Virtual Methodist

Two Christmases ago I got a linocraft kit from Sally as a present. I suspect it is another way of her keeping me in the attic during my time off! Since then I have, from time to time produced various prints. I am even less assured in my printing endeavours than I am in my poetic ones. In both I am, at best, an enthusiastic amateur, or as Stephen Fry's father apparently described him, a "pasticheur". That is very much the case with the image here which is based directly on an “African Madonna” by Hennie Niemann Jnr. I created it last year over my Christmas break for use as a Christmas card this year and using some tools sent to me and advice given to me by a Bedlam Theatre friend and skilled print artist Matt Barrell from London, when producing it. Little did I know that by the time that this Christmas came, he would have died. So I have entitled it "Madonna for Matt." But events in the media over recent weeks including Jeremy Clarkson's appalling column, Ali...

"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...

I think I have posted this before, but can't find it... But here it is as performed yesterday at our BCM Toy Appeal service. There will be a few other pieces posted that were used at it as the week goes on.  He who was there when the universe was formed… took form inside my womb… He who is the source of all good gifts suckled at my breast… He who walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, I taught to walk as a toddler… He who carved the commandments on tablets of stone with his finger, learned them from me at the kitchen table… He who inspired the psalmists learned their songs on my knee… It was amazing… I saw the son of God grow into a man… I know every mother thinks that their child is perfect… Particularly their first… But my son was… Why me? I was little more than a child myself when the angel came to me… I thought it was a dream. But if it was, it was more real than anything I had ever experienced until that day. He said, it said... whatever: “Mary you have b...

The fifth of our Holy Week eye witnesses at the Agape Centre, an appropriate one given that this day in the Christian calendar is usually the Feast of the Annunciation, 9 months before Christmas, but because it falls on Good Friday, that feast is deferred until the 4th April. 25  Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26  When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing near by, he said to her, ‘Woman, [ b ]   here is your son,’   27  and to the disciple,   ‘Here is your mother.’   From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. 28  Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’   29  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.   30  When he had receiv...

Following the recent hair-brained decision of the Church of England not to permit woman bishops whilst allowing women priests, I thought that we might have a week or two without further gender-related stupidity making the church out to be "Taliban Lite". But then along comes the intelligentsia of Bristol University Christian Union and their decision to ban women teaching  in certain contexts (unless their husbands are with them) for the sake of inclusivity. Well, I suppose in scripture the women are largely there to bear children and cook, although at least one was also deadly with a tent peg... (See Judges 4: 14-21). Deborah, mentioned in that passage famously sang of the victory she played a part in (Judges 5), and at this time of year we remember that Jesus' mother liked a wee sing song too... I wonder whether women are allowed to teach using the medium of song in Bristol CU, because there is as much theology in Mary's Magnificat as I heard in many of the CU t...

Whilst my friend Sharon delivered yesterday's monologue at Seymour Street Methodist on Sunday morning, I delivered the following one. I wrote them over 15 years apart, but there are definite echoes of the former one in this "partner piece". One of the reasons I wrote it is that poor old Joseph is one of the most voiceless characters in scripture... Whilst the Protestant tradition has scandalously neglected Mary the Mother of Jesus over the years, no-one pays much attention to Jesus' step-dad. Yet he could, in many ways, be the patron saint of many of the dads I encounter today in "blended" families, or distanced from their children through relationship breakdowns, or not sure how to look after their families because they are working class men in a world where their skills are surplus to requirement. After the monologue, I've included some prayers prompted by the story. Joseph is dressed in overalls/dungarees with a tool belt on, and begins with a hamm...

Partly prompted by the thoughts of Will Grady reblogged on Connexions , what follows is a brief excerpt from the New Irish Arts show "I Witness" that I wrote a few years ago... They're the words of Mary, Jesus' mother, as she thinks back on her first-born's early years... He who was there when the universe was formed, took form inside my womb… He who is the source of all good gifts suckled at my breast… He who walked in the Garden of Eden, I taught to walk as a toddler… He who carved the commandments on tablets of stone with his finger, learned them from me at the kitchen table… He who inspired the psalmists, learned their songs on my knee… It was amazing… I saw the son of God grow into a man… I know every mother thinks that their child is perfect… Particularly their first… But my son was… Shalom

An advent litany for the Sunday before Christmas: We light this fourth candle to give thanks for Mary the Mother of Jesus, Who heard God’s words to her, God’s surprising words, And responded with humble faith, Being ready to welcome the gift of God’s son, No matter what that would then bring. We light this candle... May its light overcome the darkness

Last weekend there was a whole hoo-haa about the injustice of 50 year old Dublin Tesco employee Mary Byrne getting axed on the X-factor ... Even prestigious Anglican bloggers have been vexed by it... However, I'm not convinced that the X-Factor being unjust is particularly newsworthy... Indeed, whether the decision as to who stays on is decided by a democratic phone-vote, or by a Cowell-dominated cabal, justice is unlikely to play a huge part in it all. But today, my thoughts are not primarily with a 50 year old singing Mary from an unprestigious area of Dublin, but a somewhat younger singing Mary, from an equally unprestigious village in northern Palestine. Carrying on the story from yesterday's annunciation, we turn to Mary of Nazareth's song of praise to God in the light of his promise of pregnancy to Elizabeth, her elderly cousin being fulfilled. This familiar song of praise, read or sung in various forms not only in advent, but throughout the year, should resonate powe...

Over the next week the lectionary shifts its focus from John the Baptist to Mary, the young, unmarried, mother of Jesus... I'm conducting a few services in the next week that focus on her and the "Annunciation" of her impending pregnancy... And in them I'll be using probably the first monologue I ever wrote... written way back in 1995 for my friend Diane Petherick (as she was then) to deliver at a Christmas show we had "conceived" called "Christmas Craic!" It was subsequently filmed for UTV, but I didn't get to direct it and (in my not so humble opinion) it was rubbish. I thought I had posted it here previously... but for some reason I haven't... I now correct that omission... What a dream! No... No... It wasn't a dream... I wasn't even asleep... Or if it was a dream then it was more real than anything else I've ever known! I could smell the light and feel every sound. And no, I wasn't drunk! It was the morning time. I was a...

Though most of the men who followed Jesus deserted him at the cross, his female followers remained to observe his death. All four gospels mention this striking fact (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49; John 19:25) despite the fact that this would have been seen as discrediting Jesus and his mission as being "only for women." Some things never change! Only John specifies that Mary, Jesus’ mother was among the women who remained near him until the end. Perhaps this is because he is the “disciple whom Jesus loved” who appears time and again in this gospel account, including at the cross. He writes: Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing near by, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. John 19...