kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth» Just Thinking

The Wonder of Walsingham

Paul Sibley — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:00:38 +0000

I have always loved Walsingham. There are quite a number of posts that have appeared on this blog in the years I’ve been writing it about the place — you can find them by clicking here. I was lucky enough to be able to go for the inside of last week, as mentioned in my last post. I wasn’t sure it was advisable with my health as it had been, but am so glad I went.

There were very few people there last week — November is outside of the main pilgrimage season — so it was even more tranquil than it is normally. But peace and quiet; time to think; and especially, time to pray, were just what I needed: and they were all there in abundance.

I know we are with God everywhere, and don’t need to go to a special place to pray. But sometimes it can help. Especially when it’s a place where thousands of other people have prayed before you. Being somewhere special like that with absolutely no time-pressure — no services to prepare for, no meals to think about, etc — can make the communion with God very special indeed. At least, that’s what I found last week.

Even without the pilgrimage activities there are several regular acts of corporate worship each day: Mass is celebrated three times at various places within the shrine complex; and Evening Prayer and Shrine Prayers, both in the shrine church. I joined in with some, though not all, of that regular round of worship. But it was the time alone with God that was particularly special last week.

I spent much of that time alone upstairs in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in front of the Tabernacle (pictured below) where the Sacrament is constantly reserved. It’s a lovely place to sit, and probably one of the most comfortable places to sit for any length of time in the shrine church. It’s also a place that very few tourists visit — not that there were many around anyway. Another place I spent a great deal of time, was in the Chantry Chapel of the Guild of All Souls (pictured bottom). Again, it was somewhere to find peace and solitude. It was wonderful to just sit and ‘be’ with God; not worrying about what words to use, or that I should be somewhere else.

When I went away, I knew I had a lot to think and pray about, especially around my future ministry. I did spend some time thinking and praying those things; but mostly I just spent time ‘being’ with God, and just let my thoughts and prayers wander wherever they would. I don’t think there’s any coincidence in the two places I felt most drawn to, and spent the most time in. And, I think, I have a clearer understanding of some changes that could be made — more about that later perhaps: there is still much to assimilate, and conversations to be had.

One thing I am sure of, this blog has an important role in my future. The blog holiday was necessary because of the really bad patch I had with my health. The blog may change and evolve a little, but don’t we all as we journey through life. But I’m determined that it will still be here.

I learned a lot about myself last week in Walsingham, and think I fell in love with the place a little more. As much as I love to go in pilgrimage season, and join in all the activities, I suspect an out-of-season-Walsingham will be a destination again in the future — funds permitting.

I’ll Be Back!

Paul Sibley — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:00:04 +0000

I thought it was about time I gave something of an update on me, and what’s happening with this blog. In the words of the Terminator (and the title of this post), ‘I’ll be back!’ But I hope that news is more welcome to my readers than it would’ve been to those who first heard it from Schwarzenegger in the film.

First, though, an update on me. At long last I am starting to feel a little better, it’s taken a while and been very frustrating. It seems that some of the new stuff going on with my health was undiagnosed diabetes, which was having quite an effect on my kidneys. My sugar levels, which were very high to start off with, are now, after a couple of false starts with medication, coming down to more manageable levels. The associated kidney problems seem to be righting themselves. My normal angina problems did flare up, and I had to go into hospital for a short stay, but that, too, seems to be settling down a bit. I’ve still got something odd going on with my liver, which is still be investigated — I don’t know if that’s going to be put down to the diabetes or not; just have to wait and see with that I guess. Now I just need to get some energy back.

If all goes according to plan, I’m going to Walsingham for five days on Monday. The week will, I hope, do me a lot of good, and help to clarify some thinking. It was booked up quite a while ago, but may be a week or two too early. But we’ll see; I don’t have to make the final decision until Sunday or even Monday.

As for the blog, my current thinking is that I’ll pick things up again from Advent Sunday — the beginning of the liturgical year seems an appropriate time. I’m aiming to start then with my reflections on the Collects, which were always intended to be the main focus on here. I don’t think I’ll be trying to do all that I was doing before, at least not for a while, but probably try to make them more occasional items.

See you soon!

Blog Holiday

Paul Sibley — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:00:45 +0000

I have, reluctantly, decided to take a bit of a break from writing this blog. I feel totally worn out, mentally and physically, and just need to spend some time being me. My health, which is never good, has given me more trouble recently — some new stuff going on, as well as the usual problems.

