Virtual Methodist

So little over a week ago I served notice that I would be Recording my hoary old Jonah monologues and putting them up on YouTube, and Starting a series of Bible Studies/lectures on the Book of Jonah based on the series I delivered at Holden Village last summer. Well, I delivered on the first of those promises/threats, and if you haven't yet seen them, here is the first of them in glorious Technicolour (he says carefully inserting superflous u to avoid any copyright/trademark issues - something I have been tip-toeing around more than ever recently)  Tonight I start my series on this book, technology permitting... It's going to be going out live on the now ubiquitous Zoom, so there is no point putting a link on here that will be redundant in 9 hours time. But if you are reading this before then and are interested in joining us (and by us that could be me, Rev. Dr. Janet Unsworth, Principal of Edgehill Theological College, who is going to lead off in the Q&

A short poem inspired by variou reflections on the Emmaus Road story in today's gospel reading from the Lectionary which also inspired today's #EasterArt post "Walking to Emmaus" by Fritz von Uhle, together with other reading and thinking I have been doing about intentional communities, the life of John Wesley and the importance of place. Where is your Nazareth? Your Epworth?  Your place of anonymous unanimity?  "Sure we knew his father.”  The place where nothing good comes from.  Rugged hill country or low-lying swamp land.  The place that you must leave to thrive  But which never leaves you  Thankfully.   Where is your Emmaus? Your Aldersgate Street?  The road towards which you walk reluctantly,  Confused and dejected,  But the place from which you return  Heart-warmed and excited. A place of rest and refreshment  But never repose  Contentedly. 

Today in the Daily Lectionary my mate Jonah made another appearance and so as my #EasterArt post I shared this illustration from the Cervera Bible, a late 13th century Hebrew folio in the Lisbon Museum, illuminated by Joseph the Frenchman. I love the image, and I love the fact that the artist, who was working in Spain at the time was simply known as “Joseph the Frenchman.”  In 2019 as part of my Sabbatical I headed off Holden Village, a Lutheran Retreat Centre in of the north Cascade Mountains in Washington State, USA, where I could easily have been referred to as David the Irishman because (for that week at least) I was in a minority of 1. I Had the honour of being invited to lecture there, and indeed, was supposed to be returning to share a second set of lectures this coming summer but Covid-19 has put paid to that. The subject of last year’s lectures was the book of Jonah, a book which I have been fascinated with for years, and I incorporated in the lectures the series of mo

My #EasterArt post this morning was "The Incredulity of St. Thomas" by Caravaggio, a favourite painting of mine illustrating a favourite story. From many pulpits this morning Thomas will have been relieved of the traditional stinging soubrique of "Doubting". I perhaps would have said similar things myself had I been preaching, but I wasn't so instead I offer this brief reflection. (My friend Jim Deeds has offered his own doubting dialogue with God on his website , illustrated by the same Caravaggio painting.) God there are times I want to poke you In the side Like Thomas did With your recently dead son To see if you are alive Or to waken you up Because sometimes it seems Like you’re not there Like you don’t care Like things aren’t fair It was Thomas who was missing When Jesus first turned up But there are times When it seems that you are missing in action Or am I missing something? Selah

Today's #EasterArt image was chosen by Jenny Meegan, one of our Lay Preachers on the South and Central Belfast Methodist Circuit. It is a decorated initial, from a fifteenth-century Italian  Latin choir book , in the Free Library of Philadelphia, which features an image of the conversion of St Paul. In the New Testament we have an edited selection of Paul's Letters, including the First Letter to the Corinthians, from which one of today's lectionary readings is taken. Indeed back in my college days I took a course on the so-called Corinthian Correspondence, overseen by one of my predecessors as Superintendent of BCM. One of the frustrations in that correspondence is that we only have the letters from "one side", but the following is a letter to Paul from Jenny Meegan: Dear Paul,  I was surprised when David told me our reading for today was from your first letter to the Corinthians. I hadn’t expected to find you at the end of the first week of Easter! I

