It's my Birthday

To celebrate 51 years on the earth we're going to the Peebles Book Fair and then to the Edinburgh Zoo.

Sermon was done and dusted last night so the day is pretty well free.

I don't know how I got to be 51 years old though. It's all been a bit of a shock. I was 35 years old, like, yesterday.

Why you should go on a retreat

by Rabbi Lionel Blue

I wish I'd found THIS (in the archives of Radio 4's Thought for the Day) earlier.

It's very good.

Thought for the Day
Good Morning Scotland
Radio Scotland
Monday, March 8th, 2009

 

Like the proverbial ‘bad penny’ one of the unwelcome things that comes back is more violence in familiar quarters - trouble at one of the historic ‘fault lines’ of humanity.

News of a terror attack at the front gates of an army Barracks in Antrim brings us back to scenes which belong properly to another decade.

We end up feeling a little sick. We’d hoped to have moved on.

There were 28 people killed in Baghdad the other day: Yet another fault line.

We are not so daft as to assume that the inclination to violence only resides in the souls and minds of people somewhere else. Crime stories on the Scottish News are frequent. It’s one of those things which happens, we say to ourselves……although with greater frequency in certain neighbourhoods.

We’re in a penitential season right now in the Church. In Lent, one of the things we do is to take stock – not of our achievements but of the things that are amiss in our lives and in our inclinations. It’s a time to cultivate some wisdom and realism about the weakness in our bodies and souls. Any inventory of our humanity will lead us, sadly, to conclude that we share an inclination to violence and cruelty.

Men and women who have struggled with drink or with anger or some other problem come to know that while they can learn to live with it, around it or in spite of it – they will nonetheless have to live in its shadow. We can be grateful for the forward strides that have been made in Northern Ireland – grateful for the immense courage shown by notable men and women as well as those whose names will never be known who have either brokered peace or agreed to it.

At the same time we will, please, put aside the foolish whim that we are somehow immune. Peace requires an active commitment to what does not always come naturally. Our ability to live in peace with people who are not of our clan, our language or our persuasion is always under threat. 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter's last kick at the cat

Lots of snow on the ground this morning. Driving to West Linton was like driving across the Canadian prairies in a blizzard. It melted in one fell swoop during the afternoon and now it's snowing again quite hard so we'll see what tomorrow looks like.

It's actually been great having a proper Winter this year.

3D Street Art

This fellow's really talented. Story here

Insanely jealous at the beginning of Lent.
Not a good thing, right?

Thank goodness Lent doesn't begin until tomorrow. I've got a couple of gigs - chief of which is, of course, Sunday morning. I want Fr Jim Martin's gig. Other worthy Christian souls have appeared on the Colbert Report (Stephen Colbert is not only a Catholic, he's a good Catholic) and they haven't all made a good impression. Not so here: kudos to Fr Jim.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Turning to Religion - Jim Martin

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

Isaiah 40:3-9
"Prepare ye the way"
Michael Wise (1648-1687)

Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places shall be made plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together.
And the voice said, Cry.
What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass,
and the goodliness thereof is as the flower that is in the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:
but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
get thee up into the mountains;
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings,
lift up thy voice with strength;
and say unto Judah, Behold thy God!

Irish Joke for the Day

Declan shows up at a building site looking for a job. The foreman tells him that he will have to undertake a brief intelligence test.

'Fine,' says the Irishman.

'Right, then,' says the foreman. 'First up, can you tell me the difference between a joist and a girder?'

'That's easy,' the Irishman replies. 'Joyce wrote Ulysses and Goethe wrote Faust.'

Thought for the Day
Good Morning Scotland
Radio Scotland
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Good morning,

It’s Ash Wednesday tomorrow. When I finish here in the studio this morning I’ll hoof it over to the church and burn last year’s palms from our Palm Sunday service – then mix the ashes with a little oil in the bottom of a small clay pot. At our three Ash Wednesday Services tomorrow, people will come up to the altar rail. With my thumb, I’ll paint a tiny cross with the slurry of ashes on the forehead of each of them and say the following words:

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”

These aren’t the sorts of words we ordinarily use to build people up. Out of context they might seem a tad impolite. Say these words to the person sitting next to you on the bus and they’ll probably change seats. What might be preferable?

Remember you’re the cat’s pyjamas or the bee’s knees.
Remember that the sky’s the limit.
Remember - you can be anything you want to be.
Remember - things aren’t as bad as they seem.

Everybody talks about “scaling things back”. From the Royal Bank of Scotland dumping a portion of its assets to the Academy Award Ceremony using last year’s props. “Scaling back” would appear to be the flavour of the month.

And it’s been foisted on us by events. We wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t have to.