I don’t know how long this holiday is going to be. I might feel so lost without it that I change my mind before the end of the week. It might last a week or two, a month or two, or even become permanent. I hope it won’t be the latter, and it’s just a matter of recharging the batteries.

During this holiday I shall spend some time thinking, and praying, about what I want to achieve with the blog, whether I should change the approach, and probably just about everything else connected with it.

The stats indicate that this decision will affect very few people other than myself, but to those people I need to say, I am sorry and hope you’ll bear with me; and thank you for reading what’s been put on here. The majority of people who read come via search-engines to specific posts — I’m leaving all posts up as they are, so those people shouldn’t be affected.

I was going to finish with the ‘Grace’, but that felt too final. So perhaps this wonderful Evensong Collect will be a more appropriate prayer to finish this post with.

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord;
and by thy great mercy defend us
from all perils and dangers of this night;
for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Tommy and Photography

Paul Sibley — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:00:25 +0000

Wow, what a weekend! Had a busy, informative, and great fun weekend with my eldest daughter and her partner. On Friday evening Dave and I went to see Roger Daltrey performing ‘Tommy’ at Blickling Hall. Saturday morning we went to the first part of a two part photography course; and then taking photographs around Norwich in the afternoon. In between times, spent lots of time with Becca too. And, as an added bonus, Becca had double booked the weekend with an old schoolfriend. All-in-all, a great weekend.

I’ve liked The Who and their music since I was a teenager many years ago. I went to see the film ‘Tommy’ the day it came out on general release in Leicester Square — way back in 1975, when I was 17. So it was a real treat for me to go to see Roger Daltrey performing it on Friday. The picture above was taken on my, not especially good, mobile phone camera: but it’s more about recording being there than the photography. The music was every bit as good as I remembered from way back then; and Roger Daltrey, at 67, was superb.

The photography course was a Father’s Day gift from Becca and Dave. I learned a lot about the various settings on my DSLR camera, and hope to venture away from the ‘auto’ settings a lot more from now on — every time I’d done so in the past, things just went wrong! The second part we’ll be doing on location somewhere, getting more practical advice from the photographer, Stefania Silvestri. I hope you will see some of the benefits from the course in my Friday Foto’s on here.

On the Saturday afternoon, Dave and I went for a walk around Norwich with our cameras. We were trying out some of what we’d learned, and in the process helping it to stick in memory a little. But in amongst those technique shots, we got some great photographs too. I suspect you’ll be seeing some of them over the next few weeks.

In between those busy bits, I spent a lot of time relaxing and chatting with Becca and Dave, and Becca’s friend Vicky. I felt really spoilt over a super couple of days. Thanks guys, I really appreciated it.

Chernobyl Charity Exhibition

Paul Sibley — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 08:00:16 +0000

Today’s post is a first on this blog: a guest post. Darren Nisbett asked me on Twitter if I could help publicize his Chernobyl Charity Exhibition. When I looked at his site, and saw his photographs and what he was trying to do with them, I invited him to write a post for the blog himself.

The thumbnail images below all link to larger images. And there’s a link at the bottom to Darren’s website, where you can see many more incredible, and thought-provoking pictures.

Darren writes:

Chernobyl Charity Exhibition

Chernobyl’s zone of alienation – an exhibition

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, A uk photographer is exhibiting a unique series of infrared images, taken from within the 30km exclusion zone around the entombed power station.

The surreal Chernobyl photos include depictions of abandoned bumper cars, kindergarten beds, train tracks and vast Communist-era buildings, with the infrared techniques creating a spectral feel to the trees, wild plants and pools of toxic moss that are reclaiming the land from its crumbling concrete monoliths.

Darren says: “I’ve always been interested in visiting places that are off the beaten track – especially if they’re associated with darker moments in history. For me, photography trips have never been about exotic safaris or the arctic and my overseas travels have included Pompeii and Auschwitz. In the UK, I spend my spare time exploring and photographing abandoned and decaying buildings and castles; I also like our Victorian graveyards for their atmosphere and serenity.”

He adds: “At Chernobyl, especially on my second trip, I wanted to capture the sense overpowering sense of silence, the greys of the concrete and asphalt and the contrast of the increasingly dominant plants and trees. I was interested in the objects and interiors of the buildings, and the lives of the people that were left behind. From a personal point of view, it’s humbling to see the after effects and to meet the people that still work there, despite the risks to their health.”