This is what happens when I am "off"... My head goes into a spiral and when I actually do have to get back to some work this sort of stuff comes out instead... Apologies...  By the way I'm not quite where this piece appears, but I suspect many are at present and I have been there and could easily end up there again... If it's you don't bottle it up. Talk to someone. Anyone. Even me... Or God... He's particularly good at listening if you want to go off on one... Anyway, here's today's offering: The sun is shining; The sky clear blue; But everything is dark. A gentle breeze is blowing; Spring is in full bloom; But the world is stagnant. Bees are buzzing busily; The songbirds are in full voice; But all I hear is noise. I have everything I need, And much of what I want, But my heart is empty  I have so much to do, And time enough to do it, But I feel redundant. I am not circumstances. I am not how I feel

A picture from a previous manse garden that appeared on my Facebook feed today, prompting me to think longingly of the past and forget the beauty around me now. I 'fessed up on Saturday to not "getting" John O'Donohue, outing myself as the spiritual pygmy that I am... From time to time, however, a line or two of his will break through my furrowed-brow reading of his writing, including my current re-reading of "Anam Cara." In it at one point he says "the eternal is not elsewhere", which prompted me, shameless thief, to use that phrase in the following piece: The eternal is not elsewhere. It knocks at the doors  of our senses. It is woven through  the warp and weft of the everyday. It is not for later: It is for now,  and always was. It is not confined  to sacred spaces Thin places Though they are  Arrow slits Through which to glimpse The wider vista  Which can be ours If only we would Look deeper S

As I said yesterday in my blog the post Holy Week slump has set in, so I am downing electronic tools for a few days to recharge my batteries and any evening devotionals that appear on the Circuit Facebook page will be down to colleagues and lay preachers who have volunteered to take over for a bit, with the occasional piece appearing as a guest post here on Virtual Methodist. I've always felt bad about the downing tools immediately after Easter phenomenon. I agree with N.T. Wright that in an ideal world Easter should be a longer celebration than Holy Week as we are suposed to be resurrection people. But this is not an ideal world, even less so than normal at the moment, and I need a rest. But I was delighted when I got today's guest post from the most recent member to join the circuit team. Lynn McFarland, the Lay Minister based primarily in Sandy Row Methodist. The image (which I happily posted as the second #EasterArt post this morning) and the blog reflect the sense of j

Having finished the #LentArt series this morning I posted this #EasterArt image: "Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the Garden" from the Resurrection Chapel of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. As with my #AdventArt posts, a number of people have urged me to keep going to Pentecost. Frankly, as with many others this strange covid-shaped Lent and Holy Week, I'm a bit exhausted from technological engagement, probably even more than I usually am after a week of face-to-face Holy Week services, so whilst I may sporadically post some #EasterArt images in the morning, I will not be posting an accompanying devotion blog here every night, although I have asked some lay and ordained colleagues to share in offering evening thoughts on our Circuit Facebook page and in order to facilitate some who are not so tech savvy I may host some of them here.  But this morning as well as sharing this post we also shared in a Facebook Live communion from our back garden (in place of the

I'll keep this short, because there are some times when there are no suitable words.  I love the sermons by Dr. S.M Lockridge and Tony Campolo that assert that "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" But this is Saturday... And we do well not to leap over this dark day, especially in this lockdown season. The daily government briefings inevitably include someone asking "How long will this lockdown last?" We need to learn to sit in the moment. As I write this the sun is shining outside and normally people would be streaming to beautiful locations to enjoy the weather this holiday weekend, but for the sake of everyone we need to stay, if not indoors, certainly within the limits assigned for us. As Christ was confined within the tomb. So in some ways the sunshine is at odds with the spiritual mood of this day.  Much mosre in keeping is my #LentArt Post this Holy Saturday, and essentially the final #LentArt post for this year: Mark Rothko's

Todays #LentArt post is a painting of Jesus in the crown of thorns by Mark Klaisner, a United Methodist Minister in Wisconsin USA. Mark has a skill with a paintbrush that it beyond me, and I find that those with such a skill open my eyes to things in the world and indeed the words of scripture that are often beyond my field of vision, and that is why I often use the art of others to explore Biblical texts in a way that is not about mere illustration, but which is about opening them up. Martin touched on this in his reflection last night. I hope that this exercise has been helpful to others apart from myself.  My “thing” is not painting but words. Be it the words with which I seek to explore the world and words of scripture in sermons, or the words in action to be found in theatre, or the distillation of ideas into fewer words that is what I seek to do in my attempts at poetry.  And my response tonight to the many words to be found in the Gospel reading for the lectionary ton

