righteous peace, godly glory

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Each Friday in Advent, we’re taking time to reflect on some of the themes of the season and prepare something to put in the church.

This arose out of a desire named by several people in the congregation to ‘show that something was happen’ during Advent, that made it clear to those  who moved from the Christmas-lit town, to the Advent-stark  church that we were on a different journey, and not simply ignoring the fact that Christmas was fast approaching.

And of course it is a good excuse to gather, talk, and create something together.

So, this week it was Baruch:

Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,
and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from God.
Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;
put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting;
for God will show your splendour everywhere under heaven.
For God will give you evermore the name,
‘Righteous Peace, Godly Glory’.
Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height;
look towards the east,
and see your children gathered from west and east
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that God has remembered them.
For they went out from you on foot,
led away by their enemies;
but God will bring them back to you,
carried in glory, as on a royal throne.
For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low
and the valleys filled up, to make level ground,
so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.
The woods and every fragrant tree
have shaded Israel at God’s command.
For God will lead Israel with joy,
in the light of his glory,
with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

I suspect the more complex the theology, the more abstract the result.   But it’s all there if you look closely.

sabbath rest

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We had a splendid morning with bishop David, followed by the feeding of the five thousand. So many people were involved in making it happen that I didn’t stand a chance with the thanks.

And now, the feline who in darkness pined has seen a great light. Sunday afternoon, the sofa and sunshine. Bliss. …and only the slightest twinge of guilt that the remainder of bishop’s day is rather fuller than mine.

broken communion

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The proposed Anglican Covenant suggests that when we choose bishops, those bishops must be acceptable to Anglicans throughout the world. Quite apart form the fact that is it hard to imagine a time in the church’s history when every bishop would have been acceptable to all, it means that a bishop in (say) Uganda could object to a bishop chosen in (say) Glasgow because the person was deemed unsuitable.

Reasonable enough? Part of being ‘one family’?

Well, maybe — but if you haven’t had occasion to think much about the implications of the covenant yet, try reading this article by the Bishop of Karamoja in Uganda, and ponder whether you would seek his opinion on the worthiness of our next episcopal candidates.

heritage

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So it is Thanksgiving.

Taking most of last week off meant that there was no time for the cooking of feasts this week, so Molly and I supped alone on peas and fish.  The squirrels had rather a better day of it once the lid flew off the bucket of peanuts, and they curled up inside:  a full supply of food, sheltered from wind and rain.

Once upon a time, I would not have wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving.   After all, I left the States and made my home in Scotland, and there are holidays a-plenty at this time of year.

But a strange thing has happened.  Each year that passes, I am more and more aware of the ways in which I am and always will be American.  I find myself saying it more now, ‘well, I’m American and…’  instead of ‘well, I’m from the States, but…’ And it’s true, I still prefer to bring it up myself rather than have others raise it, but it’s OK now.

Over on Kelvin’s blog, there has been a somewhat prickly conversation about a rather wild liturgical video.

The video offers the perfect cross-cultural platform.  For the non-Americans among you, I suspect it represent the most ludicrous face of American culture.  Enthusiasm without taste; risk taking without sufficient sense, education or decorum.

You can imagine how far and how fast I would have run from such a scene in those early years when I tried so hard to blend in.

But now it is different.  The video represents for me some of what I miss from my home country.

Yes, it is over the top.  Yes, parts of it (most of it, even) lack decorum and are rather embarrassing.  But the people are trying hard to do something that does not come easily to them.

And I have come to value that in a way I never would have imagined.

Part of what I loved about Britain when I first came was that it was all so seemly.  There were no excesses of emotion, no pressure to emote.  It was much more relaxed, much more natural and free.

The truth is, I was never brave enough to be a good American. Continue reading “heritage” →