Bob Warwicker's blog

A frosty morning ahead of what promises to be a lovely day. ISTR we’re only a couple of weeks off the time of year when anticyclones generally lead to a bit of a rise in temperature overall. (Obvs. depends on albedo, snow, fog etc.).

Another in the current run of pleasant days – good for being out if my foot agrees. Looking down on Bottoms was good…

…and this after a lovely moonset first thing…

Two nice walks in fair weather this morning, the second with Janet. Lots of life, even in winter.

Meanwhile with Sunday’s Lectionary, it seems to me there’s always been reasons why faith in Jesus Christ is at least a bit shameful – the cross itself, which would have been horribly shameful as well as horribly painful to the people of the times; the upside-down beliefs about who matters in the kingdom (clue: not the rich) – as seen in the Magnificat, the beatitudes and many of Jesus’ sayings. So how odd it is that church has become a byword for respectability – although that now carries its own kind of stigma. Anyway, there are powerful reasons to be ashamed of Christ, and yet he commands us not to be ashamed, but to stand up and be counted.

Ideal morning for walking, with a bit of cloud on the valley side…

Hardly anybody around at first and the car park empty – full when I got back though. I’m so glad I don’t have to drive to get here. I have the feeling that people aren’t being as careful was they were a few weeks ago. ISTR infection levels in the general population are still up at about half the peak, although positive tests in people who’ve had symptoms are down more than that … but maybe going down more slowly now – if only we had plots on a logarithmic scale, then I could see!

A dull day, not so wet as I supposed, sat inside trying to devise ways to get data out of our butterfly logger. The geometry’s working now, anyway.

In Sunday’s Lectionary, there’s one of the Bible’s many references to kings, in the promise to Abraham… ’17:15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 17:16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”‘ I don’t find these references very easy, because we don’t really recognise what kings are. Then they would have been people with real power, rather than the different role monarchs play in a present-day democracy. Paul would write later about the promise to Abraham being because of his faith rather than because of his birth, hinting at something new about kingship – the kingdom of God. Jesus is the one we follow, God is the one we believe in. Just as I have seen with the word ‘father’, I have heard of too much abuse of power from actual rulers in our world to be completely comfortable with the word ‘king’.
Another note: the promise that Sarai/Sarah will bear a son is considered a blessing. That’s not something everybody would recognise, for all that he will have a key role in history.

It’s a pleasant day today, but I’m spending couple of days being gentle with my foot.

Next Sunday’s Lectionary has some hard sayings of Jesus. According to Mark’s gospel, he says;-
“8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
A couple of notes – who has the authority to ask this kind of sacrifice? Not anybody except Jesus himself, not anyone with power over you, and not even the Church. Second, he’s talking to a bunch of people, ‘the crowd with his disciples’, and this is not a path we walk alone: we have companions. Third, it’s inexplicable, but it kind of works. You cannot ‘find yourself’ by storing up the things that will make your life nice. Fourth, for people under persecution this losing of life may be actual life – this is a place I have never been.

Today did the ‘collect’ thing at Argos having ‘clicked’ on a piece of kitchen equipment. Since I was there I made a brief visit to Big Tesco – first time in a proper supermarket for nearly a year AFAIR. It was spacious and nearly empty, so OK. I’m not planning to go there for regular shops, there were just one or two harder-to-get items and needs for the next couple of days.

Earlier walk in gentle, almost sweaty, weather. Then I went to zoom church. It’s not the same as being there in person, but for me it’s a worthwhile substitute. Importantly, for some people with disabilities, it is the real thing, the only kind of church that is practicable. How can we know that we are in community without seeing, hearing, smelling and (if appropriate) touching our fellows? How can we pray truthfully, “our Father…”? Of course, even in normal times this is a big question, because of the miles, styles and beliefs that separate us.

Apologies for missing yesterday – a bit out of my daily rhythm.

Cloudy today, and dry – so neither the sun nor the rain to make a rainbow. One of Sunday’s Lectionary readings is God’s covenant-promise after the Flood to preserve life, to not destroy it again, something we the human race seem to be trying hard to undermine. No rainbow this morning to remember this covenant by. But still worth bringing to mind anyway. Especially the global scope of this covenant – with all creatures.

It was, however, windy enough, to make the insulators hang to one side where the line lay across the wind.

Before the start of his ministry, Jesus became an outsider, a child of the wilderness, like John who baptised him. Maybe this is what he needed, maybe this is what many people need, in order to get a perspective. How was he going to serve the Father? What were to be the temptations of his life?

Meanwhile, I’ve come back from a nice walk in the grey, cloudy dawn. It started to rain, and the rain looked impressive, sheeting across the dam, driven by the strong wind up Longdendale. It’s dry again now.

It seems that downstairs Janet has got fed up with the smell of the teacake I overtoasted, and decided to overwhelm it with the smell of baking-with-chocolate. It smells delicious and it’s good to know that my smeller still works. That’s zero out of three COVID symptoms for me.

With sadness in my heart
for those who have no such luck,
no sense of smell;
I thank you God for the smells of the world,
for baking and chocolate,
for mouldering leaves,
for the smells of different airmasses,
for city and country.

I pray that every person on this planet
may get a chance to share in its glories.