Advent Two

Wedding at Cana by Bartolome Esteban Murillo
Barber Institute Birmingham University

Jesus is a young man living with his family. His mother Mary is aware that there is something inside Jesus that is exceptional, something to do with the destiny of the earth. This wedding is set well before history was recorded. It is set before known time existed. 

The Wedding 

Cool air blows over the beacon as the sun's golden rays gently meld to pinks, reds, magnesium blue. People appear through the woods in the twilight. The bride's party, and the groom's party come together. Music and excitement are in the air. The druid draws a circle in the grass, the highest grass for all around. It’s a circle made from his pen and a thin shower of sand from a small plump sack. This is the circle for two to become one. This will be their new world together. And then it is done, the ceremony is complete. The people roar and stamp, the children twirl, the women shriek, the men clap sticks together. But something is missing. A silence falls, the people know by a look. Has the spell been broken? Mary turns to her son. He smiles and shrugs. "It's not my time, you know mum." Mary crosses over to the worried faces of the groomsmen. "Follow him, do what he says." With little choice, they slink off behind. He strides ahead over to where the children sit. Gently he touches the smallest child, and she beings a calm, sweet song. Then the next child. His hand presses lightly on a shoulder. Harmony begins. And on round the group. Electricity passes through the throng, people stand, the mood is lifting. The husband's face breaks into a heartfelt grin. He cannot move his eyes from those of his bride. She is radiant. Joy wells up. The spirit rises, and soon there is a new song on the hill top, a song of the spirit no one will forget. "We normally reserve the magical songs for the beginning. Now no one will ever want to leave this party," says the steward.

Jesus and his family attend a wedding, when something embarrassing occurs

For many families, weddings are one of the biggest things they ever achieve.  On the scale of world events, however, they are mostly insignificant.  Mary knows that Jesus has something others do not have.   At that moment this potential had not been revealed.  The wedding issue demonstrates human frailty.  It can be argued that you can have perfectly good wedding drinking water.  Good people might understand and be sympathetic to poverty, or simple mistakes.  But we live in the real world, where ‘honour’ and ‘shame’ exist in equal measure.  We learn that these little things count.  They are seen by our loving Creator.  Here is an example of something better coming out of misfortune.  This wedding is now discussed across the world.  Surely one of the best known weddings of all time.

What are the ‘little’ things of honour in my life?  Am I, like Mary, aware of the potential present in Jesus?  Am I aware that little things are also important to my Creator?  We know we are loved when the detail is noticed, and responded to.

PRAYER – Let’s be open with our Creator about our vulnerability and shame.  Let us be aware of the potential that lives with us in the presence of Jesus’ spirit in our lives.

Advent One

The Beheading of St John the Baptist
Pierre Puvis De Chavannes - Barber Institute

This is an account of the life of Jesus, a man who has had many different names given to him across different times, cultures and religions. Jesus was a man never the less, but also a man who is not a man. His ‘was’ became ‘IS’, as he returned from the dead and is alive today. He becomes of ‘no gender’. Jesus is the creator, dressed in a body, ready to join creation at ground level. Discovering who Jesus is takes more than words. This account was told by John, a friend of Jesus. My account takes the story through time, generations, names and genders, to see what it has to say to us today. There was another John, a wild man. He was actually Jesus’ cousin. John took it in his head to say and do extraordinary things. The town council decided they needed to know more about what was going on. A delegation was dispatched to find John and question him. 

 Here is what was said: 

“Which religion are you from?” 

“No religion in particular.” 

“So are you a leader?” 

“No.” 

“Then you are a missionary?"

“No.” 

“Who are you? We need to check. What do you want us to say?” 

“I am someone saying ‘get ready’ because something enormous is going to happen.” 

“What are you up to? Why all this razzamatazz?”

 “Me? I'm doing very little, not compared with what's to come. You wait! You'll certainly know when you see it.” 

 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him on the other side of the street. He called out to everyone who could hear... 

"Here is the person who will turn the world upside down. Look, listen, observe this one. The spirit of the Creator is here with us right now." 

Thoughts and Prayers for Day One 

Jesus’ cousin John explains to the people what is about to happen…and is executed for his pains 

“Nothing is stronger than an idea” said the French author Victor Hugo. John the Baptist comes with a clear message. “Clean yourself up. Get ready to meet an important person.” Why does this seem such a threat to the established order? John never hurt anyone but he was seen as a tremendous threat at the time. He ended up chucked in prison, and then executed. What was the problem? The authorities questioned him trying to make sense of what was he up to? What where people drawn to? When we see a crowd around someone in the street, doesn’t it also spark our curiosity? We also become cautious/ suspicious / excited? Someone alone tends to create little interest; we walk by. John was very clear about what was important. He was clear about the significance of Jesus. This is remarkable because Jesus was his cousin. Could this have been a con, a double act, a stitch-up? Was it a religiously inspired rebellion like the Taliban? Were these enquirers the biblical equivalent to the British government’s ‘Prevent’ Program. Were they fearful of the radicalisation of vulnerable young lives? The authorities got a clear message from John that he was not promoting himself and his own power, but pointing to Jesus. He was pointing to Jesus, and also identifying with him. How can John’s position be understood today? What makes his life a challenge to me? How does he disturb my order? What feelings do his behaviours evoke in me? What would I do if I met him today? 

 PRAYER – Let’s ask for courage to be like John.

Further more...

