Tag: religion

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Multi-faceted…

Multi-faceted-GodTHUMBI recently created a trio of visuals to accompany three poems reflected on at the recent Methodist Conference 2013.

These were also re-produced on handy bookmarks for future reference and reflection.

After the success of these, I was asked by Jo Kay to consider some of her poems and as a result I’ve produced the visual below, tom accompany Jo’s poem Multi-faceted God.

Multi-faceted-God1000px

This is Jo’s poem:

MULTI-FACETED GOD

Multi-faceted God, whose every myriad of surfaces

Reflect every tone and hue of colour

In the wonder of creation.

All the colours, shades and varieties

of the promised and longed for rainbow.

Whose face recognises mine in all this riot of colour.

 

Multi-lingual God, whose multiplicity of ears

Recognise every tone and timbre of tongue

Of all the wonderful nations.

All the rhythms, cadences and songs

Of the people of this Earth.

Whose ear hears my voice through the cacophony of sound.

 

Multi-purpose God, whose existence for me is my purpose;

Reflects for me the longings and desires

Of all created people.

All the needs, hopes and yearnings

Of believers young and old

Who brings purpose to my life in all its richness and diversity.

 

Multi-sensory God, whose every sense is finely tuned

Mirroring those we have in the world.

A sense of smell and sense of wonder

All the taste and sight and awe

That we share with the Holy Mystery

The God who senses every person, knows their minds, hearts and voices.

 

Multi-focused God, whose every facet is focused on me and you

Amazing God who looks on everyone

Looks with every atom of being and existence

On every person in creation

Concentrates on only me and only you and you

And you and you and you

This Holy Mystery who encompasses all and holds us for all time.

 

©Jo Kay Douai Abbey April 2013

 

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holy habits?

JPRWhiteonWhiteOK ‘discipline’, again…

I like the idea of ‘soft discipline’ (it’s best if you), but dislike ‘hard discipline’ (you should). Don’t we all?

We all subscribe to cultural norms whether we buy the t-shirts or not, and in turn we all soft or hard
discipline ourselves to think in certain ways.

I shy away from many harder disciplines especially superstitious, ritualistic historical ways.

I guess there always has to be motive, or reason.

For the last few weeks I have made the decision to “shave my facial hair” almost daily (otherwise known
as my “shrew”). To be clean shaven – not something that I have made a habit of in the past.

I have been entertaining the idea of ‘habits that help focus the mind’.

This is not for aesthetic, religious, or practical reasons – but as a trigger to remind me of ‘mindfulness’.

At first this seemed an odd idea, but it has produced effect.

I can’t pinpoint what effect, but it’s “a decision”, a catalyst, that reminds and projects onto one’s world
view.

It requires time and action. It’s a physical, visual, sensual and personal act. But what have I associated it
with?

Attitude, worth, image, health, cleanliness, imperfection, routine…

As a single act it’s relatively meaningless, but when combined with other ambitions it seems to resonate.

It reminds you of growth, change, time, nature…

It reminds you of ablution, presentation, countenance…

It requires a daily decision, growth just happens…

To be wild, to sculpt an image, or to cleanse and routinely resolve towards clarity… ?

#holyhabits ?

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a simple real ‘down-to-earth’ event

Donkey

It’s almost Christmas and even the sternest of critics is likely to hum at least a bar of something related to Christmas over the coming few weeks.

Many will have heard the Christmas story again (you can find it in Luke 2:1-20).  Surprisingly the written part of this story is relatively short. The details in the Biblical account have been somewhat embellished overtime by high and pop culture retellings.

For me it helps to ‘realise’ the story to know that the flowery bits are there due to colourful imagination and that in essence it was possibly a simple real ‘down-to-earth’ event.

Many take  for granted that Jesus was born in a stable, it’s hard to un-imagine the imagery; however, the Gospel never mentions exactly where the baby was born – just where he was laid afterward. It’s just one of the embellishments built into mythology surrounding the Christmas story that we take for granted.

Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? Perhaps, but there are various other possibilities. The Bible doesn’t say how she got to Bethlehem. It only says that she came with Joseph.

Did Mary arrive in Bethlehem the night she gave birth? The Bible does not suggest this. They could have arrived weeks earlier. The Bible simply states, “while they were there [in Bethlehem], the days were accomplished that she should be delivered” (Luke 2:6). Arriving in town well before her due date would make more sense.

http://www.biblegateway.com/

Thanks to Huw Spanner for these thoughts:

There were no inns or stables in first-century Bethlehem! The Gospels imply that he was born in a house full of family. Ordinary houses then consisted of a lower ground floor where the family’s animals spent the night and an upper ground floor (ie a stone platform) where the family lived and slept. The manger would simply have been an alcove in the side of the platform. More affluent families would have had a first floor – an upper room (as in the Last Supper) for relatives and other guests to stay in.

Early translators didn’t really know what the Greek word meant, so (IIRC) they guessed it meant “inn”. There is no mention of a stable in any of the Gospels in any translation. But first-century Bethlehem was much too small a town to have an inn, let alone a stable. Besides, the reason Joseph was in Bethlehem in the first place was because he had to go back to his home town for the Roman census. Therefore, he would have had family in Bethlehem, and all his relatives would have come down for the census. No one would have stayed in an inn (even if there had been one) if one of their extended family had a house locally – if for no other reason than that it would have been very insulting to their extended family. Joseph and Mary had been engaged when she became pregnant, and they were certainly married by the time she gave birth.

Thus, the situation the Gospels imply is that Joseph’s family home was full of visiting relatives – the upper room was full – so the baby was put in the manger. The house would have been warm, the manger would have had hay in it and Jesus would have been surrounded by his extended family. A very different picture from the one that Christmas carols and cards, and authors of blessed thoughts and Nativity plays, like to paint.

… in essence it was possibly a simple real ‘down-to-earth’ event.