Author: Jonnyfun.E

Now retired, and enjoying making music and writing. Living in Gloucester, historically an important port on the river Severn, and situated with The Forest of Dean and the Brecon Beacons to the west, and the beautiful Cotswolds to the east.
A Prayer For This Day · faith

A Prayer For This Day

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A prayer for the poor – that they may receive the kingdom of God ?

For the lowly – may they be lifted up?

For the hungry – may they be filled?

For the widow, the orphan, and the stranger – may they know justice ?

For the outcast, the lonely, the ones who suffer at the hand of violence. For Gaza, South Sudan, Ukraine – May the face of Christ be present in them and for them.

For us who have all we need – may we have courage, clearer sight, single-mindedness and be always active in love ?

May we be bringers of peace, hungry for justice, persevering in service, loving with humility ?

Amen. Yes, now and always.

Activism · Bible · faith · Persecution · Political · World Affairs

You’ld Think They Would Understand

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I read this psalm this morning

Responsorial Psalm

Jeremiah 31:10-13

R: Response
The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

O nations, hear the word of the Lord,
proclaim it to the far-off coasts.
Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him
and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock’ R

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
has saved him from an overpowering hand.
They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,
they will stream to the blessings of the Lord. R

Then the young girls will rejoice and will dance,
the men, young and old, will be glad.
I will turn their mourning into joy.
I will console them, give gladness for grief. R

The prophet Jeremiah is writing about ‘The overpowering hand’ … that had subjected Israel to captivity, humiliation, exile and death for many. Removed them from their ancestral home.

It happened in Jeremiah’s time. It happened again in persecution and pogroms, and holocaust.

Jeremiah tells of a time when that humiliation will pass. When life will return to normal. There will once again be laughing, dancing, joy.

One would hope that a people who had experienced such devastation would recognise that they themselves have become the overpowering hand. The foot on the throat.

O to be able to speak the words of the psalm to Gaza and the people of the West Bank ? To say that the Lord will save them, that they will rejoice again ? How long ? How long ?

music

Playing Tennis With Lady Gaga

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I had a dream last night
of you, at least it wasn’t you,
it was your brother.
Well, he looked like your brother ?
(Although to my knowledge you don’t have a brother),
but you definitely have a sister

He was playing tennis with lady Gaga,
and they stopped playing as I walked up.
I was looking at him, and thinking he was you
and then guessing that he was your brother ?
Dreams are funny like that.

In the morning, I was thinking
that I haven’t thought about you in ages.
But when we were in our late teens
And early twenties
We were good friends, playing music together.
And having dreams of supporting Delaney and Bonny.

We bought a set of Bongos.
I had a guitar
and we sang ‘Talking ‘bout Jesus.’

In ‘76 I came back from six months in America
And you were in local radio.
I came to the studio
And you had a load of albums that had been given,
that you didn’t want.

I still have some of them;
David Wiffen. Jennifer Warnes.

So in a way I did dream about you last night
And it made me wonder if you have ever dreamed about me ?

Activism · Bible · Persecution · Political · World Affairs

Something Greater Than Jonah Needed

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Today the British Parliament will be debating whether to support a ceasefire in Gaza. The various political parties have differing stances with their subtext and starting point being on balance either –
Outrage at the 7th October Hamas attacks and support for Israel’s right to defend itself, or
devastation at the loss of life in Gaza, and an outright call for a ceasefire.

It’s a mess, and not one that will yield a solution, barring a miracle, in the near future.

It feels like it’s one of those proxy battles – in this case being fought between the more extreme powers in USA/Europe and the more militant of the Arab nations.

The state of Israel, founded in 1948, has its birth and much of its energy coming out of the persecution of the Jewish people over centuries, and has its roots in a modern European way of operating.

The Palestinian people are still essentially a Middle Eastern culture, and identify with nations around with a similar history.

For the USA or European government to call unequivocally for a ceasefire would be seen to side more with the Palestinian people in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, and somehow betray western values, and the state of Israel that has its beginnings in Europe.

And in the end it’s all about money and power and who is going to have your back at the end of the day.

Both sides in this conflict are ‘hurt people.’ And you know the saying – ‘hurt people hurt people.’

I read this verse this morning. Luke’s Gospel Chapter 11 verse 32.

“The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.”

The Old Testament story of Jonah is about his calling as a prophet. He was sent by God to preach to the people of Nineveh to change from their sinful ways. They did repent, and Jonah was surprised and angry. He never imagined that they would repent, and thought they had got off too lightly.

