017

Find The Association of Christian Writers blog here. 

Susan blogs at http://suestrifles.wordpress.com and http://sueswordsandpictures.wordpress.com

Find Kielder Observatory here

Tree Messiah by Garry Kilworth

Special for Lent,
 I am delighted to have permission from writer Garry Kilworth to publish his unusual poem of reflection on Good Friday

When trees can talk

they will tell how brutal hands

cut down their tall prophet

from a sentient slope -

they will speak of pagan tools

that scissored away the gold-green arms

from the holy son of the forest

and how the bark-robed trunk was

split and crossed -

they will tell patient judges

how their lord was dragged

through jeering crowds, and crucified
against the body of a man.

You can find a profile of Garry at the end of his poem ‘Body Language’ posted earlier on this blog Click Here

This poem is also included in the Lent, Holy Week and Easter collection on this blog which can be accessed HERE

Changed! By Sue Chew

Holy Week. I am posting a meditation by Sue Chew who I met on an Author’s Week in the Iona Community. It imagines the reaction of a money changer to Jesus cleansing the Temple. I asked Sue for permission to post it as it stands in sharp contrast to my own ‘A Temple Trader’s Rant’ and ‘A Temple Trader’s Glee’, giving a glimpse of the possible range of attitudes that Jesus’ actions that day might have provoked: a mirror of attitudes today, perhaps. Thank you Sue.

I was only doing my job,

As my grandfather and father had done before me.

They taught me all I know.

Money-changers  and sellers of livestock for sacrifice,

that was our trade.

That was what the worshippers needed and indeed expected of us.

Well, we may not have given them a fair exchange for their money,

but  everyone did it, not just our family.

Getting a bit extra where  we could, they would never know.

Then it happened.

I was just sitting there when he came into the courtyard .

He headed straight for  my table.

The next thing I knew

my table was overturned.

Coins rolling across the floor into every nook and cranny

Cages were flung open, doves and pigeons flying free,

It was chaos

And he said

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer

but you have made it a den of thieves‘

He looked straight at me.

I was only doing my job, or was I ?

For the first time in my life I felt maybe I wasn't doing what was expected of me.

But he was.

He was doing his Father's will

In his Father's house.

That encounter changed my life in more ways than one ,

Not only my life, but the lives of many.

In fact he changed the world .

           

© Sue Chew.  March  2017

Sue is a self supporting minister in the parishes  of St Andrew Haughton le Skerne Darlington and St Andrew Sadberge in the diocese of Durham. Sue says 

'I  enjoy writing creatively  to bring a different dimension especially to the more familiar Bible passages and have an interest in drawing on the multi-sensory together with symbolic actions where appropriate to engage in worship.'

'A Temple Trader’s Rant' can be found HERE and ‘A Temple Trader’s Glee’ can be found HERE    

Creation Sunday: A Celebration of the Universe, the Solar System and Genesis 1

In February 2017 we had an enjoyable All-Age service with a simple illustration of the vastness of the Solar system - and some further brief thought about the scale of the Universe. Then, we explored the opportunity we have as Christians to celebrate both of those and the wisdom of Genesis 1 together.

A very simplified model of the Sun (a cheap lightweight football, part painted over with acrylic paint) was placed on the pulpit. Then very basic models of the larger planets were handed to each of the children brave enough to volunteer ‘to show the rest of the congregation something of special interest’.

The planets were made up, to illustrate their size compared to that of the football sun, and made from

·      Painted marble-size cotton balls for Earth and Venus

·      Painted ping-pong ball size cotton balls for Jupiter and Saturn (with a cardboard ring system glued on to the latter)

·      and garden seeds Sellotaped on to small pieces of card labelled (1)Mercury, (2)Mars and (3)Pluto (The seed representing the planets’ sizes although should be even smaller i.e. a grain of sand) .

The children with Earth, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn each walked round the church to show the congregation their comparative sizes, whilst Mercury, Mars and Pluto were given to another child to hand to three members of the congregation to pass around among themselves.

The children returned from their walks and it was then explained where they would have to go to represent the circuit of their planet on the scale of ‘our’ football/sun.

Mercury – 42ft – to the back of our pews (to my delight when I asked ‘Who’s holding Mercury?’ (one of the seeds on a card) it had conveniently reached the back row and was being held by a new visitor to the church))

Venus – 76 ft – to the back of the church. Venus was duly carried there.

