Virtual Methodist

A poetic lectio of the entire book of Genesis, in part prompted by some of the poetry and reflections in my current Lent devotional "The Word in the Wilderness" by Malcolm Guite, reflecting on the nature of prayer. Instead of a twilight conversation Whilst walking together in the garden, I’m still hiding in the bushes, ashamed, In my crudely fashioned vegan loincloth. Rather than learning from my young brother I am murderously jealous of him, And deny responsibility when Asked of his whereabouts and wellbeing. Rescued from the coming cataclysm, Without any attempt to intercede, After the noisome lifeboat runs aground, I lie dead drunk beneath the rainbow’s arc When told the world was my inheritance I choose to take shortcuts believing Time is short and I know better and can Abuse and dispose of people at will. When I run from the consequences of My duplicity, and angels descend On my uncomfortable, wayside bed, I awake to continue the same way. I wrestle throu...

Today is Trinity Sunday, and it was a joy to hear my friend Jonathan Rea and others on Radio 4 leading the Morning Service (later repeated on Radio Ulster with some old New Irish material taken from the archives. It took me back to the years I was involved in some of the events in the Waterfront with them and particularly the 10th Anniversary event when we explored the issue of creation and creativity looking at chapter 1 of Genesis. As part of it 3 of my faithful band of actors, Jim Allen, Colin Shearer and Sharon Morwood (now Thompson) delivered a dramatised version of the following poem by Stewart Henderson . Given that one of the set readings in the lectionary for this morning was Genesis 1 I thought it would be appropriate to post it. Voice 1        When there was nothing, there was I                      Lighting volcanoes, stretching the sky...

I've posted this twice before, but used it as part of our Harvest Celebration of Creation and Creativity, so here it is again for the sake of completeness... Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."         Genesis 1: 26 Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror of a morning And wondered What does anyone see in me? God looked at himself in a mirror one morning A mirror which he had made… A mirror fashioned out of clay Transformed into flesh and bone… And in the mirror of man’s eye God saw himself… But it was not good. He was alone And God was never alone. He was always “us.” So God made another To make the picture complete… And that morning he saw himself in the mirror of mankind Male and female Loved and loving Created to create T...

Continuing the series on Creation and Creativity, but once again, what follows is not my own work, it is a dramatisation of Stewart Henderson's "When there was nothing" from "Homeland" (ISBN-10: 0340591188) And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day. And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. And God ...

When I restarted posting last weekend my plan was that I would post today's piece on Thursday, which was National Poetry day here in the UK... But as another poet said "the  the best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,  Gang aft agley..." And so today, in this continuing series based on our Harvest Celebration of Creation and Creativity, I post one of my favourite poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins... Enjoy both it and the wonderful world it describes... And praise the one who made them both possible...  Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the third day. Genesis 1: 11-13 Glory be to God for dappled things – For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls;...

So here is part 3 of my series of posts based on last Sunday's Harvest Celebration of Creation and Creativity, inspired by Genesis 1. The main part of this blog, a dramatised paraphrase of Psalm 8, I have posted a number of times before in different forms... and I was going to skip it, until on Tuesday a colleague used Psalm 8 and the Casting Crowns below as part of the devotions at a training day I was at. On Sunday we also used a version of the same song, but sung by the wonderful Melanie Johnston. Great minds think alike... or something like that... And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. Genesis 1: 6-8 Dramatised Reading : Psalm 8 BOTH:          O LORD , our God, your name is ho...

I re-post this as the second in a series of pieces from Sunday evening’s Harvest Celebration of Creation and Creativity, prompted by the 7 days of Genesis 1, but I am also prompted to post it in the light of a 2 day chaplaincy workshop on suicide and mental health, during which one of our facilitators, Conor McCafferty, spoke of identifying “the treasure in the dark” that sustains life in the most difficult circumstances. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day. Genesis 1: 3-5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 (RSV ) I’m grown up now… but I’m still afraid of the dark… I pretend that I’m not… But then adults are good at pretending… Children play “let’s pretend” but they’r...

As promised I will be posting a series of poems, monologues etc that we used in our Harvest Sunday Celebration of Creation and Creativity. Many of them I have posted previously as I originally wrote most of them for New Irish Arts' 10th Anniversary a whole ten years ago... This offering was originally written as a piece for 3 voices... In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1: 1-2 Before anything was I am… Before the beginning I always had been I was in the beginning and the beginning was in me… As is the end… There was never nothing There is always me… And always will be… I am Eternally infinite… Uncreated creator Unchangeable Yet unfathomable I am But I chose to say “Let there be…” And there was There is Selah

In the midst of my preparations for last week's reflections on John's Gospel and how it echoes the first chapter of Genesis, I came across the following piece which was produced by similar cross-fertilization a few years ago when I was writing some material for New Irish Arts. I didn't use it last week, but thought it was worth another airing.  And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day", and the darkness he called "night". And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:3-5 (ANIV) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 (RSV) I’m grown up now… but I’m still afraid of the dark… I pretend that I’m not… But then adults are good at pretending… Children play “let’s pretend” but they’re only practicing for the serious pretending that goes on in adulthoo...

After an Easter sabbath rest from our reflections on Genesis 1 & John's Gospel, we return for a final time, based on Genesis 2-3 and John 20: 18 two stories which culminate with a woman in a garden... I saw him… with my own eyes… although I didn’t recognize him at first… it must have been the tears… I thought he must have been the gardener, and I gave him a hard time about where they had put the body… I can’t imagine what he thought… I gabbled on until he said “Miriam”… My name… though you know me as Mary… Whatever way he said my name cut through my distress and confusion and I saw him as clearly as I see you now… my dear teacher… “Rabboni” I said as I rushed to embrace him… But he wouldn’t let me… Something about not holding him back from returning to his father… So I didn’t… But he asked me to go and tell his friends and family that he had risen and was returning to his Father God… So I did… to a mixed reception… but they saw that I was right in the end when they s...

We continue our reflections on the new creation that is ours in Christ, using Genesis 1: 14-19, John 1: 43-51, John 9: 1-5 and John 12: 35-36 Opening Liturgy And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19 (ANIV) Reading The next day Jesus decided to leave for  Galilee . Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of  Bethsai...

Have been looking at what the Bible says about Creation and Evolution with my Bible study group this week and my mind went back to this performance poem written by me. I originally posted it on the 1st February back in 2008 in response to some stuff written by Glenn Jordan over on Crookedshore, but it was first written to be performed (brilliantly) by Sharon Morwood, (now Thompson), at the Waterfront Hall as part of "Genesis", a 10th Anniversary event by New Irish Arts, inspired by the first chapter of the Bible. New Irish Arts continues to try and prompt and support Christians with a creative bent, and have now instituted a "Christian Creatives" event at the Oasis Cafe in East Belfast on the last Tuesday evening of each month. Haven't made it along myself yet but I hope to soon. If the image of the creator is imprinted on us, male and female, then we are all, in one way or another created to create... Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror of a morning ...