Darren took the photos with a Canon 450D that has been converted to take infrared images using a 10-22mm wide-angle lens. He also used a Canon 5D Mark II with 17-40mm or 24-105mm lens and Heliopan IR filters. “The infrared filters transform what is seen by the human eye into a dreamlike image,” says Darren. “The processing gives the images the distinct ‘traditional’ feel of high speed infrared film with its characteristic grain, contrast and halation (light leakage). The images for the exhibition are printed using Silver Gelatine to further enhance the film feel.”

The resulting images have been picked up by one of the UK’s leading photographic magazines and will be showcased in a multi page spread in its July issue.

The exhibition is held from 1st – 31th of July in Rhubarb and Custard on 4 High Street, Eton, Berkshire. Admission if free. All the profits obtained will go to the Chernobyl Children’s Project.

Chernobyl’s Zone of Alienation : http://www.darkoptics.net
1st – 31st July : Rhubarb & Custard Photography Gallery, Eton UK

I’m always willing to consider a guest post here on the blog; though can’t, of course, guarantee that everyone who asks will be accepted.

International Day for Street Children

Paul Sibley — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:00:04 +0000

The International Day for Street Children: Louder Together is launched on 12th April, a new campaign to give a louder voice to the millions of street children all around the world so their rights cannot be ignored. Governments need to listen. We want to help make this happen. We must give street children a voice. Together we are louder and have more impact so we are asking everyone to Raise your Voices for Street Children.

I’m proud to say that my daughter, Rebecca, is heavily involved with this campaign through her work with Aviva. And I’m happy to join my small voice to it here on the blog.

Round the Bible in 40 days

Paul Sibley — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 09:00:58 +0000

The Bishop of Huntingdon has challenged himself to read around the Bible in the forty days of Lent this year — which starts tomorrow. He has invited anyone else who would like to to join him. I am challenging myself to join him in this venture.

Bishop David has set up a special blog on WordPress (HERE) to support the challenge. On there you will find a short guide to the books of the Bible, the simple reading plan, and various other resources. Each day there will be a short reflection on that day’s reading, written by forty different ministers from around the Diocese of Ely.

This is from the welcome message on the blog:

Bishop David’s Bible Challenge Lent 2011

ROUND THE BIBLE IN FORTY DAYS

We all have favourite Bible passages; and we hear quite a bit of the rest in church week by week, but in small chunks and often without much sense of continuity. So it’s good from time to time to get to grips with the whole of its architecture, and soak ourselves in its big story of Creation, Redemption and the coming of the Kingdom.

This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible, and so just now is a very good time indeed to have such a soak, and celebrate the gift of the Bible to us and the special gift it is to us when it is translated into our own native tongue.

So my challenge to you this Lent (or at some other suitable time in the year) is to join me in reading Round the Bible in 40 days, cover to cover, following the simple plan laid out here.

+ David

Will you join in too?

Love Wins

Paul Sibley — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:00:17 +0000

There has been something of a furore in the blogosphere in the past week. Poor Rob Bell, his book isn’t even out until the end of the month, but people are already saying he’s a heretic — a Universalist — for what it contains. It seems, if I understand it correctly, that this furore is because of the promotional video he’s produced for it. I imagine the book will sell very well because of it all, which may well be the point of the video!

While I don’t think I would be classed as a Universalist in the strict sense of the term, I’m probably pretty close to it. I believe our free will is genuine, and we can opt out should we choose. But I also believe that God will be working, in this life and the next, to share his love with us; and that, ultimately, that love will win. As William Barclay says: “If one man remains outside the love of God at the end of time, it means that that one man has defeated the love of God“.

As for Rob Bell, what I’ve read of his I’ve quite liked; and I imagine I will be one of the people in the queue to buy this book. But, until I’ve read it, there isn’t a great deal else I can say about it.

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas sermon

Paul Sibley — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:00:12 +0000

The text for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s thought provoking Christmas sermon follows. He focuses on how the birth of Jesus is but one stage of the fulfilment of God’s unchanging promise of support in the struggle for human redemption, how ‘the story of Jesus is the story of a God who keeps promises’. And he points to the need for us to work positively together in order to rebuild trust.

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas sermon

Saturday 25 December 2010

‘This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet’. Phrases like this echo like a refrain through the nativity stories in the Gospels – and indeed the stories of Jesus’ trial and death as well. The stories of Jesus’ birth and death were, from the very first, stories about how God had kept his promise. The earliest Christians looked at the records and memories of what had happened in and around the life of Jesus and felt a sense of déjà vu: doesn’t this remind you of…? Surely this is the same as…?

