ASH WEDNESDAY (2026): FORGIVE US LORD WHEN WE BELIEVE.

What will I be doing this Lent? I wondered.

Gradually the idea formed...

Last month, in response to a challenge to write a song or hymn each month for a twelve month period, I wrote ‘Forgive Us Lord, When We Believe’ which will sound odd until seeing the second line. It does, itself  make a challenge every time we say The Lord’s Prayer: the challenge being ‘Do we really believe ‘Your Kingdom come on earth, as in heaven?’

The tune for the song is Tallis’ Canon with its lovely flowing melody. It then has a simple refrain which was developed by Lois Putt, a fellow song writer pursuing the same monthly challenge and generously producing scores and recordings of my songs

From this song which you will find below, came the idea that I will, through this Lent try to write a new verse each day that focuses on 'The ways I might hurt the world, the ways I might hurt my neighbours and the ways I might hurt myself, in the heart and mind of our Creator God. As far as possible, I will try to post these daily, so for those who are kind enough to follow this blog, they will offer a penitential sequence through this Lent which may be helpful.

So here, to start the sequence is ‘Forgive Us Lord’, with a score and a recording by Lois.

Forgive us Lord when we believe

Your Kingdom plans won’t be achieved,

Despite our oft repeated prayer

Of ‘Kingdom come’, both soon and here.

 

Refrain

Father, forgive, forgive;

Father, forgive,

Father, forgive, forgive.

Father; forgive ,

 

Forgive us Lord when we align

With actions greedy or malign

That offer us some selfish gain

Which we accept, and cause you pain

Refrain 

Forgive us Lord when we conspire

With those who through their power aspire

To rise regardless of the cost, 

And lose compassion for the lost

 

Refrain

 

Forgive us Lord when we neglect

To take the actions you’d expect,

And help us ever to be true;

When justice calls, to act like you.

Refrain

You can listen to Lois singing HERE

Prayer for Use when Encountering Artificial Intelligence (AI)

For many, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a mystery and an area to be avoided or treated with suspicion. AI is, however increasing its impact on our lives daily, or even hourly. Whoever operates a computer will be affected by AI whether that is transparent or opaque. AI is increasingly taking over search routines which have become essential to us for all manner of tasks including information gathering, shopping and entertainment. Here is a prayer to help navigate our way amidst what is uncharted territory for most of us.

AI generated (nb) database-centre image

from Pixabay free images

 

Dearest Lord 

You brought us into a world now learning to live with artificial intelligence (AI).

 

For many of us it is a struggle to understand the implications of these systems, so we ask for your help and guidance as to how we might engage with them.

 

Help us to be wise when we encounter any of the ways in which AI might impinge on our lives. If we seek information from AI, help us be alert to the need to fact-check any responses.

 

If looking for guidance, remind us, Lord, that AI is only an electronic system that trawls all the information to be found on the web and delivers it with no discrimination between what is good, neutral or evil. Help us remember AI has no moral compass.

 

If we should become aware of others seeking guidance from AI, give us courage to warn them of the risks and encourage them to seek Biblical and well-qualified human guidance.

 

And dear Lord, help us remember AI is designed to make profits for large corporations, so to treat all that is provided by way of information, images, guidance or distractions, with circumspection and wisdom, and to surround any encounters we might have with prayer.

 

Amen

Parents might like to add a further stanza - such as

Also dear Lord, help us to find reliable information that will build our understanding of how AI is developing, so that we can guide our children towards the AI possibilities that can be helpful to them, and away from those sites and trends that will harm them, particularly psychologically and mentally. Amen

Invitation on a Threshold (Poem for a Church Porch)

Public Domain picture from Pixabay

 Invitation on a Threshold

(Poem for a church porch)

 

You are standing on the threshold of a place

where many, through long ages,

have found peace.

 

Some have come, sad and sorrowful,

or in anguish,

and found comfort.

 

Some have come, simply needing

to draw apart from turmoil

in their own lives,

or from the dissonance of the world,

and felt relief.

 

Some have come to ponder momentous decisions

and have sensed wisdom well-up in them.

 

More have come for indefinable reasons

and left with a sense of calm.

 

To those who long for a few moments stillness,

they are on offer in the tranquility,

that many have sensed,

emanate from prayer-soaked walls

and lovingly-crafted beauty.

 

If you take the next step and pass through this door

you may  be able to share in that peace,

to which you are most welcome. Come!

 

It is the peace of Jesus,

which it is said,

is beyond all understanding.

With My Phone in My Hand.

This re-post about the responsible use of our mobiles was first 

posted in October 2021and rapidly became the most frequently 

viewed item on this blog. It is re-posted now to celebrate 

passing the 500,000 page-views marker with my gratitude to all 

of you who have helped to achieve this encouraging marker. 

Thank You!

Image credit Pixabay free images

Sing or read this, holding your mobile phone - and maybe pray! 

