Discerning the Desert Flower

Whilst reading a book written by and for women coping with cancer, yesterday I came across a quote by Brother Roger of Taize who reputedly said:
"When desertions, doubts, discouragements and the silences of God seem to cover everything, will you discern the desert flower?"
That seemed to be a pretty good theme for Lent this year.
During Lent last year I took up a discipline of positivity, in contrast to my usual grouchiness - see yesterday's post for example... and I've decided to do the same this year, using yesterday's post as my psychological "pancake Tuesday" using up the negativity lying around in my larder. The idea is to once again have a Lent which isn't about giving things up, but offering uplifting thoughts... I'll even be using that as a criterion for any Saturday link-dumps... So if you are looking for cynicism, (self) righteous indignation and pure unadulterated anger, you may look elsewhere for a while at least...

We'll see if my hit rate goes down...

By the way, last year in my introduction to my Lent project, I mentioned the comment in an oriental script with the word S E X embedded in it which had been appended to a strangely popular post... well, I was right, when I removed the dubious comment I stopped getting as many hits... There's a sermon in there somewhere...
Another discipline I intend following, prompted by my good lady wife, is to go back and use the material prepared by the Centre for Contemporary Christianity under the title of "Out of the Ordinary." I actually did a short internship with CCCI during my last sabbatical and was part of the team who prepared it for Lent that year... so I thought it might be interesting to revisit it during this Lent and the Sabbatical that begins this time next week...
If you haven't yet thought of a Lent discipline for yourself, you could try Rachel Held Evans' back catalogue of ideas.

Shalom

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LentArt: Washing the Disciples' Feet

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 ...

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that ...

Living under the Empire... (2) Where is Babylon?

We were driving back from school last week, talking about books that we had been reading and my younger son, Ciaran, asked me "Where is Babylon?" I have to confess that my history is better than my geography, and I said that it no longer exists as an inhabited city, but its ruins were to the north west of the current capital of Iraq, Baghdad. When I checked however, I discovered that it is actually about 50 miles south of Baghdad and the modern town is the administrative centre of the province of Babil... But just as the modern city is but a shadow of the historic capital of 2 ancient empires, first under Hammurabi in the 18th century BCE and then the "Neo-Babylonian" empire (under Nebuchadnezzar etc) in the 6th century BCE, so the earthly Babylonian empire/s was/were fleeting in comparison to the enduring metaphorical idea of Babylon. The original Empire under Hammurabi was probably the ultimate origin of some of the early Biblical stories, including the ...

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