Then an explanation only that

·      Earth -106 ft – would be 30 feet further in the churchyard

·      Mars - 163 ft – would be ‘by the war memorial’

·      Jupiter – 552 ft – would be 3 football pitches away

·      Saturn -1012 ft – down by the river (at which point, the personable young girl holding Saturn protested ‘I’m not going there!’ to the amusement and delight of the congregation)

·      Pluto – 4200ft – up to the bridge over our main arterial road

It was then explained that this vast system is only one of billions of billions of similar systems throughout the whole Universe. At this point, I referred to the song ‘The Bible Starts with Parable’, and used the words as the basis for the rest of the short talk. The first verse celebrates the wisdom of the Genesis Stories: then the second half of the three verses celebrates the miracle of the creation of the whole Universe as God’s work. (Click Here to view the song)

This needed a bit of preparatory work, which it was emphasized was all very approximate. But from remarks afterwards, it was felt to be thought-provoking, much enjoyed by both children and adults and gave at least some people, a fresh perspective. Just how great is your God?

Advent (by Margaret Bowdler)

Advent: © Margaret Bowdler

You came two thousand years ago

the promised one of God,

and though from haunts ethereal,

the earthly path you trod.

You came to show the human race

the nature of the Infinite,

revealing through your life

His majesty and might.

Prophet tongues unveiled our God,

though words cannot contain

the vibrant all embracing love

secured by your pain.

How many years are left until

you come again as Lord,

returning King triumphant,

as promised in your Word?

Coming to end the present order,

destroying Satan’s power.

Suffering ending, death defeating,

justice with the final hour.

Original Introduction: With Gaudete Sunday approaching it felt particularly appropriate to reflect on the themes of Advent. I remembered that Margaret Bowdler, who has made guest appearances on my blog before, had written a poem to mark the season. So, with my thanks to Margaret, here it is.

If you like Margaret’s poem, you will find other poems by her by clicking through to Time

and/or  Sea Space

Also, if this poem should give you a sense of wanting to step aside from the pre-Christmas frenzy that assails many of us in the west, then 10 minutes spent with The Jesus Prayer reflecting on the several themes within the prayer itself, the multiplicity of languages in which the prayer is rendered, the  universal significance of Christ and the Cross for the Cosmos reflected in the images, might feel seasonally appropriate.

Sea Space - Margaret Bowdler

Today, in January 2012, another contribution from Margaret Bowdler. You will find some brief biographical notes about Margaret in the blog entry 'Time' posted on November 12th 2011. You can access this from the link following the poem.

Sea Space: Margaret Bowdler

Tiny, tiny, luminous beneath the ocean,

unseen until technology told their story.

Iridescent, dancing to a different tune

humans never hear.

Aliens invade their space.

With every advance of greed,

the coral and the weed

on which they live

disappears.

Beyond our sphere of knowledge,

light years beyond our comprehension,

clashes of energy beyond our imagination

keep appointments with the tides.

Oblivious, invisible life

under the sea,

blissful in uncertainty

lives on.

Protect the planet,

lest the movement of fish

disturbs the stars in space.

© Margaret Bowdler

Margaret has also written 'Time' on this blog which this lets you click straight through to.

Time - Margaret Bowdler

Today, for the first time on this blog, we have a guest entry from Margaret Bowdler. Margaret and I met on a CARM (Christian Arts Retreat Movement) Poetry, painting and prayer retreat in the summer. As you will see from the brief profile below, Margaret has written a considerable amount of poetry and I will include further contributions from her from time to time. Information about CARM retreats can be found at www.carmretreats.org/

Margaret Bowdler has been writing poetry since her teens. Retirement and the family leaving home has allowed her to be much more productive in recent years. Margaret has had poems published in magazines and two anthologies. She has also published two collections of her work. In collaboration with a musician, Margaret has written the words to anthems published by Kevin Mayhew Publishing. Margaret lives in Leamington Spa with husband John.

Time

The universal clock keeps ticking,

Clockwork planets circle the sun.

Ancient rocks with wrinkled faces,

Tell of turbulent times long gone.

Fading footprints of the past lie buried,

Deep in earth’s dark layers.

Rhythmic seasons on the drum of life

Roll round for the strolling players.

“Time like an ever rolling stream

bears all its sons away”

So sing the strained old soldiers’ voices,

On a cold remembering November day.

Cleric reads from the big black book,

“There’s a time to be born and a time to die.”

Time stands still,

Time can fly.

© Margaret Bowdler

If you enjoyed this poem by Margaret, you may also enjoy Sea Space which she has written too.