And you see – that’s the problem. We’re already asking when it will be over - when life can return to what it was when the sky was the limit.

People who’ve had a brush with death often remark that the experience caused them to refocus their priorities and reinvest in their relationships. It got them thinking again, reading again – even praying again. They ended up not smaller but deeper.

Brusque though they may be, they remain true words:

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return”.

A regular reminder that we are mortal and limited does not, in fact, cause people to give up hope and think small. It does not reduce them. It’s more of an opportunity than an insult. 

 

 

 

"40"

Reposted from Lent last year.
Art by Si Smith. Music by Joseph Arthur.

A few leftover photos

So I'm back in grey and murky Scotland after having spent 5 wonderful days in Italy. I sorta wangled a place for myself on a retreat thanks, in large part, to an old seminary pal of mine from Montreal days who is now the priest at the Church in Geneva which is part of the American Convocation of Churches in Europe. It was their clergy retreat.

Cheeky, I know, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. I got a chance to meet Pierre Whalon - the Bishop in Charge of the Convocation and a whole heap of clergy that I'd never met before. Frank Griswold, the former Presiding bishop of TEC was leading the retreat.

I've never been that much of a wall-flower and the words of my third grade teacher ("Bobby makes friends easily but has trouble concentrating and needs to work on his handwriting") proved yet again to be prophetic. I can't read all the notes I took. I will be less able to read them when a few weeks have passed and the memories have dimmed.

The retreat took place at the Convento di Palazzolo which is about twenty miles outside of town perched high above a volcanic lake which is, itself, perched quite high above the city. Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer retreat, is just across the lake and we walked the five or so miles around the lake along a wooded trail one afternoon. The weather was crisp but sunny pretty well the whole time we were there.

I had a day in Rome itself before the retreat began and the better part of a day at the end. I managed to get around to the Colosseum and a few of the ruins on the Palatine Hill. The trip to the Vatican museum was taken up largely with wending my way through crowds on the way to the Sistine Chapel. All I have to say to anyone else who thinks that seeing the Sistine Chapel would be a good idea on your next trip to Rome is - think again! One follows a slow crowd for the better part of 40 minutes past the various entrances to other (more interesting) exhibits finally to be herded into the Sistine Chapel where you spend the entire time being bellowed at by security guards crying out 'Silencio' - 'No photos' - 'No videos' - 'Silencio'.

It would be a far better idea to get yourself a good book with glossy photos of the Sistine Chapel, find yourself a pleasant cafe, order up a Cafe Macchiato and turn your Ipod on to something appropriate.

A visit to the Sistine Chapel will leave you feeling "yuck". I cannot imagine what the visit would have been like in the hottest parts of the Roman summer but can only imagine it would more resemble the bottom right hand corner of the Last Judgement and not the top centre.

There's a great feeling in Saint Peter's Square on a fine day. It's one of those places where you emerge into the square and your heart leaps. The taxi I was taking from the train station turned a corner on the evening I arrived and I was suddenly looking at the Colosseum - again a real thrill for somebody who, if not quite a 'country boy, didn't get to see a lot of these sights when he was young since we were perched on the West Coast of Canada and everything old and classical was far away.

Rome is absolutely packed with restaurants and everybody there seems to be talking - talking all the time - talking on their mobile phones while they're driving your bus, or taking your money at the cash register.

Or talking to each other, or flirting or going over the rugby match while they're supposed to be looking at the X-rayed contents or your hand luggage pass by their screens - dagger, bomb, hand grenade, Uzi - at the airport.
There's some utility in getting away for a retreat. That's why we're allowed to do so from time to time. Utility is a bit over-rated - but, even so, I came back with ideas and having revisited a few old promises and plans. I've said my offices with a little more regularity since and I'm half curious to see if that devotion to task remains as strong after a few weeks have passed and the cold rain of Scotland has seeped back in or whether the new resolutions will all have flown away - like pigeons in Saint Peter's Square.

We arrived at Palazzola today and promptly went for a walk. John Beach, the priest in Geneva (an old seminary pal of mine) insisted that Castel Gandolfo (the town where the pope spends his summers) was only a mile and a half away. I forgot that John lies all the time. We walked at least four miles along a muddy broken trail until we arrived in town, purchased wine and cigars and returned for the beginning of our retreat, which is being led by Frank Griswold, the former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA. Having a wonderful time! The photo above is the sunset this evening over Lago Albano. Sometimes being a clergyman is tremendous!

Raspberry Rabbit goes to Rome

Just temporarily, mind.

I'm at a retreat outside of the city which begins tomorrow and I had the day to wander around the Colosseum and to go to Mass this morning. The retreatants are gathering this evening and then we're off in the morning in a mini-bus to the retreat centre.

