https://youtu.be/Li2hddmy63U How can I keep from singing, Audrey Assad
https://youtu.be/ghHE_kVWXxM I will follow Him, Sister Act
It can't seriously be 25th November, one month until Christmas, naaaa, then again where did this week go? I had intended to post this earlier but, well time, slipped through my fingers, yet again. It seems right then that Advent, the anticipated joy that will overflow during the next few weeks needs to be savoured and cherished. I use 'joy' carefully here as 'Christmas' is a time for many when it is difficult for the 'Light' to get in. But with ineffability the 'Light' always sniggles through the smallest of cracks, our Hope and Joy somehow warms us when all can seem too much. That is the joy, the wonder the majesty and magnificence of Him. I have a new Advent book this year, 'Sleepers Wake' by Nicolas Holtam. It's The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell's Advent Book for 2022. Anticipation, challenge, reflection, joy to be had by putting time aside to contemplate and discern this season; joy to snuggle up with a book that makes me think :) Yes, Advent can be summed up by JOY.
Here is transcript from last weeks Reflection at Benefield:
"...So often when you start reading the lectionary and beginning an exegesis on the text for a piece of scripture it is where the text leads you which is the piece of scripture God has nudged you towards, not the lectionary readings fixed for that day, but something that He wants you to learn and reflect upon. Scripture reading is all God led and like liturgy is there to support you. Last Sunday was the end of the church year, the feast of Christ the King. It is the alpha and the omega if you like the continuous heartbeat of faith and hope and of what has been and what is to come. It carries us on the stream of living waters, the waters of life that quench us, cleans us, and revives us. The concept is majestic, Christ the King is full of majesty, we are duty bound to exalt God with honour, praise and glory with trumpet blasts and full pageantry!
The lectionary readings on Sunday last really help to get this message across as we prepare for this cyclical narrative to come alive for us as Advent beckons next week:
Jeremiah 23: 1-6
Psalm 46
Colossians 1: 11-20
Luke 23: 33-43
Jeremiah is foretelling the genealogy of Jesus who is Our Lord and Righteous Saviour. The psalm is asking to stop what we are doing and wake up to what is going on around us in terms of enemies and strife and fear, because we should know God is amongst us and we should exalt Him not just among the nations but note He WILL be exalted in the earth! A reminder he is our strength and fortress, without Him we are lost. Paul’s letter to the Colossians circa 60AD (30 years after the Crucifixion) is written to put the Colossians back on track it is a reminder of good practices. Epaphras from Ephesus had been converted and had carried the gospel to Colossae - and it’s this young church that became the target of heretical attack. A nod perhaps back to the bad shepherds mentioned in the opening of Jeremiah 23 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” Again, perhaps, Paul and laterly Epaphras come to mind in Jeremiah 4 “I will place shepherds over them who will tend them…” Then in Luke 23:33-43 we are met with the full horror of the crucifixtion and the dialogue between the penitent criminal in verse 42-43 “…Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ When Jesus utters His final words from the Cross 23:46 “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” we realise that Jesus is quoting from Psalm 31 verse 5
Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.
The lectionary in these four readings has brought us around to the beginning again. In Luke's account, Christ has come full circle on earth, and it is here when hope in all its glory hits us between the eyes. That is why I have brought this image for you to reflect on today. Readings, words, that’s a lot of listening and reading to get our minds around. However for those of us, like me who need a little help whilst taking scripture on board an image can sometimes open up reflective opportunities for us to get the wider picture, in this case quite literally.
This contemporary painting is housed at St Ninian’s in Edinburgh. It is by Janet Melrose (a new artist to me). It is an image of Christ the King, and it is the embodiment of the ‘living waters’.
The streams of living waters is a modern book by Richard Foster about what those living waters might mean to us today. It is part of Christ's teaching - to come to God for it is to God where we must go and take our lead in all things. It is what ministers (shepherds if you like) endeavour to do when ministering to whichever part of the flock we are sent.
