On the fourth day of Christmas...watch the shadows bend

I'm a little behind on the blog as my phone died at work last night, a timely reminder after reflecting on my technology addiction earlier in the day!
I'm going to share another song today, by a lovely chap called Bryan Odeen. We're members of the same online community and he sometimes shares his music with us. I love Bryan's music, it  has an undercurrent of theology which feels very much like my own; open hearted, inclusive and hopeful.
This song is called "Bring the Light" and for me is a message of how, despite our own darkness and vulnerabilities,  we can still be a light for others.
You can listen to it here

The 12th

Rejoice

“Your heart will rejoice,” Jesus promises us in John. “Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” So, how much joy do you have in your life? It is a gift and a promise. Maybe this Christmas you could ask God for the gift of joy. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel has come to you.

Br. Geoffrey Tristram

Today I was not a good observer of Advent, I wasn't prayerfully preparing, I was full on celebrating! Our community choir gave us the most wonderful Christmas concert in church and then we all headed into the pub for sing-a-long beer and carols. And it was glorious. And joyful.
Ruth, our choir mistress, reminded us of the health benefits of singing and particularly of the endorphins released into our system, making us joyful. Communal singing is something particularly wonderful, the shared joy; the bond between us.
Christmas is a time for joyful song and particularly for singing together.

Today I found joy in singing! Was thankful for the power of music and felt helpless about making time for the stuff that matters.

Scripture

And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

Matthew 6:27-29 

Day 22

Every element has a sound,
an original sound from the order of God;
all those sounds unite like the harmony from harps and zithers.
(Hildegard of Bingen)

A suggestion for your prayer and meditation:

Accept this offering of sound for your practice of prayer:
"Tosavalsen"

Pastor Patty Fox 40 days with 40 Christian mystics

Today Pastor Patty shares something of herself with us- her music. It's intimate- personal. We, like the elements, each have our own sound- our speech, our singing, our playing. We may not have skill, it may sound awful to others, but if we're using it in praise I'm sure it sounds beautiful to God.

Day 12

God created through love and for love. 
God did not create anthing except love itself,
and the means to love.
He created love in all its forms. 
He created beings capable of love
from all possible distances. 
Because no other could do it,
he himself went to the greatest possible distance,
the infinite distance. 
This infinite distance between God and God,
this supreme tearing apart,
this agony beyond all others,
this marvel of love, is the crucifixion. 
Nothing can be further from God
than that which has been made accursed.

This tearing apart,
over which supreme love
places the bond of supreme union,
echoes perpetually across the universe
in the midst of the silence,
like two notes,
separate yet melting into one,
like pure and heart-rending harmony.

This is the Word of God.
The whole creation is nothing but its vibration.
When human music in its greatest purity
pierces our soul,
this is what we hear through it.

(from Waiting For God by Simone Weil)

A suggestion for your prayer and meditation:

Put on a piece of music that pierces your soul and listen for the Word of God.
Pastor Patty Fox 40 days with 40 Christian mystics

This pierces my soul and let's me know I'm surrounded by God's love:

Karl Jenkins- Benedictus

Be More Peaceful

When I was at university Dermot Morgan, the actor who played Father Ted, died very suddenly. I was bereft, being obsessed with the show, so as soon as I could arrange it I hopped on a train from Liverpool to Bolton to go out, dance and get drunk with my best friend Lindsay.
Tonight I feel like doing the same thing, although it's Lindsay's husband I want to raise a glass with, for he like myself is a huge fan of Terry Pratchett. Today we learned the beyond sad news that Sir Terry had died, eight years after being diagnosed with early onset Altzheimer's disease.
At the age of 12 I was an avid library user, both parents being bibliophiles. My excitement upon turning 13 was immense because I could now access the young adult fiction. In particular I had been eyeing up a book I wanted to borrow as soon as I was old enough, mainly due to its cover artwork by Josh Kirby. The book was Equal Rites. It introduced me to Discworld, a place I have never left. Eventually I convinced my husband to join me there, and now my kids are coming along too- my daughter went to last week's World Book Day as Tiffany Aching.
Whilst I don't intend to leave Discworld anytime soon, the news of Sir Terry's death, a man of such genius imagination, leaves me just so ridiculously sad.
It has however had me reminiscing about my days spent in the library and how formative those years between 11 and 15 were. As well as Discworld I discovered my enduring love for Sean Bean, Hugh Laurie and Doc Martens. I also discovered one of my other true and eternal loves- like Terry I found him down the library. As well as access to the Discworld books at 13 I could borrow music. As with my book choices I often borrowed music based on the cover, which is probably how I ended up borrowing ChangesBowie, a David Bowie singles compilation, and I fell in love forever. As I drove home from college tonight I listened to that album rather loudly and the familiarity and comfort filled me with immense peace. Those songs still make me feel like I'm 13 again and I never grow weary of them.
It's interesting that most of the things I still love completely are from that time- will the things I'm purposefully doing now to aid my formation as a priest have as much influence on me? When I look back in 20 years what will have influenced me most as a Minister?

Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Be more peaceful

don't know if you're like me, but if you are then taking a bit of time for peace or relaxation is one of the greatest luxuries you can experience. Sitting without doing something is rare- I don't even really watch TV, although with the F1 season having started and Games of Thrones back on next week that will change.
I love music but it's something I listen to whilst on the go- in the shower, doing chores, cooking- listening to relax is a rarity.
For today's task I made a playlist with enough relaxing pieces of music to get me to college and back. When I was parked outside college I played one track I'd singled out as my 'relaxing music'. The result was my being even more docile than usual in class- things were going over my head but I was too chilled out to care!
On my retreat last weekend I set time aside to relax and be peaceful, and used music to help. I do find that when I've given myself permission to relax I find it quite easy- and it's amazing once you've found that peace how open and receptive you are to hearing God's voice.

Let them sing out their joy for ever.

Psalm 5:12
"But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them sing out their joy for ever."

Taking Lucy for her walk tonight I realised that our road has turned into a Christmas wonderland of twinkling lights- they must think the Grinch lives in our dark little corner, not a family who fully embrace Christmas but are trying to spiritually prepare for it.
The truth is that with working, studying and trying to complete assignments I've not had a moment to think about decorations. I had a day of leave today just to try and catch up on the housework!

The children had their first choir rehearsal this evening, Jacob was a little lost in the technicalities but Faith loved it- seeing how all the different parts of the choir come together. It was a real eye opener for me to see the work and preparation involved to produce our beautiful musical Christmas services- and I felt so proud that my kids were part of that. Music is a massive part of my Advent. The Christmas CD gets it's first airing as soon as we leave church on Advent Sunday, the Christmas songs get loaded onto my ipod, Carols From Kings plays as we decorate the tree and The Lancashire Hotpots Christmas album has to be played on Christmas Day! Joyful music is a wonderful way to praise God- and what's more joyful than Christmas music?!