Bit by bit, they connected up the details of the stories with a rich pattern of events and images and ideas in Hebrew Scripture. Utterly unexpected pregnancies – like Abraham’s wife Sarah, or Hannah, mother of the prophet Samuel. A birth in Bethlehem, where Jacob’s wife died in bringing to birth the last of the ancestors of Israel, where an impoverished young widow from an enemy country was welcomed and made at home, to become the grandmother of the great hero King David. Shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem where young David had looked after his father’s flock before being called to be shepherd of the whole kingdom. A star like the one foreseen by the ancient prophet Balaam as a sign of Israel’s victory; foreigners bringing gifts of gold and incense, as the psalm describes foreign potentates bringing tribute to King Solomon . A murderous attack on the children of God’s people by a Godless tyrant, a desperate flight and an exile in Egypt. The plain event at the centre of it all, the birth of a child in a jobbing handyman’s family, is surrounded with so many echoes and allusions that it seems like the climax of an immense series of great happenings; like the final statement in a musical work of some theme that has been coming through again and again, more and more strongly, in the earlier bars. The last triumphant movement in God’s symphony.

The story of Jesus is the story of a God who keeps promises. As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘however many the promises God made, the Yes to them all is in him’. God shows himself to be the same God he always was. He brings hope out of hopelessness – out of the barrenness of unhappy childless women like Sarah and Hannah. He takes strangers and makes them at home; he brings his greatest gifts out of those moments when the barriers are down between insiders and outsiders. He draws people from the ends of the earth to wonder – not this time at the glory of Solomon but at the miracle of his presence among the humble and outcast. He identifies with those, especially children, who are the innocent and helpless victims of insane pride and fear. He walks into exile with those he loves and leads them home again.

This is the God he has shown himself to be; and he has promised that he will go on being the same God. ‘I am who I am’ he tells us; and ‘I, the Lord, do not change’, and ‘I will not fail you or forsake you.’ When we are faithless, he is faithful; when we seek to escape or even to betray, he does not change. In what is perhaps the most unforgettable image in the whole of Hebrew Scripture, God says that he has ‘branded’ or ‘engraved’ us on the palms of his hands (Is.49.16). He has determined that he will not be who he is without us. And in this moment of climax and fulfilment, in this last movement of the symphony, he shows in the most decisive way possible that he will not be without us; he binds his divine life to human nature. Never again can he be spoken of except in connection with this human life that begins in the stable at Bethlehem.

From one point of view, then, a story of triumphant persistence. Nothing has shaken God’s decision to be with those he has loved and called, and now nothing ever will. Nothing, as St Paul again says, can separate us from what is laid bare in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. And yet from another point of view, it is a story of unimaginable cost and apparent tragedy. For if God has chosen to be with us in this way, he is associated with our weaknesses, humiliated by our betrayals, exposed and vulnerable to our casual decisions to take our custom elsewhere. In the book of the prophet Hosea, we see this depicted in harrowing terms as the marriage of a faithful man to an unfaithful woman, a marriage which the man refuses to accept is over. I suspect that a good many of us have seen cases of a faithful woman sticking obstinately to an unfaithful man. In human terms, such faithfulness is likely to look naïve, foolish or just pointless self-punishing. But God, it seems, knows that whatever limitation and humiliation our human freedom lays on him, we cannot live without him; and he accepts everything for the sake of our well-being.

Christmas is about the unshakeable solidarity of God’s love with us, not only in our suffering but in our rebellion and betrayal as well. One mediaeval Greek theologian, deliberately out to shock, described as God’s ‘manic passion’, God’s ‘obsession’; manike eros. And so it is a time to do some stocktaking about our own solidarity and fidelity, our own promise-keeping.

There are at least three things we might ponder in that respect, seeking to understand ourselves better in the light of the Christmas story. The first is our solidarity with one another, in our society and our world, our solidarity with and loyalty to our fellow-citizens and fellow-human beings. Faced with the hardship that quite clearly lies ahead for so many in the wake of financial crisis and public spending cuts, how far are we able to sustain a living sense of loyalty to each other, a real willingness to bear the load together? How eager are we to find some spot where we feel safe from the pressures that are crippling and terrifying others? As has more than once been said, we can and will as a society bear hardship if we are confident that it is being fairly shared; and we shall have that confidence only if there are signs that everyone is committed to their neighbour, that no-one is just forgotten, that no interest group or pressure group is able to opt out. That confidence isn’t in huge supply at the moment, given the massive crises of trust that have shaken us all in the last couple of years and the lasting sense that the most prosperous have yet to shoulder their load. If we are ready, if we are all ready, to meet the challenge represented by the language of the ‘big society’, we may yet restore some mutual trust. It’s no use being cynical about this; whatever we call the enterprise, the challenge is the same – creating confidence by sharing the burden of constructive work together.

