Iona: At the Hermit's Cell

Watercolour by the author: 

the image of a complete beehive cell

or clochan

draws on similar well preserved

cells in Ireland and some small 

Scottish islands

From coracle to beehive cell,

once rudderless upon the tides

where wind drives the sea

inexorably before it:

running, ebbing, flowing,

thrubbing, drumming, beating

on the tensioned hides.

 

Holiness at the helm

then, Holiness at the door,

wherever that might be;

to demonstrate

humility and love

poured out, dispersed,

available to any

who trust, as they have trusted

in their Sovereign Lord above.

 

Sovereign over land,

Sovereign over sea,

Sovereign over tempest,

yet pinioned by nails,

driven to death,

for you, for me.

 

Then, Risen! Risen! Risen!

Let all the earth rejoice,

let praise and glory be

to Him who brought the hermit

safely from the sea.

Trevor Thorn

Job 38 v 4 and ff Reimagined for the 21st Century.

I have been generously asked by Dr Ruth Bancewicz, Church Engagement Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion to give a  link to my Reimagining of Job 38 from verse 4 onwards, on the background of my acrylic painting called “Starburst’. The thumbnail here is a jpeg, so as the text could not be easily lifted from the image,  I have followed the thumbnail with a plain words version below and you will find a ‘dropbox’ printable version HERE. 

I found it a delight to overlay the words on to on to my painting and a number of people have been kind in telling me they have found the re-imagining helpful. For me, both exercises try to convey the glory of God in His amazing universe, in the language of today, and building this on the magnificent passage of Job 38 felt compelling. 

Job 38 v4ff re-imagined for Today

on Acrylic ’Starburst’ painted by 

the author

This is not the only re-imagining I have enjoyed putting together. So if this resonates with you, then you might also enjoy Psalm 24 Reimagined for Today which sets out the reimagining in a format for a cantor to speak the verses other than the ‘chorus', which can be sung by a choir or congregation. The 'chorus' in the Psalm starts ‘Lift up Your Heads, you gates’ and in the reimagining becomes ‘Lift up your heads, you galaxies’ and I hope might speak not only to those who are familiar with the Psalms but to some who may never have encountered them - but can see, in this reimagining, a glimpse of the sheer wonder of Creation expressed poetically in English that might be used when looking up on a clear night at the hint of the immensity of Creation. You will also find a link on this page to a YouTube video of the re-imagined Psalm.

Trevor Thorn, 

posted on an unexpected ‘extra’ retreat day on the Island of Iona when another amazing demonstration of the glory of our planet is being manifested in a 'ferry-stopping' storm and we are in the warmth and comfort afforded by The Iona Community a dispersed Christian Community, working for Peace and Justice, which you also might like to check out.                   

Job 38. 4ff re-imagined for the 21^st Century.

 

Where were you when I gave birth to the universe; when my Wisdom called forth particles from the womb of the cosmic void and seeded them into the realm of existence?

 

Who marked off its dimensions and form and let matter prevail over anti-matter?

 

On what were its footings set or who provoked its mighty expansion in the blinking of an eye?

 

How deeply do you comprehend the gift of light or understand the mysteries of its nature?

 

Who of you knows from where the sounds that fill the cosmos emanated or how music distilled its harmonies from the roaring cadences of creation?

 

Who gave water its extraordinary properties, decreed its many forms and accorded rôles to each that it might adhere to the surfaces of gathering spheres, to nurture and give shape to barren terrains?

 

Can you make sense of the patterns of constellations as they would be seen from planets in the extreme reaches of the universe?

 

Can you leap between galaxies or re-fashion the orbits of stars or planets, or yet fully understand the fundamental forces of the cosmos?

 

Can you yet contemplate travelling to the beautiful Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Have you fully uncovered the laws of the universe or can you emulate God’s care for it?

 

Could you reduce turbulences that beset distant planets, weather the extreme storms on other worlds or alter the path of the arrow of time?

 

Have you even perfected knowledge of your own benign planet, understood the reason for its existence and how to encourage your own people to act as responsible stewards for it?

