Lent Thirty One "Get up and Walk"

 

Oum-El-Dounia  by Lara-Baladi, Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian.

The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking. Dr Johnson, The Rambler, 1750 - 52

The love of life.  I can imagine arriving in heaven and being asked over a first meal, "Well, what did you think?  Was it good?  Was it amazing?  What did you do?"  And how would we answer?  

Proverbs Chapter Nine

‘Wisdom’ has prepared a great banquet.

From within her splendid mansion she invites the simple and meek.

Come and join me, eat and drink.

I have only the best here.

Join me and experience life to the full.

 

Don’t bother correcting the mocker- you will get hurt.

But the wise value correction.  They have their ears open.

 

The core of wisdom is to honour your creator.

Wisdom will bless you.  That is its gift.

 

The paradox of folly is it cannot see itself.

It does not realise that its ways are lies,

And that they will all lead to dead-ends.

PRAYER:  I want to appreciate all I have been given.  Thank you for what you have given me.

Lent Thirty "Get up and Walk"

 

Debris in Aleppo by Tony Kwaman - Kwaman Gallery

I can’t tell if a straw ever saved a drowning man, but I know that a mere glance is enough to make despair pause.  For in truth, we who are creatures of impulse, are not creatures of despair.  

Joseph Conrad, Chance, 1913

Every morning the challenge is...to live... says Albert Camus. The way to truly live, is to have hope.  But hope that is based on fingers crossed, genuflect and look up to the sky, as seen every week as footballers come onto the pitch or score a goal, is not enough.  Hosea chose a challenging life.  He married the love of his life, but was warned that he would experience hardship.  When the Creator formed us, I guess the same warning was known already. 

Hosea Chapter Three

The Creator spoke again. “Stay faithful to your unfaithful wife, and show her tenderness. This will be a picture of how I also treat the people of Israel.” So I paid off my wife’s debts, and brought her back from the slums. I asked her to be faithful to me, and we would devote ourselves to reconciliation. This was also the pattern for Israel, in finding new life, a real change was necessary. Eventually the people will see how wonderful this love is, and it will make them tremble with awe.

PRAYER:  One day I will fully know what was the price you paid for me.  I praise you now for this.

Lent Twenty Nine "Get up and Walk"

 

Shame Totem by Gregory Fricker, Ugallery 

The world is shamefully managed, one hardly knows to whom to complain.  Ronald Firbank, Mrs Shamefoot in Vainglory, 1915

Do we expect things to be the perfection we see in our own mind's eye?  Kant's famous quote also comes to mind.  "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made."   And nothing seems to flow in a straight line.  But perhaps let us start with this as a given.  

Lamentation Chapter Three

I have witnessed the Creator’s anger.  I have been draw into the dark places where the flesh creeps, and bodies break.  I am walled into an impenetrable cell.  I shout and scream, but no one hears me.  The Creator waits like a bear to attack.  I am dragged off the path and torn to pieces.  I hear laughter in my ears; it is my own people mocking me.  What a bitter cup of sorrow the Creator hands to me.  I survive by chewing gravel.  All I have hoped for drains away.  I will never forget these awful times.  But yet there remains a faint memory:

The steadfast love of the Creator never fails.  The Creator’s mercy never come to an end. 

They are new every morning!

And I remember that I am promised an inheritance, and my hope again rises.

The Creator blesses those who search; who depend; who wait patiently.

There is a special blessing for those who submit to the Creator from a young age.

They have the strength to sit down in the dust, to retain their hope, to turn the other cheek to those who oppress them, to accept insults from their enemies.

For we are not abandoned forever.  From grief flows compassion.  The Creator does not enjoy pain and suffering.  The down trodden are never over-looked.  Why do we complain?  We are just humans who are players in our own afflictions. 

Let us examine our ways, and return to our Creator.  Let us lift up our hearts and hands and offer praise to our maker.  We have caused you great harm, and we are not let off.  The consequent is terrible to bare.  We find we are a long way off and our voice is weak. 

Tears pour from my eye; they never cease, until you notice.

My enemies, who I never harmed, have cast me in a pit.  The waters rises.

