Virtual Methodist

"Pentecost" by Jyoti Sahi For years I have been profoundly moved, and inspired by two poems which each deal with the liturgical anomaly of the Feast of the Annunciation and Good Friday coinciding: “The Annunciation and Passion” by John Donne, and “Good Friday falls on Lady Day” by G.A. Studdert Kennedy.  This year The Feast of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth coincides with The Feast of Pentecost. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 Lockdown I have written almost nothing new. My mind has been too absorbed by other tasks. But this seemed an appropriate conjunction to prompt me writing. I am not bold enough to claim it as a product of inspiration, although I actually believe all forms of creativity are.  Kennedy's poem begins with the line "And has our Lady lost Her place" and I suppose there is an element of pondering on that in this. And it is one of the reasons I love the piece of art I am attaching to this and will post as my #PentecostArt piece on social m

"Ascension at Malahide" by Robert Shaw Below is my responsive version of Psalm 68 which we used in an adapted form for our pre-recorded service for the Sunday after Ascension and Aldersgate Sunday , available on South & Central Belfast Methodist's YouTube Channel. Sing songs to God, sing praise to his name: Lift up a song to the one who rides upon the clouds! Let those made right with God be glad, Let them rejoice before their Lord: Lift up a song to the one who rides upon the clouds! His name is the Great I AM, Let us rejoice before him: Lift up a song to the one who rides upon the clouds! Father to the fatherless, defender of widows, is God whose home is on high: Lift up a song to the one who rides upon the clouds! He creates homes for the homeless And places the lonely in a loving family: Lift up a song to the one who rides upon the clouds! He leads prisoners to freedom, singing for joy; but leaves rebels to rot in the heat of the sun: Lift up a song to

Bit of a black dog day today. Actually I am surprised I haven't had more of them in this lockdown period - I suppose I have been careful to keep a bit of a balance most of the time and haven't allowed myself to get too run down...  But for various reason, fido came calling today... So, I did the work that I absolutely had to do. I put on the required PPE (ie a laugh and a smile for those who didn't need to know) and I downed tools for an hour or two this afternoon... Actually for some of it I simply sat in the garden and sorted out buttons... and it was just what I needed. Let me explain.  A couple of weeks ago I got a message from both our CEO and a member of one of our churches talking about NI-Scrubs and the work that a team of volunteer sowers (seamstresses is too gender specific, and as we can see from the Great British Sewing Bee, another great black-dog-tamer, its not only women who sew) are doing to provide scrubs for frontline health care staff (chec

I don't often remember my dreams... and talk/write/blog about them even less. But last night is an exception. My sleep last night was filled with anxiety dreams about technological fails... Attempting to do various things online but failing... and the failure was not due to the technology each time but me... This was clearly my (not far below the surface) sub-conscious, trying to process a major gaff yesterday, where we were launching a new online midday prayer based on the Methodist Daily Office, and I (as the host) managed to click on the wrong link and effectively shut everyone else out of the event.  I didn't realise this until I had spent 5 minutes feeling somewhat dejected that no-one had taken us up on this offer, and a further 15 minutes going through the liturgy on my own... Getting a certain level of spiritual sustenance from it, but wrestling with a level of resentment that I had given up my "day off" to start this and no-one else could be bo

I’ve been posting pieces of art on Facebook and Twitter based on some aspect of the Daily Lectionary readings since the beginning of Lent, an exercise I also engaged in from the beginning of Advent until Epiphany… I’ll probably continue this until Trinity Sunday and then clock off… My process, as I outlined to someone a few weeks ago is that I do a lectio of the readings, with a key question guiding my second reading of the text being “what image comes out most strongly to you in these texts.” I then try to put that image into a few simple words. I then type them into Dr. Google (other search engines are available) and see what images are thrown up and whether any of them chime with the image that leapt out at me from the text. I rarely go down the purely illustrative route. I want images that make me (and others) rethink the text. But today was the first day I ran into a brick wall. I wasn’t too sure whether it was because I have run into a brinck wall myself with this whole covid-1