I bought the Times this weekend because I (rightly) assumed that it might have a good obituary for Jan Morris. The Obitury did note that although Morris was not born in Wales, she became welsh and was fluent in Welsh. I read her book called A Machynlleth Triad: The Triad; Y Triawd, written in English and Welsh. It is a rather sweet nationlist manifesto. If only the world could turn out as we dream it to be. Reading the paper I was of course interested in Richard Morison's review of Dan Hick's book called 'The Brutish Museum'. This article also registered like me that the shrunken heads were gone from the Pitt Rivers Museum. I felt that we might have shared this childish disapointment, (and as Morrison says) what else is there it see? I also recalled the powerfully convisnsing book 'Riding the Black Coakatoo' by John Danalis. Danalis grew up in Australia where his father had an ancient aborigone skull on the mantlepiece. Danalis, as an adult, realised how offensive this columsy disreguard for other people's feeling was. Having a skull from a graveyard means different things to different people, but it is well known that for aborigonal people this aberation remains significant. Danalis was able to help his parents understand this and he supported its return to a suitable gravesite. Morrison takes a dim view of the prospect of 10's of 1000s of stollen artifacts being returned to foreign museums. I wonder where he stands on the return of Nazi art treasures? He scoffs at the idea of money being put into examining the providence of British collections. I return to my point that the Bristish do not know what it is like to have our cultural icons taken and displayed in other countries. The closest we get to that is when art works are bought by private investors, and then never seen again. Items that might stir us would be 'the magna carta'. What about if Tower Bridge (not London Bridge) had gone to Arizona? Nelson's Column - not a thing of beauty, but it is used as the point to measure distance to London from around the country.

History has its uses

"In quitting his vessel, duke William slipped and fell; on which, a knight, who stood near, gave a happy turn to the accident by saying, Duke, you have taken possession of England as its future sovereign" ‘Dux uero Willelmus in egressu nauis pede lapsus, casum in melius commutavit miles qui prope stabat, dicens, ‘Dux,’ inquit, ‘Angliam tenes, rex futurus’. The blog 'Strangehistories' recounts the 13th Centuary account by Roger of Wendover of William the Conquors first faltering steps on English soil. This story has moved into folklore. It has an interesteing paralell with the account of Caesar's similar mishap when he landed on the African coast (I agree, 'Africa' is a bit of a vague location) (see verse 59). It may have been that William (and his dukes) were versed in Roman history and were quick witted enough to know the solution to an igdominious fall. Neil and Glenis Kinnock were not so fortunate in 1983 when at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, a large wave came and washed them over on the beach. This was seen by the press at the time as a bad omean, and sure enough, Kinnock went on to lose the general election. What about when Julius Caesar landed on the British coast on August 26th 55 BCE? The account in historytoday notes that it was a close match, and a formal invasion occured many years later in AD 43. Could it be that this piece of history has been noted by subsequest potential invaders across the centuries?

How are we doing?

Jacinda Ardern, re-elected prime minister of New Zealand/Aotearoa, was famous for saying that every death by covid was a tragedy to be avoided. It created an echo across the world. Why can't we have a prime minister like her? But how has the current calamity affected the world? Here are recent statistics from John Hopkins University USA showing the percentage of fatalities accross the world. The hardest hit country is Belgium, with 1/10th of a percent of the country having died by the virus.

The world has seen worse of course with the Black Death claiming about 30% of the population. I assume that it was the tough ones that survived at that time, rather than any 'social isolating' going on, though this was a factor in the saving of the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. I'm not for survival of the fitest, but I do agree that perspective is needed, and decisions made with an eye on the wellbeing of all, not just the rich.

Loosing your marbles

How did the Prime Minister react to the letter from 30 MEP's requesting that the British Museum return the Egain Marbles to Athens? We do not know, but it would be interesting if they were to become part of the UK-Europe trade talks. Council for the defence points to the historical probablity that Lord Elgin saved these scuptures from almost certain distruction. It can be argued that the million visitors to the British Museum are able to apprciate the saved sculptures in a fitting setting. History is history- there is no going back. On the other hand, the Greeks are our friends. We know that the meaning of the scuptures will be greatly increased by being situated in sight of the Parthanon. We now live in a small world where the average Brit can vist Athens with easy (unlike the 1800's). The Greek government has also promised to fill the empty hall in the museum with twice as many ancient sculptures. For me, as an internationalist, there is no question here. The marbles will be more meaningful close to the building they were carved for. The problem is the Brits have nothing to compare this with, to get a sense of what it means to have had cultrual artifacts damaged and removed from the land. I guess there has been nothing anyone has really wanted to take. But can the 'Elgin Argument' be used for everything else on display in British Museums? Egyptian Mummies, and sacred relics? Perhaps so. The Pitt Rivers museum recently removed from its collection hundreds of human remains including its famous collection of shrunken heads. Museums and society are waking up to the offense caused in the course of our checkered history. Again, it is hard for us to understand because the closest we get to a sense of what its like on the other side of history is seeing a statue of a tiger eating a 'white man'.

This is called Tipu's Tiger and happens to be in the V&A in London, so hardly upsetting.

Zephaniah of the Karelians

An Icon of Zephaniah from an Othodox Church in Karelia. Here is another divided land, split between Finland and Russian. The people speak a dialet of Finish, which is described as a uralic language, so a language from the east.

The dark blue area is in Finland and the light blue, in Russian (from Wikipedia). After the 'Winter War of 39-40, about 400,000 Karelia refugees traveled from Russian into Finland. It is now described as a place of decay. Karelia continues as a Russian republic, and as a Finnish southern region.

The first flag is of the 'Free' land of Karelia, using the scandinavia cross. This is a vain hope of reunification. The second is of the Russian republic of Karelia, with its capital in Petrozavodsk with a population of just under 270,000.