The second is something quite different, but no less challenging. Next year, we shall be joining in the celebration of what we hope will be a profoundly joyful event in the royal wedding. It is certainly cause for celebration that any couple, let alone this particular couple, should want to embark on the adventure of Christian marriage, because any and every Christian marriage is a sign of hope, since it is a sign and sacrament of God’s own committed love. And it would be good to think that I this coming year, we, as a society, might want to think through, carefully and imaginatively, why lifelong faithfulness and the mutual surrender of selfishness are such great gifts. If we approach this in the light of what we have just been reflecting on in terms of the Christmas story of a promise-keeping God, we shall have no illusions about how easy it is to sustain such long-term fidelity and solidarity. There will be times when we may feel stupid or helpless; when we don’t feel we have the energy or resource to forgive and rebuild after a crisis or a quarrel; when we don’t want our freedom limited by the commitments we’ve made to someone else. Yet many of us will know marriages where something extraordinary has happened because of the persistence of one of the parties, or where faithfulness has survived the tests of severe illness or disability or trauma. I admit, find myself deeply moved at times when I speak with the families of servicemen and women, where this sense of solidarity is often so deeply marked, so generous and costly. As the prince and his fiancée get ready for their new step into solidarity together, they will have plenty of inspiration around, more than you might sometimes guess from the chatter of our culture. And we can all share the recognition that, without the inspiration of this kind of commitment in marriage, our humanity would be a lot duller and more shallow – and, for the believer, a lot less transparent to the nature of the God who keeps his covenant.

And lastly, a point that we rightly return to on every great Christian festival, there is our solidarity with those of our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world who are suffering for their Christian faith or their witness to justice or both. Yet again, I remind you of our Zimbabwean friends, still suffering harassment, beatings and arrests, legal pressures and lockouts from their churches; of the dwindling Christian population in Iraq, facing more and more extreme violence from fanatics – and it is a great grace that both Christians and Muslims in this country have joined in expressing their solidarity with this beleaguered minority. Our prayers continue for Asia Bibi in Pakistan and others from minority groups who suffer from the abuse of the law by certain groups there. We may feel powerless to help; yet we should also know that people in such circumstances are strengthened simply by knowing they have not been forgotten. And if we find we have time to spare for joining in letter-writing campaigns for all prisoners of conscience, Amnesty International and Christian Solidarity worldwide will have plenty of opportunities for us to make use of.

Economic justice and Christian marriage and solidarity with the persecuted – very diverse causes, you might think. But in each case, the key point is about keeping faith, sharing risks, recognising that our lives belong together. And all this is rooted for us in that event in which all God’s purposes, all God’s actions, what we might call all God’s ‘habits of behaviour’ with us come into the clearest focus. ‘This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken’; this was the ‘Yes’ to all the promises. And what God showed himself to be in Hebrew Scripture, what he showed himself to be in the life and death of the Lord Jesus, this is what he has promised to be today and tomorrow and for ever. He cannot betray his own nature, and so he cannot betray us. And by the gift of the Spirit, we are given strength, in all these contexts we have considered and many more, to let his faithful love flow through us, for the fulfillment of more and more human lives according to his eternal purpose and unshakeable love.

Missing Children at Christmas

Paul Sibley — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 09:00:48 +0000

As I’m preparing to enjoy a few days when I’ll be seeing all of my family, I’m mindful of the fact that there are those who can’t do that again this year. Andrew Gosden still has not been heard from, for more than three years now. But he is, sadly, only one of many children and young people missing from their homes.

The Help Find My Child charity website has been running a Countdown to Christmas campaign for the last twelve days. Each day they have focussed on one of twelve missing children from the UK, each having one of the 12 days of Christmas dedicated solely to them and their story.

Today, they are focussing on Andrew Gosden, who has been at the top of the sidebar on this blog for quite a long time now. I only came across the campaign in the last couple of days, so I thought I would dedicate this Christmas Eve post to all twelve of these children and young people.

The images below are of the twelve children they have focussed on this year — there are many more — and each image links to that child’s page on the website. Do please have a look at their pages, you just might have seen one of them.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families, and the children, at this time. And hopes that, wherever they are, they’re safe, and the news will soon be better for all of them.