I call to you and say “It is finished.”

In my despair I called on you, and you heard my voice.  “Do not fear,” You say.

Save me, redeem me, plead my case.

My enemies whisper and mutter.

Protect me from my enemies!

PRAYER:  All I surely know is that you will never leave me or forsake me, and I praise you today.

Fifth Sunday "Get up and Walk"

 

Avenue at Middelharnis (1689) by  Meindert Hobbema
National Gallery, London

All religions will pass, but this will remain: simply sitting in a chair and looking in the distance.  V.V. Rozanov, Solitaria, 1912

At a time when our lives have been slowed down by isolation and immobility, there is a lot to be said for just being able to sit and stare.  I have a pair of binoculars on my table and make a mad dash for them as I see what might be a woodpecker, or gold crest, in the branches of a tree.  If all is stripped away, what are we left with?  Because this is all that is important.   

Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven

What would you prefer, expensive perfume, or a good reputation?

The day of your death is even more significant than your birth.

Funerals are more meaningful than parties.

Sorrow is more profound than laughter.

Sorrow can change your destiny.

A fool ignores death with many distractions.

 

Extortion and bribes corrupt the heart.

Finishing is more significant than starting.

Move on from the ‘good old days’.

Wisdom and wealth are a powerful combination;

But it is wisdom that saves your life.

 

Accept what the Creator has done,

Building with the crooked beams of humanity (cf Immanuel Kant)

Enjoy what you have today.  Remember that it might change.

Nothing is certain in this life

 

I have seen beautiful young people cut down, and the wicked grow old in luxury.

 

How to find a balance in life?

Just as I try to be humble, happy and wise,

These are out of my reach.

I easily find the opposite;

No problem there.

 

I believe that the Creator intended us to be perfect,

But each of us has followed our own downward path.

PRAYER: When all is taken away, I am left with only you.  You are all I need, and I bless you.

Lent Twenty Eight "Get up and Walk" incomplete

 

Cave Painting found on the Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia

Religion consists of believing that everything that happens is extraordinarily important.  It can never disappear from the world, precisely for this reason.  

Cesare Pavese, This Business of Living: Diaries 1935-50

Reading about Pavese tragic, beautiful life makes me feel that he is allowed to say what he likes.  We run the risk of take ourselves too seriously.  But Pavese found no reason to live and ended his life when he was 41.   It was when I was sixteen that I found my contemporaries became more relaxed and stopped taking themselves so seriously.  I did too.  You can be less anxious when you allow the world not to make complete sense.  

I return to my reflection that organised religion is likely to be a relative new coming on this planet.  We miss the point if we think it is religion that is the important thing.  To me it is the connection between all things, with the most important connection being to the 'vine'.  Here is a simple story of an everyday gift of food.  Food will always remain important to humans- something that can never disappear from the world.

Gospel according the John Chapter Six       

                    Feast And Fast

                All these people!  This has become a phenomenon.

                They can't get enough of him.

                Taken time off, trapesing across the country.

                Is he that good?

 

                Now he wants them all to be looked after.

                They're getting hungry.

                Isn't it obvious this was going to happen?

                And we're going without all the time.

 

                Let's do a whip round.

                Typical - nothing - totally unprepared.

                Kind kid- What would his mum say?

                Well done Andrew.

 

                Here have some, but don't be greedy.

                It's got to go round 5000.

                I should really be back at work, not party to this fiasco.

 

                He looks up to heaven, says the grace.

                "Thank you God to the lucky winner of some kid's lunch."

 

                What's this? Hand it out.  Sure. Nothing to do with me mate.

                A bit more?  Bigger lunch than I thought.

                Hey you, give us a hand, this isn't finished.

 

                Umm, quite tasty. That's a great bread 'n' fish sandwich.

                Anyone for more?  Yes, no problem. Here pass it on,

                Plenty where it came from.

                You! No need to grab.  I'll serve you last!

 

                Do you mind if I borrow your basket?

                You'll get it back for sure, with interest.

                Vegetarian?! Just fling the fish to the cats!

 

                I'm a bit uneasy about this.

