I’m currently reading:
R.S.Thomas “Etched by Silence”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie “Dream Count”
Fun Fact of the week: Honey never goes off! Archaeologists have found 3,000-year-old pots of honey in Egyptian tombs that are still perfectly edible.
It is rather late on Friday evening as I write this, so apologies if it is a bit brief. I have just returned from youth group. The last time I went to a church youth group was about 30 years ago! It was only our 3rd session and we are deliberately taking small steps to see what our young people would like to see happen and what we have the capacity to support them with. So far, so good. It helps having resources like the table tennis table and the sofas in church. This evening was about Jesus calling the first disciples and we considered what we would be leaving behind if we chose to “Follow Him”. I think we decided that we might leave some negative influences behind but that, generally we would return to all our usual people and places but this time following Christ into them and so transforming the whole situation with his love and peace.
I was going to share a bit more about the R.S. Thomas’s poetry I have been reading. The book “Etched by Silence” has commentaries by Jim Cotter. Both R.S. Thomas and Jim Cotter were Priests-in-Charge of a small, ancient church on the edge of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. Wild, desolate country bordering the rough sea. Wild and desolate sum up much of the poetry. I am going to leave you with three of my favourite lines from the poems I have been reading and re-reading this week. There is not a lot of joy to be found in Thomas’s poetry but there is much to challenge and lean into.
From “But the silence in the mind”
“But the silence in the mind is when we live best, within listening distance of the silence we call God. This is deep calling to deep of the Psalm-writer, the bottomless ocean we launch an armada of our thoughts on, never arriving”
From Folk Tale
“Prayers like gravel flung at the sky’s window, hoping to attract the loved one’s attention”
From “Finality”
“There is, they say, between us and the light, the dark we must wander, seeking for the self that was allotted to us, which we refused”
Lots to spend time with in those few lines! I hope it has provided you with something helpful too.
As always, if you would like me to pray for, or have a conversation about anything then do get in touch. I am available to listen and share in whatever might be arising for you at this time.
"Nothing can separate us from the love of God revealed to us in Christ Jesus" Eph8:38-39
With peace and blessings,
Rev Steve
07503164309
My day of rest this week is uncertain this week!