Month: September 2020

Went out this morning a little before sunrise. There were some pastel coloured lentil clouds set against the yellowish pre-dawning sky. It’s not been raining properly, although there have been some spots. I never saw the sun, but when it did come up, before it rose to behind the clouds, it shone through a slot to light up the higher parts of the valley side.

An early deer moved off behind some trees near Old House Farm.

Meanwhile, with the Lectionary, Isaiah expresses the frustration of God with God’s people. Can we believe that God gets frustrated when we don’t live up to the dreams God has for us?

Thank you God
for the heat of the sun,
for the sound of rain,
for the excitement of lightning,
for the buffeting of wind,
for this world of differences.

There’s an alarming rumour going round (I call it a rumour because I couldn’t find it on the BBC website) that the government wants any material that criticises the current economic system to be banned from schools. I cannot believe this. Do the government really want to ban the Bible? This part of Luke 1 may be familiar to some… “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

Living God, bless this world,
good and bad,
drunk and sober,
compliant and defiant.
Help us to get through this epidemic,
despite ourselves,
despite our leaders,
despite our fear and confusion.
God bless this world.

Got my walking done in the sunny morning today – the cloud came over just before I finished. There’s nothing wrong with this cloudy weather – it’s just a bit boring.

Meanwhile, back home, I’ve started watching television again. I feel like I’m just an observer. There won’t be an election for a long time. All I do is bitch from the sidelines. Yet (I believe) God calls us all to be responsible for building a community of right living. Maybe sometime when movement is freer I can contribute in actions and not just say random old man stuff. But I’ve always been more of a dreamer/moaner than a doer.

God needs doers. But sometimes I feel I lack that magic bit of imagination that converts the vagueness of an idea into the concreteness of action.

What is this about? Why do so few people with COVID-19 symptoms isolate when push comes to shove? My guess is that when you’re in that situation, shoving comes very hard, and the other 82% feel they have no choice – work or you end up jobless; work, or your children starve. These values have been built into our whole way of being for generations now. We need the profit motive (the ‘feed my children’ motive) to make people want to work. But COVID is one of the profit motive’s spectacular failures. It can’t stop people going in to work when even when their illness puts other people at risk – quite the reverse. This philosophy also (it seems to me) misunderstands big parts of what actually motivates people, particularly in the undervalued ‘caring professions’.

Anyway, I wouldn’t expect the hog-whimpering plutocrats who run this country to be any less ignorant of this stuff than I am.

A short walk in the dark woods of late afternoon, with showers around. Lovely stately trees and a carpet of pale brown. And away from the path, in a darker part, a film crew with a bright light and a small child singing a beautiful song – I don’t know what or why. I only know it was both weird and beautiful.

After yesterday’s lovely sun became more fitful, we have rain this morning. I’ve not so far been for a walk, although yesterday’s downhills have left me with some aching joints.

From the Lectionary for Sunday,
“21:28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
21:29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went.
21:30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.
21:31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.””
This snippet from Matthew’s Gospel, admittedly taken out of its context about the relationship between Jesus’ people and Pharisaic Judaism, did raise for me a completely separate question.

Yes, I want to answer, “the first” as well – but the way the media work in the twenty first century, people are more likely to favour the second son. We love to hear ‘all words and no action’ if those words suit our pre-existing beliefs.

… or rich people have feelings too.

More on this later, maybe.

Another fine day, and here for a short break among the redwoods.

From next Sunday’s lectionary, in Philippians… “2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 2:8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death…” I believe that this is what Mr Johnson was asked to read during yesterday’s BoB memorial service.

We were at loggerheads today…