 

Can you fathom in your exquisitely fashioned brain the mind of your maker or conceive the depth of his love?

 

Will you ever understand enough to render praise and thanksgiving truly worthy of the Creator of heaven and the entire cosmos?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portfolio for Life. (When Fossil Fuels Have Been Comprehensively Shunned)

Image Pixabay edited

Portfolio for Life. (When Fossil Fuels Have Been Comprehensively Shunned)

When fossil fuels have been comprehensively shunned -

and they must be;

 

when the production and proliferation of armaments

are killed off -

as they need to be;

 

when the impossible pursuit of perpetual growth

Is accepted to be illusory -

for it clearly is;

 

and when greed is once more perceived to be 

corrosive and deadly;

 

then hope can blossom

and the love that lies at the heart of creation

burst into the Godly glory of global justice and peace.

 

Nested Within Eternity

Life Forces: CGI by the author

Nested Within Eternity

(Drawing on the prevailing scientific views of mid 2023)

 

Nested within eternity

lies creation.

Big bang? Big bounce? 

A single benign universe or multiverses?

Physicists and mathematicians, speculate,

and for a while, in one seat-of-learning or another

a fresh concept will gain traction,

prompting intellectuals to hunt for strings, 

for dimensions, for physical states:

for theories of the sub-atomic

that attempt to explain

our astounding presence, satisfactorily.

 

But the veils persist, sometimes parting

to reveal a new glimpse

of our existence:

minds race to accommodate the novel,

within a new theory of everything.

 

Amazingly-conceived telescopes

uncover new puzzles in hitherto

partially explored wavelengths

and intellects are brought to bear from

a multitude of disciplines

as the apparently, very first

tremblings of matter

emerge, with unexpected patterns

of gases, plasma and time.

 

And beyond it all is that vastness

we call eternity: 

God’s overarching realm

from which,

emanates

all that is seeable,

all that is hidden,

all that remains cosmic mystery,

spliced together with the sheer wonder of love

for everyone and everything that exists

on a small, insignificant planet

which is in danger of being destroyed

by us, its beloved but wilful inhabitants.

 

How can we be so sure of that realm

amidst such awesome mysteries?

Because the all-mighty God

visited us, showing us supreme love

by dying for this wayward race.

Our Earth is Beset by a Crisis

 

Earth and Space  (imagined): Pixabay free image

This poem was written as a song for the Resound 12 Song Challenge 2022/3. Musicians might like the challenge of writing music for it. If used as a poem, in the chorus use line 1, 3,4,6

Our Earth is Beset by a Crisis 

 

Our earth is beset by a crisis, 

driven by human excess,

through profligate use of resources 

by we who could manage with less.

God surely calls us to be stewards

of the planet where Jesus has lived,

and challenge the fossil fuel behemoths,

to save our Creator’s great gift.

 

chorus

help us be stewards Lord,

help us be stewards Lord,

of this your much-loved home.

help us be stewards Lord,

help us be stewards Lord,

working so justice may come.

 

The evidence for this disaster

spans continents islands and seas:

so Christians in every nation

need pray and protest to relieve

the damage that’s being inflicted

on this ravaged planet, our home,

and bring hope through visionary challenge,

as_we_plead ’Now with justice, Lord, come’

 

chorus

help us be stewards Lord,

help us be stewards Lord, 

of this your much-loved home.

help us be stewards Lord,

 help us be stewards Lord,

 working so justice may come.

 

Psalm 24 (Re-imagined) for the Second Space Age

NASA: Colliding Galaxies: arp 143

Psalm 24 For Today.

Verses can be spoken or chanted.

The three Responsories can sung by all to the tune Truro/ Jesus Shall Reign Wherere The Sun.

 

The whole cosmos is the Lord's and everything in it:

every particle of matter throughout the universe.

 

All human beings, the earth’s wild creatures and resources:

and unknown beings who may live on planets far beyond our reach.

(Responsory 1) 

Lift Up your heads, you galaxies, 

Bright Nova form a dazzling path,

That your great King of Glo-o-o-ory 

Through all your realms may nobly pass 

 

It was God commanded the deep realm of space, Come forth:

and it sprang into instant being.

