and when i stamped my feet

And when I stamped my feet on the grave

The thumping soon became a dance

And I felt both the sadness and the joy

Well up in my heart

And I knew then

That life and death

Are so close

And in that space

Sacredness arises

And the tears that ran down my face

Released me to the great mystery of it all.

Anonymous

transformation

Transformation: one definition is "qualitative change" – I like this. This definition moves us on from numbers to value. Our consumerist orientated society discounts value, and is in conflict with our faith which discounts a quantitative approach to life.

wisdom

I came across this wonderful list of words describing Wisdom (The Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-23 NRSV):


The Nature of Wisdom

There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,

unique, manifold, subtle,

mobile, clear, unpolluted,

distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,

irresistible, beneficent, humane,

steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,

all-powerful, overseeing all,

and penetrating through all spirits

that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.

remembrance sunday - lest we forget

I found this wonderful poem which I used as the focus for our Remembrance at Church this morning:

Lest We Forget

What do we forget when we remember
What are the stories left untold
What do we think each November
As we march down that glory road
As we march down that gory road

One hundred million
Don’t come home from war
Another eight hundred million
Who lived to bear its scar
Who lived to bear its scar

Lest we forget
What they were dying for
Lest we forget
What they were killing for
Lest we forget
What the hell it was for

What do we forget when we remember…

Owen Griffiths

neglect

Realised I have been rather ignoring my blog page. Somehow life gets full, and with recording my sermons these days, I reflect in writing less. I have new energy having come across http://ow.ly/15ZKzM where Chris Brogan says:

The secret to blogging every day is a blend of three things: discipline, practice, and ideas.