                This lot are going to want more and more.

                I know what 'He' will be saying;

                'Food's one thing, but it's not enough.

                It's spiritual food you're craving.

                This stuff 'll fill you up for a day.

                You need manna that will sort you out for eternity.'

 

                I'm going to suggest next time,

                Let's be a bit harsh.

                A little nibble and a small sip.

                That's you limit.

 

PRAYER:  Thank you for the life sustaining presence.

Lent Twenty Seven "Get up and Walk"

 

Wheat Field with Cypresses Vincent Van Gogh
Metropolitan Art Gallery New York

Fortunately, in her kindness and patience, Nature has never put the fatal question as to the meaning of their lives into the mouths of most people.  And where no one asks, no one needs to answer.  

Jung, ‘The Development of Personality’, 1934

When Grace Graham, wife of the evangelist Billy Graham,  was asked about her conversion experience, she explained that she had grown up knowing the presence of God in her life from the start.  As she grew older she became more aware of this presence, and developed a relationship.  She said that it was similar to her the development of her relationship with her mother and father.  I believe that Jung's sentiment is 'tongue in cheek'.  He is saying, 'why trouble their pretty little heads?'  The person who does not consider meaning in their life is the person who focuses on the little things, and looks only in one direction.  Not a bad thing, but not exactly free.  

Gospel according to John Chapter Fourteen

Just Say Again

Jesus:  Hey, don't let yourselves be glum!  You know the creator of all things, and you trust me! Where I am going is a wonderful place. I'll make sure that there's provision for everyone. I'm not leading you on, I'm serious.  And you know exactly how to get there.

Thomas:  Ah, that's the problem we haven't a clue.  Just say again.

Jesus: It's me.  Follow me, and you will get there.  I bring you into complete truth, and life as it's designed to be lived.  If you know me, you know the creator of all.  So just think, you've now actually met your creator!

 Philip:  Yes, that's the bit we need.  Just show us the creator.

 Jesus:  Look at me Philip, Look.  How do you think I have been able to speak with such authority, and do the wonderful things you have seen happen?  I'm not some crazy magician.  It's the creator inside me.  We are one together.  What's more, we can be inside you too, and you will continue to see amazing things happen. Your lives will bring us both glory and honour.  Ask for anything in my name, we are with you, just think of 

PRAYER: I can not 'drum up' or 'imagine' your presence with me.  Like a parent with a new born child; you are never far away, and I thank you.

Lent Twenty Six "Get up and Walk"

 

Der Mönch am Meer (Monk by the Sea)
by Casper David Friedrich-Alte Nationalgaleria, Berlin

God made everything out of nothing.  But the nothingness shows through.  Paul Valéry, Mouvaisers pensées et autres, 1942

Is this a comment on God, or on us? Or on the stuff between?  There is a discomfort, a disappointment, a disconnect here.  It is as if we are born into a labyrinth.  In the dark, we bump around discovering things.  Our present time likes to think that we have learnt from the fruitless search of the past.  The false summits, and shared prejudices.  

But although the life we observe appear to be have holes and unanswerable paradoxes, there is something that will not go away.  I have a relationship with something that is beyond me; that is not me, because it does not think like me.  It is not a projection of greatness in my head.  This is the being in the nothingness, who helps me to live more than physically.  This is the one who lightens my darkness.

Letter to the Hebrews Chapter Two

  We must pay attention to this ageless message, If we take our eye off the ball, we could easily be lost. Jesus’ authority was confirmed by an astonishing outpouring of signs and wonders. The incredible thing is that the Creator has never given up on us. We have been made just less than superhumans! When Jesus came, he took on our limitations. He led from the front, prepared to sacrifice himself for all people. This restoration brings us back into the royal family. So our Creator took on the form of his creation and walked with us. As a human he was subjected to the torments of sickness and evil. Only by dying for us is the curse of being cut off from the life source restored. It was the only way, destined from the dawn of time, to remove evil and wickedness from the world. Even before the first deliberate act of hurt was committed, we were warned, “being cut off would lead to death.”

PRAYER: Lighten my darkness I plead with you Creator.