we make the road by walking ......Advent 2 Magnificent Magnificat

MAGNIFICANT MAGNIFICAT: 

encountering an angel, Zachariah is struck dumb, as Elizabeth bears within he a new prophetic voice - John the Baptist - after centuries of silence 'a voice crying in the wilderness 'prepare the way of the Lord' Mary too encounters the angel and realising the impossible can happen, responds" 'be it to me according to your word' - impossible possibilities: possible impossibilities' Everything is turned on its head.. in the upside down kingdom... the weaker feminine takes the lead, the proud are silenced and the exalted are humbled and the humble are exulted. Hungry are filled with good things and the rich are sent away empty.....

my favourite quote this week (p85/86) :

That's what it means to be alive in the adventure of Jesus
We present ourselves
our bodies
our stories
our futures
our possibilities
even our limitations
'Here I am' we say with Mary
'Let it be with me according to your will'

We make the road by walking Advent 1 Prophesy

a fabulous 'prophetic' song by Sinead O'Connor (She looks great in a dog collar) 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8jjudZBWSI

What are your 8 good reasons to stick around? I found myself thinking of this in terms of Brian McLaren's question about prophetic hope in our everyday contemporary context and thinking about what I actually do ......... 
 My 8 good reasons include 

• FAMILY (R T J A J), 
• faith, 
• health, 
• work/ministry, 
• network of friends/contacts; 
•  home/house, 
• Pounstina, 
• Ceili&Walks... 
• and an open fire...

and my favourite quote so far from the book....... 

'to be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to have a desire, a dream, a hope for the future. It is to translate that hope for the future into action.... in the present and to keep acting in the light of it, no matter the disappointments, no matter the setbacks and delays. (p80)

we make the road by walking.... Advent 1

in holy::ground we are using Brian McLaren's Book as the source of our reflections during ADVENT from 30/Nov to 24/Dec.  using various resources from Brian McLaren's book 'We make the road by walking ...... You can join us in two main ways ONLINE and SUPPER conversations every Monday in Advent Details on holy::ground facebook group. You can also continue with Creative Art Journaling

Brian McLaren introduces his book here  - life is a journey and faith is an adventure and we make the road by walking....  

Brian McLaren singing his song 'we make the road by walking' 

the kindle edition of the Retreat book is available for £4.68



I tried a little creative journaling:  

After killing the white on the page with a paint wash I looked to see what I could see on the pages: 'As I looked the ancient of days took his seat. his clothing was white as snow & the hair of his head like pure wool & streams of fire came from him. the court sat .... and books were opened' (from Daniel) My ancient of days looks ever so slightly bored....

My Travel Map

This map of places I've travelled to you is brought to you care of MatadorNetwork

Phil Simpson has been to: Afghanistan, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Palestinian Territory, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican. Get your own travel map from Matador Network.


I think I need to concentrate more on Africa South America and Oceania. Anyone need a consultant in any of these places... 
At least I've traveled to more places than my age ...... need to keep on moving on ....

Actually Ive just noticed I've missed off Tunisia, Kenya and Ethiopia...
 

Prayer of Bredan the Navigator

 I came across this prayer of St Brenden the Navigator  I've used his story before to frame my own journeying.  and on this occasion used the images and prayer on my twitter feed. I got lots of nice comments on FB about the 2 pastel pictures I did a while back. So decided to do the blog as well. The first picture is inspired by an image of the entrance to Clonfert   The second based on an image of a celtic saint praying by the sea

Help me to journey beyond the familiar

and into the unknown.

Give me the faith to leave old ways

and break fresh ground with You.

Christ of the mysteries, 
I trust You to be stronger 
than each storm within me. 
I will trust in the darkness 
and know that my times, 
even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven, 
ans somehow, make my obedience count for You.

Prayer from Afghanistan

I love this prayer from John Carden's book: A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from around the world.     It's (appropriately) in the chapter on the Mystery of Christ's Epiphany to Wise Men.  (p 55)  The picture is one I painted ages ago, in Oil Pastels from a similar image I found on the web..  I suppose that for me this blog is an appropriate response to 9/11 - and a prayer for the country of Afghanistan

And so, that is why, at nightfall when my people are asleep, kneeling barefoot, close to the altar of my little chapel, I become their intercessor - like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, like Jesus. A stick of sandlewood sends forth its fragrance, the symbol of all those who today are worn out with their labours in suffering, heavy with all their hopes - all of those who today have fallen asleep thinking only to meet a Judge - to them I present him as their Saviour, and I introduce them to the eternal Nuptials. All those little children who were born this day I make children of God. All the prayers said today in the homes, the mosques, I transform into an 'Our Father'. My heart is nothing more than a melting pot, where, in the fire of Christ's love, all the dross of my people is turned into gold - and through my lips it is the whole of Afghanistan who cries that 'Abba' to the Father that the Holy Spirit inspires. 

O that my eyes were a fountain of tears.....

Gaza may be small   – something like 50km by 10 km – its c  360Km2 about the size of the Isle of Wight !   But being small and living cheek by jowl is no excuse for Hamas (alegedly) using human shields or firing rockets from hospitals or schools – although there are a lot of myths about this and I’m not sure I believe the propaganda …

And I suppose its a matter of perspective – resistance fighters in WW2 are seen as heroes – and ‘collaborators’ as traitors.  But it really does depend which side you’re on....

And peace is the only side to be on in the Israel-Gaza conflict. 

It’s not black and white. There are no goodies and baddies.  But I have enormous sympathy for the citizens of Gaza who were being strangled by the blockade, before the rockets and the bombings. And for Israelis and their desire to live in safety, but…….  

a friend of mine Tanas Al Qassis  A Palestinian Christian who works for CMS wrote some wise words:

'If I were part of the Israeli government, I would invest in the Palestinian economy, make people flourish, be sure they have enough food, medicine and schools. This way, I will ensure that Israel will be safe.'

I have been watching far too many images from Gaza and Iraq  and am lost in the horror of what is going on …. 

All I / we can do is pray (and silence is so much better than words) and somehow hold on to hope …

a friend of mine posted the following quote:  “The world is a messy place. Particularly in the context of the digital age where the noise of data can feels tsunami-like. Your job …. is to translate the noise of living into sounds that people can hear. De-cluttered writing is the art of bringing the noise level down”.  Ravi Koli

I have turned to song as a way of translating the noise into sound that people can hear…..  And this one does it for me ….Sinead O’Connor – If You Had A Vineyard   from the album Theology  – ’

'O that my eyes were a fountain of tears that I might weep for my poor people’