 

He established light and dark; light to see the wonders of our generous planet:

darkness to invite us to see the vastness of creation.

(Responsory 2)

 Who is this great and glorious King?

The Lord, Creator of us all, 

It was His Word establish-ed 

Prime forces and base particles.

Who shall travel beyond, into the eternal presence of The Lord:

or who shall dare to approach that holy place?

 

Even those who have clean hands and pure hearts, 

who love righteousness and Godly justice, and who despise greed and iniquity.

 

These will receive blessings from The Lord: and be welcomed into his kingdom of love.

They will be a renewed generation of those who revere God,

who stand in awe at the unfolding of the magnificence of his creation. 

 

Lift Up your heads, you galaxies, 

Bright Nova form a dazzling path,

That your great King of Glo-o-o-ory 

Through all your realms may nobly pass 

 

 

(c) March 2023

There is a YouTube Video  posted on the Sing of God  and Science channel. You will find it at 

https://youtu.be/4XHgjfVDhlY  

 

Psalm 93 Reimagined for the Second Space Age

Original Introduction in brackets here, but equally appropriate at  any time we want to praise our amazing God

(As we approach the end of the Christmas period at Candlemas, an opportunity to think of the cosmic relevance of the incarnation) 

Psalm 93 Reimagined for the Second Space Age

 

You, Lord, are ruler of the whole universe:

you are robed in the fabric of the cosmos

which was established at your Word.

The vastness of space and time

cannot contain you, Lord.

You are from and to everlasting.

Constellations are testimonies to your might,

Planets and their inhabitants praise you

   in joyful outpourings of known and unknown tongues.  

More majestic than the roar of gargantuan waters

that dwarf all of earth’s mighty oceans;

more majestic than storms that are indescribably vast,

are you, Almighty God

.

You reign in eternity and even now know the

    time of your return and the end-time of the universe .

Your laws guide us into truth, righteousness and justice.

Let me delight in the holiness of your domain

both now and forever, O mighty God.

If you appreciate this sort of re-working, you may like a similar refashioning of part of Job 38 which you can find HERE 

And here is the original in the NRSV

The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
   the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved; 
   your throne is established from of old;
   you are from everlasting. 

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
   the floods have lifted up their voice;
   the floods lift up their roaring. 
More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
   more majestic than the waves of the sea,
   majestic on high is the Lord! 

Your decrees are very sure;
   holiness befits your house,
   O Lord, for evermore.

This Time, This Place: this Gift of Grace

 This Time, This Space: Retreat into Grace

A very short history of a Medieval Retreat House!

 

This time, this space:

this gift of grace

is balm to the soul:

where farmlands roll

to converge and enclose

where Abbots imposed

their tithing demands

on all those who rented their land.

 

Such wealth, such realms

with Oak, Ash, and Elm,

incited a King

to annexe everything

that was clerically owned

and could be handed on

to henchmen-at-arms,

who’d exploit those former church farms.

 

In time this place

became a space

where stillness might reign;

letting Moderns abstain

from their feverish rounds                              

and the clamorous sounds

of our time and place.

Indeed, a locale of great grace.       

 

Trevor Thorn: Launde: January 2023.

A Reflection on This Time, This Space.

 

Last week, we just made it to Launde Abbey and its exquisite surroundings in a beautiful natural bowl of Leicestershire. I say ‘just’ because so much militated against us getting there. Our purposes of that journey were so Pam could join a Quilting group week and I could settle to the bliss of three and a half days for writing and editing some of my earlier scribblings.

 

First, I uncovered a virus in my laptop. Looked nasty – and no chance of our friendly local expert being able to attend to it before we left on Monday morning. Thankfully Pam would not be using her laptop whilst quilting, so I was able to access the essential tools of a thesaurus and a rhyming dictionary – but not my image library, nor some of those older notes I had planned to edit.