(If you wish to sing - suggested tune: 

Nettleton – American folk song/

'Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing').

With My Phone in My Hand.

In my hand I hold vast knowledge
of God’s awesome universe:
from it I can seek out beauty
or deep darkness, hate and worse.
Focus me, Lord, on the Godly,
help me seek out truth not lies:
give me strength to shun distractions
that cause harm if I'm unwise.

Give me prudence when I’m spending,

help me to resist excess

that results in landfill fodder,

or in debt that brings distress.

Help me never to be spiteful
even when my anger’s raw.

Let me not become beguiled by

evil threads that foment war. 

 

Help me keep in mind the workers

risking life that I might be

well-connected by my touch-screen

to vast networks globally.

Help me question whether justice

flourishes or is suppressed:

see if families of those workers

thrive and grow, or are oppressed.

 

If I’m prone to chase trendsetters

help me, please to recognise,

when I click their lifestyle platforms

they’ll be geared to monetize!

So to deeper sites, Lord, guide me:

sites which help me understand

that great mystery, that great wonder:

You love me - just as I am.

Always remember this last line.

You can listen to this song recorded by the Author by clicking : HERE

(c) Trevor Thorn October 2021.

The piano backing is a YouTube instrumental of ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing posted by Christian Hymns-Music: the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaKwRu3hIso

You can find a different angle on this same theme on this blog -which can be sung to “Streets of Laredo’. To access this, CLICK HERE “Lord Fill Me With Digital Wisdom'

 

THE TURN OF THE YEAR IS A TIME FOR REFLECTION

This poem/song arises from the 

Resound 12 song challenge.

The challenge was to write a song for December:I strongly felt it had to be equally relevantfor southern and northern hemispheres,so the actual passage of time seemed a good focus.
The concept of New Years’ Resolutions is widely accepted but we come to making thoseon the shoulders of the previous 12 months - and to see God’s hand in that time is an axis for looking forward to journeying further with Godin the coming year. Thus the short poem/song below
In working on this song and another earlier songfor the Resound challenge, I have had the help ofa musician called Lois who has scored and recordedthis and another song (In a Loveless World) whichwe have submitted as ‘Collaborations’ - one of the very helpful aspects of the monthly challenge. Lois hasundoubtedly turned my broad ideas for a tune into much more singable offerings - and I am grateful for that.
So here are the words, followed by a picture of the scorewhich can probably be manipulated into a printabledocument through your desktop. Shortly, I will editthis post to give a link to a more easily accessible score.
For some, the song will have echoes of the Ignatianprinciple of the Examen - but here, only in the simplestof ways.
If you pick up on this post, we wish you a happyand blessed New Year, in the name of Jesus, who is the inspiration for the song writers responding tothe monthly challenges.
The Turn of The Year
The turn of the year is a time for reflection,

to look back on all its joys and its woes,

to see how God’s hand has moved in our actions,

throughout the twelve months: to see how we’ve grown.

 

The turn of the year is a time to look forward,

to think of the hope that the future might hold,

to sense how God’s hand might move us to action,
and pray all we do, for God, will be bold.

And HERE you can obtain a  printable pdf of the score

AND HERE you can hear the song sung by Lois who arranged the music

Wishing all who visit this blog from time to time a very happy and blessed Christmas.

This carol, unusually, gives Joseph a ‘voice’ in the stable as he expresses his hopes for his newborn son. (Find a printable score below the words and hear the first verse and chorus from the video file beneath the score)

‘This manger’s well made’,

said Joseph to Mary,

‘Its joints are a joy

 to a carpenter’s eye’.

‘I hope that our son 

will be skilled with timber, 

so neighbours we serve

will be e’er satisfied.

‘Oh Joseph love,

 you are so wise and good.

yet our son will, perhaps,

work with far more than wood.’

‘That crook there is shaped 

with skill and perception;

‘tis made for a shepherd

who’ll both dare and save’.

‘I’ll show our son how 

sheep are protected,

so shepherds will ask him,

to shape them good staves.

Oh Joseph love etc

‘This yoke is a work

of marvellous honing.

It never will chafe:

the ox scarce need a goad.

Our son must learn ways

of both beast and ploughman, 

then contour his yokes

to ease burdensome loads’.

Oh Joseph love etc.

‘I‘ll teach him the strengths,

Of timber, dear Mary,

show him all the things

he must and must not do’.

‘Like ne’er make a cross

for fierce Roman soldiers,

Nor sell them our wood 

To hang slave, thief or Jew.’

‘Oh Joseph love,

 you are so wise and good.

Yes, our son when time comes

Will be smitten by wood.

Listen to the first verse and chorus 

 on YouTube at https://youtu.be/7qCqJzlP3N0

‘Stable Talk’ is part of ’The Cross and Cosmos’ Christmas collection which you can find HERE

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