Virtual Methodist

This piece was initially prompted by my current parallel reading of Gladys Ganiel's "Considering Grace", dealing with how the Presbyterian Church handled the Troubles, Robert Harris's "The Second Sleep", which turns on the relationship between the past, future, presnt and faith, a book produced by my son Ciaran's archaeology department, and Avivah Zornberg's psychoanalytic, midrashic comentary "The Murmuring Deep" from which I posted the following quote by Osip Mandelstam on Sunday.  "poetry is the plough tearing open and turning over time so that the deep layers of it, its rich black undersoil, ends up on the surface.... Mankind ... craves, like a ploughman, for the virgin soil of time."  I took the liberty of stealing a particularly evocative line, but then I freely acknowledge that artistically and intellectually, I am little more than one of those birds that swoop in after the plough or the seed drill to snatch some...

A poem prompted by reading Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg's midrash on Rebekah and Rachel, a family birth, fears for the future with the New Year just on the horizon and the abiding inability to deal healthily with the past in this part of the world. What binds us to what was, Or what is yet to be? Is it life-giving,  Or necrotic,  Poisoning both?  There comes a time  After the agony of emergence  That the cord must be cut.  Only then can both survive  And thrive.  A scar will remain.  A memory of the unremembered, Both nurturing and traumatic, Too often disregarded  As a focus of selfish contemplation,  Seeing oneself as the centre of the world, Yet actually a relic  Of dependence and devotion. But there is no going back  Nicodemus was right in that.  A new connection  Must be made and tended. But first, cut... Selah

Here is a monologue from the perspective of one of the Magi who came to worship the new King of the Jews. I was originally going to perform a simplified version of this, for an all all context last week but was flattened by a chest infection. It had no reference to the Jews in Babylon or the massacre of the innocents, but did start with the line guaranteed to win over an audience with a high proportion of children "My bum hurts!" I decided to ditch that for this version, which I am publishing today given the lectionary reading, although I am not preaching today, not because of illness but just because I'm getting a Sunday off. I am aware of the contrasting theories re the origins of the Magi, and whether they arrived just after his birth as nativity plays tend to suggest, or up to 2 years later (which seems to have been a long time for Joseph and his new family to have been hanging around Bethlehem. But I'm not getting into any of that here... pull at too many lose...

An alternate short candle liturgy for Christmas Day based on the less familiar lectionary reading for today from  Isaiah 62:6-12 VOICE 1:  Clear the way! VOICE 2:  Remove the rubble! VOICE 1:  Raise  a flag for the world to see. VOICE 2:  The  Lord  God has made a proclamation to go out to the ends of the earth: VOICE 1:  Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your Saviour comes! VOICE 2:  See, his promised reward is with him, and his blessing comes with him. VOICE 1:  They will be called his Holy People, those Redeemed by the  Lord ; VOICE 2:  The city long deserted will become a place of pilgrimage.      All 5 candles are lit finishing with the central one. Let us pray: Lord we thank you that with the birth of your Son Your promised were proved true. Our saviour has come And we rejoice. May we live our lives as his Holy People. AMEN Selah

A candle liturgy that we will be using at our community carol service in Sandy Row this afternoon and perhaps at other services tomorrow based on Isaiah 9:2-7 VOICE 1:               The people stumbling in the dark have seen a great light; VOICE 2:               on those living in the land shadows the light has dawned. VOICE 1:               You have made the nation greater than they could imagine and increased their joy; VOICE 2:               they rejoice before you   as people rejoice at a bountiful harvest, VOICE 1:               the way that warriors rejoice when the battle is over and they have won. VOICE 2:   ...

The fourth of South and Central Belfast Circuit's Advent Candle liturgies, this week a particularly short one based on Isaiah 7:10-16 (and pertinent whoever came out on top in the election in the UK last week). VOICE 1:              Hear this you who are in government!  VOICE 2:               Is it not enough to try the patience of the people? VOICE 1:               Will you wear out the patience of God as well?  VOICE 2:               The Lord himself will give you a sign:  VOICE 1:               The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son VOICE 2:       ...

Another monologue which we used in the BCM Toy Appeal Service last Sunday. There are times when I wouldn’t believe one word that came out of that man’s mouth. My mother warned me. She said “Never marry a shepherd!” she said. “Never marry a shepherd! They spent too much time away from home. Roaming the hillsides… Sun beating down on their heads in the daytime. Drinking home-made hooch in the nightime to stay warm… Addles their minds!” She said “Addles their minds…” And on face value my man’s ramblings this morning when he came in suggested that his mind WAS addled. He couldn’t get his words out fast enough… All I heard was “bright light, angels, good news, singing, Messiah, manger…” None of it made sense… even when I got him to take a breath and slow down… He started again and told me that an angel had visited him and his mates up in the hills last night… I mean to say… an angel visiting that lot!? Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. But he insisted that they had seen an ...