 

But, rather worse, on the Saturday before the Monday we were due to leave, towards the end of a longish journey, our car’s brakes began to grind in an unpleasantly gruesome way. A garage visit Monday morning confirmed my suspicions – the car should not be driven, other than to return home across our village.

 

Hiring a car at very short notice proved not to be possible, but our son-in-law was free and willing to transport us. How very fortunate – and what a blessing. We arrived only half-an-hour into Pam’s programme though the return journey would have to be resolved during the week.

 

Launde Abbey is undoubtedly a very special place for those who get to enjoy its ambience. On the morning following our fraught arrival, it felt right to celebrate its existence and its ministry. The following poem ‘This Time, This Space, This Gift of Grace’ emerged. It is a VERY brief history which could apply to several retreat houses around the UK: all of them are a blessing to most of those who can avail themselves of such opportunities, and whilst ‘balm for the soul’ may sound trite, I can’t think of a better phrase to describe a place…

 

‘where stillness might reign;

letting Moderns abstain

from their feverish rounds                              

and the clamorous sounds

of our time and place.

 

And since the pandemic struck, it feels that such places are even more important than they were before that challenging time.

 

With these thoughts in mind, whilst on a frosty and beautiful walk, I felt quite distressed to see just how weather has ravaged some parts of this lovely building. It did not need an expert to realise that stone window frames alone will soon need large sums of money to make them safe and weatherproof. As a former fundraiser, I began to speculate… I wonder if there are any seriously wealthy philanthropists out there who would adopt such a place and funnel adequate funds into one of them to secure it for, let’s say the next quarter century. She or he would be performing a service that many, many people would benefit from.

If this poem commends itself to you, you might find this link to a poem called Embracing Silence helpful

Spirituality and Science Gallery No 8: Creation Genesis a Sonnet

 

O Christmas Tree with Angel Throng

 O Christmas Tree with Angel Throng.

Our Christmas Tree of 2022

with its ‘throng' of some 70 angels.

I guess many families have their ‘own’ traditions: we certainly have. Perhaps the most delightful is decorating the Christmas Tree with our own 'host of angels’ - after several years, a veritable throng! And it is this year's reappearance of our angelic band from their home in the loft that inspired this children’s song. You can listen to me singing it at (to be added shortly after Christmas: provisionally you could use the basic tune and rhythm of The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy)

What makes this collection special for us, is to think of where our angels come from, or from whom, or what they represent. Some are beautifully hand made, some come from friends, some recall a place that has been special to us, and some represent countries where there are injustices far worse than we have ever had to endure - though who knows, here in the UK we seem likely to have an even less-just time in the next few years.  Rather than brood on that, though, I invite you to enjoy this celebratory little carol which can quickly become a singalong!

O Christmas Tree with Angel Throng.

 

(Clap on the last three syllables of each line

 until last line then clap on last two syllables only)

 

 

O-O-O-O Christmas tree, with angel throng,

O Christmas tree, with angel throng,

O Christmas tree, with angel throng.

you honour Bethl’em’s angels.

 

Yo----ur angels sing out ‘Peace on Earth!’

Your angels sing out ‘Peace on Earth!’

Your angels sing out ‘Peace on Earth!’

Along with Bethl’em’s angels.

 

Yo----ur angels sing out ‘truth and love!’

Your angels sing out ‘truth and love!’

Your angels sing out ‘truth and love!,

Along with Bethl’em’s angels.

 

Yo----ur angels sing out ‘Mercy ‘n’ grace!’

Your angels sing out ‘Mercy ‘n’ grace!’

Your angels sing out ‘Mercy ‘n’ grace!’

Along with Bethl’em’s angels.

 

Yo----ur angels sing out ‘Come Lord come!’

Your angels sing out ‘Come Lord come!’

Your angels sing out ‘Come Lord come!’

Along with Bethl’em’s angels.

 

So O O O give your tree, an angel throng,

So give your tree, an angel throng,

So give your tree, an angel throng,

And hark to Bethl’em’s angels.

 

 

 

     

From Proverbs 8 re-imagined for the Second Space Age

 Proverbs 8, (1 - 4, 22 - 31)

 

Does not wisdom call 

And does not understanding raise her voice? 