It encompasses:
- the Contemplative tradition - or the prayer-filled life
- the Holiness tradition - or the virtuous life
- the Charismatic tradition - or the Spirit-empowered life
- the Social Justice tradition - or the compassionate life
- the Evangelical tradition - or the word-centred life
- the Incarnational tradition - or the sacramental life
Janet Melrose’s depiction of Christ the King includes all that in the picture plane. If you look at Christ’s robe it is blue. Literally evoking the sense of the living water, the stream of life, the washing away of sins, of cleansing and of quenching the thirsty. Blue traditionally in art history is linked with the heavenly realm. Red with the earthly realm, if you look carefully there are touches of red in this image especially around the halo. However on closer inspection you will see what at first glance I took to be an outline of a dove perhaps representing the Holy Spirit, is when I looked closer, a figure in the guise of an angel - the figure reminds us that God always has a message for us, and as Melrose the artist suggests, a symbol of strength for the angels are in abundance in the narrative of Jesus. From His birth to His Resurrection - all the gospels state angels where present at the tomb; Matthew 28:2 and Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4 and John 20:12.
Look again, as Christ’s hands invite us to witness the image, symbols spill out before us….
In the foreground is a young tree, the tree of life with its healing leaves, Revelation 22 helps us here….
The River of Life
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. ...
It also evokes the Jesse Tree, Jesus’ genealogy. Isaiah 11:1
The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots…”
There are stars; in His robe too, evoking the Star of Bethlehem, and the quest of the Magi to visit the newborn saviour for themselves, the Magi the synonym for us as we journey to find Jesus for ourselves. Ineffable are the stars too, as we contemplate the mystery of the Trinity. From birth to death in the stigmata on Christ’s hands, the end of His earthly journey. The one we are all on, and the one leading to the Kingdom to Come where we hope to rise in glory with our saviour who loved us so. That love is depicted here in this image, practically everything about the majesty of Christ the King is in this image including leaves that morph into fish (fishers of men) and I admit it, this image has knocked my socks off!
If as you walk through Advent and you may wonder what it is all about, then this image might help bring you back on track. It might bolster you, encourage you, that God so loved us, that He gave us Jesus, the Son of God to help us sort our earthly mess again. God is with us truly in everything, in the mess as seen in psalm 46, He is beckoning us to stop and wake up and finally ‘get it’ that He is with us in all the pain. We saw on the cross that he was right in the thick of it with the penitent criminal, literally beside him in his repentant agony but Jesus gave him solace even then reminding him that he would be “this day with me in paradise”. Repentance, truly and utterly saying sorry, is hard and it takes great strength to admit to sorrow that you have caused. That includes not exalting God and loving Him with all your mind, strength and heart. However when we repent we are forgiven, time and time again. Caveat Emptor here…this is not ‘cart blanche’ to keep sinning, repentance is the true endeavour to keep trying and keep acknowledging that you need God to help you every step of the way! God gives us every chance to repent, and we are encouraged to do this every day, as we say our Lord’s Prayer. Take on board those words when you say them with me this morning and every day, because the invitation is there, to forgive those who trespass us as we are forgiven for our trespasses. There is magnificence in majesty too - God’s great, great capacity to love and forgive is beyond the millions of uncountable stars in the heavens, the ineffability of it all is majestic.
This image by Janet Melrose, for me is outstanding. It is not in the style of the greats such as Caravaggio or Titian, but it reminds me of Chagall, and Chagall has many images in glass and print that grace buildings with pictorial scripture. Chagall was an accessible story teller. There is something human, and tangible about his work as there is about Melrose's image too. This is what living waters means - it is for us to practice all these things to live out our lives as Christ’s hands and feet and voice in our present day by praise and spreading the Good News. Not just for Advent, or for Christmas or Easter but to exalt His majesty every day for as long as we have breath in this world until we meet again in the next..."
Some extra joy lit up this week yesterday afternoon, after a week of too much rain and damp and darkness, we really did need the Light to come through the broken cracks! At Sacristy Stitch we were packing away our threads having had a lovely tranquil afternoon finishing another section of the embroidered Nave Ceiling when the lights literally came on and below you can see the absolute joy that filled the interior of Peterborough Cathedral. For me it really did light up my day...His Light put a smile on my face and the joy of all the miriad of rainbow colours really was just the ticket, hope and joy in all it's glory!
Celtic Prayers in a mo at St Peter's so I must dash, we will be following the Eata Readings in the Celtic Prayer Book II during Advent.
Take care, blessings <><
Caroline :)
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