Today's #LentArt post is "The washing of the disciples' feet" by Ghislaine Howard, another piece from the wonderful Methodist Modern Art Collection. It has clearly struck a chord with a number of people, and I am delighted that tonight's guest blog is by my friend and fellow 4 Corners Director, Father Martin Magill, who, he will be embarrassed to have me say, is for me the epitome of a servant leader. Indeed it was interesting to have a friend and artist respond to my earlier post saying that this time last year she remembers having her feet washed by Martin... How much has changed in a year: This painting (completed in 2004) was inspired by these words from the gospel of John in today's lectionary:  Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water

When I was a child and got bored in church (not that I would ever bore anyone, young or old) there wasn’t much by way of art to distract me. There was one stained glass window of Jesus at the front and another of the story of the Good Samaritan… so I frequently resorted to counting bricks in the front wall of the church… No sermon was ever long enough to allow me to complete the count…  The early 12th-century church of St Martin in Zillis in the Swiss Canton of Graubünden doesn’t have much on the walls or windows for bored members of the congregation either… But if anyone in the congregation were to raise their eyes to heaven in despair at the long sermon they would find something that would really make them think…  153 painted square wooden panels of around 90 cm each placed in 17 rows of 9 panels installed around 1110 and which is one of only 3 similar examples left in the world. The 48 paintings framing the ceiling are mostly painted with mythical figures largely symbolizi

This morning’s #LentArt post was another painting by James Tissot from the Brooklyn Museum collection, like the one I posted on Palm Sunday, this one “The Gentiles Ask to See Jesus.” In this picture Jesus is his way up the steps of the Temple, towards its imposing pillared entrance. And standing at the head of the steeps like the proverbial gatekeepers of the House of the Lord are some of the representatives of the Jewish establishment. But Jesus is stopped on the steps by a request from some foreigners to meet him…  Unlike previous posts this wasn’t chosen by me but by my guest blogger this evening, Julian Hamilton, someone who blogs as sporadically as I usually do over at https://www.joolshamilton.com/blog/ and is the Methodist Chaplain to another pillared establishment:  These are fraught times. Unexpected and unwelcome trauma is visiting thousands of homes around this island, and around the world. There seems little respite. I am a chaplain to Trinity College Dublin, an

Earlier today I posted a the 41st in my series of #LentArt images based on the Daily Lectionary which I said was Frank Wesley's "Mary Magdalene washing the feet of Jesus". I was expecting some pushback.  Actually I got one comment on Facebook saying that this wasn’t how the person expected Mary Magdalene to look, and that’s probably true of most of us. Historically people have tended to imagine and portray Biblical characters through the lens of their own experience and for most of us that means primarily from a western European perspective. But in recent years we are perhaps more culturally aware and picture such characters with more classically eastern Mediterranean/middle eastern features. But the person in this picture is definitely not from that back ground either.  The artist Frank Wesley was actually a Christian from India. He was born in Azamgarh, in December 1923 into a fifth generation Methodist family, unsurprising given the surname.  He began h

Today’s #LentArt post is James Tissot’s “The Procession in the Streets of Jerusalem” or strictly speaking “Le cortège dans les rues de Jérusalem”, from the Brooklyn Museum. It’s a relatively straightforward rendering of story of Jesus entering into Jerusalem on what has become known as “Palm Sunday” because of the Palm leaves that we are told the crowd were waving and which we see in the hands of those following Jesus through the archway into the streets of Jerusalem in the picture. However, palm leaves don’t actually get a mention in the account from Matthew’s Gospel which is the reading in the lectionary for today:  As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” This took place to

Perhaps it is a feature of my personality and my struggle with depression, but for a long time I have believed and said to anyone willing to listen (including those who have been long term readers of this blog) that Christianity has done its adherents a disservice in ignoring that deep well of spirituality within Judaism described as “lament”. The upbeat rhythms of Christian worship, not just the modern product but going back to Moody and Sankey and before, has overwhelmingly sold the idea of “victorious Christian living” and to advocate anything else has often been decried as betraying a lack of faith (there are exceptions such as the Rend Collective’s “Weep with me” from a couple of years ago, but they are few and far between). Yet that is to ignore much of the Psalms and indeed the entire book of “Lamentations…” But recently an interview and article by N.T Wright has been widely shared and lauded on social media saying much the same as I (and other much more important but less po