 

'In the deepest parts of God’s universe 

I have been privileged to witness the birthing 

of the foundational event,  

the very portal of creation.'

 

Wisdom cries out 

‘To you, people with sentience, I call

with a cry that is to all that live and have understanding,

in this miraculous, mysterious and marvellous cosmos’.

 

‘The Lord created me in advance of his first acts at the beginning of time:

I was his first foundational act, before even plasma and subatomic particles were set loose to discover valency and learn to discern their rôles of amalgamation’.

 

‘And long before time sprang into existence at his Word’.

 

‘Long, long before matter prevailed over anti-matter, and unimaginable aeons before the first-generation stars erupted to impregnate our galactic locality and others with water and heavy elements’.

 

‘Then was I brought forth to watch and assist with many of the wonders of creation, 

such as the wonder of stars shining light onto their planets and the gift of impenetrable depths of waters, not only on the surfaces of many planets but deep below their mantles’.

 

‘Even before accretion discs began to form to allow the shaping of orbits and the sculpting of their constituent planets and moons. Long, too, before any carpets of land were woven and made subject to the mighty movements of tectonic plates

 

I was there also at the earliest patterning of galaxies and witnessed constellations forming, each for a season, when viewed from the myriad locations and times of far-flung planets and moons’.

 

‘But even yet more wonderful was to be present at the first formation of life on hospitable planets and to watch it evolve, hoping that as sentience developed anywhere in the cosmos it would call on me to guide the responsibility of stewarding its planetary home’.

 

* * * * * **

 

V4 Plasma in this sense is an ionized gas, at very high temperatures (as in stars and nuclear fusion

     reactors).

     Subatomic particles, or quarks are the building blocks of atoms which were for many years

     regarded as the smallest entities in the universe.

     Valency is the ability of a chemical element to combine with another.

 

V6 Our sun is a second generation star and our solar system is formed mainly from the remnants

      of a colossal explosion of a first generation star which gave rise to heavy elements. Ie, those

      with higher atomic numbers. Eg Aluminium (atomic number 16);Iron (atomic number 26); 

      Gold ( Atomic number 79) 

 

V7 (In 2022), the source of water on planets is still not resolved but earth has a huge sub-surface

      ocean as well as the visible seas on the surface.

 

V8 Accretion discs are formed around a new star as its gravity attracts gases and solid matter

     which form planets (and other bodies). These rotate around the star in orbits delineated by the

     accretion disc.

If you found this helpful, you may like to call up a similar re-imagining of the glorious creation passage at Job 38 CLICK HERE

AND/OR Psalm 150 CLICK HERE

Carol of The Good News

Picture credit

 faithofourfathersfaith.blogspot.com

I suspect there are many, who like me, delight in those moments when a familiar Bible passage gives rise to an unexpected train of thought. This happened just a few days ago when meeting an Advent invitation to our congregation (Made by my Ordained wife) to read the 24 chapters of Luke through the first 24 days of December. I had scarcely started when the words of Luke 2 17-18 gave me an idea …

¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 

 

This led to thoughts about oral story-telling and the thought-provoking idea that God’s plan meant the Shepherds, almost certainly outcasts from respectable society, were the first evangelists. So this carol celebrates the earliest dispersal of the news of Jesus’ birth throughout the locality of Bethlehem. 

 

The Carol of The Good News (Luke 2 17-18)

Can be sung to any 87.87 tune (suggested by author - LOVE DIVINE)

 

Gather round me all you people,

I’ve a wondrous tale to tell;

heard it from my trusted cousins,

told by shepherds round a well.

 

It was just a few days since, those

shepherds watching flocks by night

on the hills surrounding Bethl’em, 

Saw a startling, dazzling light. 

 

There were angels, calling, singing

urging them ‘Go into town,

where a new-born in a manger

is The promised Holy One’.

 

So, let’s tell this story widely,

prophecies attest its truth.

Come! Make every hill and valley

ring with joy at our glad news.

 

December 2021.

More carols, Christmas songs and activities for All Age services can be found HERE