Thought for the Day
Good Morning Scotland
Radio Scotland
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Good morning,

A burnt out car in the middle of the street.

A family home reduced to ashes.

Like the visual images of lives cut short in ancient Pompeii by an erupting volcano these pictures from Southern Australia tell the stories of lives which have been overwhelmed by something faceless and destructive.

What can you say?

The words “Such Things Happen" come to mind. Bit brutal that, though, no?

In other generations such things happened much more. Those listening to this broadcast this morning are members of a society where such things happen less than they did once upon a time.

We can do much to prevent disasters. We have the technical knowledge to deal with the aftermath effectively. We might say that such things ‘shouldn’t happen’

But events do knock a few holes in our certainty and perhaps they should.

Our lives are of a particular duration. It’s up to us whether we can treat this as either tragedy or opportunity. Like an artist with a canvas of a particular size we will lay down our colours within a confined space. There, love will be given and received – or not. There, challenges will be met and promises kept – or not. Faith kindled and exercised boldly in difficult circumstances – or not.

The old Book of Common Prayer put it this way in one prayer to God:

Make us, we beseech thee, deeply sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of human life.

The reflection that these lives of ours are not without earthly limits has always been seen as a healthy and sober reflection – not in the least morbid or obsessive. Precisely because we do not the choose the day of our departure we have the motivation to live with courage and boldness. 

 

 

 

The Edinburgh Wedding Show

The Scottish Episcopal Church had a stall at the Edinburgh Wedding Show which was on out at Ingleston over the weekend. I got in trouble with my wife and one of her friends a week or so back for referring to it as the Marriage Trade Fair. Not completely inappropriate given the sorts of exhibits you could find there but the term lacks a little bit of romance.

It was a good day, all in all.

The folks involved in the Glasgow Wedding Show last year had enjoyed a marvelous time and so our expectations were understandably quite high.

I was a long day spent on our feet. Ruth Innes (Dio Edinburgh) and Jeremy Auld (Dio St Andrew's) and I were there for the better part of the day. Lorna Finlay the Communications Director for the SEC was there to help set up the stall and get us launched.

We managed to get some folks thinking about the "church component" in their wedding who had, to this point, only really given any thought to their venues and wedding fluff. We manged to link up some people to their local clergyperson.

The incredulity that some visitors expressed about the presence of the Scottish Episcopal Church at the Wedding Show was that 'good' sort of incredulity - more along the lines of 'It's good to see the Church here'.

Oh - and I did try a tiara on. It's wasn't particularly fetching and it won't happen again. I promise, Bishop!

update: Lorna Finlay has just been in touch to say that the results of the survey which Ruth Innes was taking during the day of passers-by indicate that everybody's favourite wedding hymn is

*drumroll*

"Love Divine"

Animal Conversations for Friday

The 'Snow Event' of 2009

The ancient rallying cry of the Scots

"It's not as bad as England"

has always struck me as a typical case of 'shooting low'. In this instance, though, with the great 'Snow Event' of 2009 it's probably pretty accurate. We've had snow but it's not as bad as what got dumped on parts of England over the last 24 hours. The stepson is at school. The chickens are a little miffed but surviving. My wife's ducks have found a muddy bit under the buddleia which is fun to play in (they are muddy from head to toe) and doesn't require trudging through. The dogs were delighted.

I've got a funeral this afternoon and am getting desperate calls from the family wondering if cars can make it up the lane. I think they'll do fine. I estimate we've got between two and three inches on the ground. In other words - nuttin' much at all!

So while I'm sorry that Nick Baines is sitting under ten inches of snow in Croydon and can't get to his meetings today, it's about time that we got a decent winter in the UK. It was four years ago that I got so tired of the boggy, dreary and wet Scottish winter that I took a holiday after Christmas and spent a week in Helsinki just to see some snow.

We've had a good ground frost throughout most of this winter. It'll do wonders for the forest and wonders for my blueberries.

Mind you, it's still coming down thick and fast so you never know.......

The Bus Slogan Generator

Following the recent Atheist bus campaign in the UK with placards reading

"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life"

some bright spark has come up with a piece of software - a bus slogan generator - which allows you to design your own quote and plaster it on a London bus.

Burning Heather

They were burning the heather on the Pentland Hills above Penicuik this afternoon. It was really quite majestic and pictures (at least my pictures) don't really capture the colours that were there on the hillside. The hills were more purple and the fire quite a bit cheerier.

Heather gets overgrown and leggy. It ceases to be good cover for wildlife and the lambs get caught in it. Burning patches of heather in this manner encourages new shoots. The burning season ends on the 15th of April so that ground-nesting birds aren't threatened by the activity.