But they did listen and they did change. So they have the right to challenge others who need to change. They saw that they were living on a destructive path and turned around.

Where are today’s Ninevites ? Where are the ones who have seen their failings and made a decision to be different ? We need them to witness to their unholy past, and challenge this generation and condemn it.

And by this generation, I do not simply mean Hamas and The State of Israel, although at this time maybe they are first in line. I mean all those who measure life in their ability to control dollars and bombs, and oil and water, and propaganda and terror.

What we are seeing in Israel Palestine is a playing out of history, and we need someone or something that is greater even than Jonah.

Political

Is It Them Or Us ?

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What do you think of Keir Starmer ? This was one of the questions put to focus groups on a recent BBC TV programme. He seems trustworthy; boring; sits on the fence; uninspiring…

These were some of the responses from the group. I came away, thinking, what does it matter what we think of Keir Starmer ? (leader of the labour party in England, in case you didn’t know).

What really matters is the policies that the labour party will put into action when they become the new government, hopefully sometime this year. One of the problems with politics in this country is that it is becoming increasingly like what we see in the USA. There, everything seems to be about Joe Biden, or Donald Trump. We don’t hear a lot about what the Democrats stand for or what the Republicans stand for. How can we judge, make decisions, plan our country’s future on the basis of one person and how we think they will perform. Of course it’s never going to be about one person anyway, so why do we try and make it so.

So what I’m thinking is this: our tendency to make politics about individuals is more about us than about them – the politicians themselves. It’s about the culture of celebrity and personality that we have allowed to invade every area of our lives. From chefs to actors to social media influencers to musicians to sports personalities – everywhere we look, we see a celebrity or a wanna celebrity. We’ve been conditioned. We’ve been duped. We’ve been told to aspire to follow our dreams. We’ve been told that we can have anything we want.

So a political election simply turns into a popularity contest, where the person who promises you the most wins your vote.

Unless of course, you’re interested in what’s best for the weakest, the most vulnerable, the ones overlooked or not even seen; unless the values that drive you are empathy, being open hearted, seeking the common good ….

We can only hope. We must hope. We will hope.

To think more about this have a look here. Very interesting.

faith

All Our Systems Are Broken

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Or should that be ‘cisterns’ ? See the end of this post.

We’ve just had a stressful but interesting and eye-opening week. An insider view of the NHS in Wales.

We see all sorts of things on TV, but it’s often only when we experience it for ourselves that the full impact of the situation comes home to us.

So in the last week we have:

….. waited at home for an ambulance – with a paramedic in attendance – for six hours. During those six hours, the paramedic gave us an insight into his working life. He kept us updated throughout the afternoon, letting us know that there were 10 ambulances waiting outside the accident and emergency unit 20 miles away, and until they could discharge patients into hospital, there would not be an ambulance available for us.

(He had arrived at 1.30 pm, following a visit from the GP earlier in the day who had recommended a trip to hospital. The paramedic was a highly trained professional who could have been doing something else during those 6 hours).

In the end it was the local GP ambulance that arrived at 7.30 pm.

…. waited 10 hours in an ambulance outside A&E. Once more with the ambulance crew having to be with us throughout. They said that they expected the same to happen the next day. It’s not unusual for them to spend a whole shift waiting in this way. Once more, a tragic waste of human resources.

… waited, thankfully in a room in A&E and not on a corridor, from 6.30 am Saturday until Monday afternoon, when the bed was wheeled up to the assessment ward.

….. waited anxiously by the nurse’s station, hearing the ward manager tell the nurse who had accompanied us that there had been a mistake in communication and that there wasn’t a bed !

That last wait was just a few minutes. Whew! There followed the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday and half of Wednesday before we were discharged, medically sorted but weak and unable to stand or walk unaided.

We read lots of statistics about the NHS and ambulance service. They’re all about waiting times and related statistics. What I can’t find is a simple figure – The actual number of emergency ambulances for a given area. Because everything depends on how many ambulances and how many staff there are.

This was one of the complaints from the first paramedic. There just aren’t enough ambulances. Sadly, we are seeing the collapse of the infrastructure of our beloved country in so many ways. The Health Service; Royal Mail; our schools; high streets …

As I was writing the title of this post – ‘all our systems are broken’ – it was then that the word ‘cisterns’ came to mind as well.

A cistern is a container for water, that most valuable of resources. A broken cistern leaks. It’s not fit for purpose. Sadly, many of our cisterns are leaking and fast approaching the point where there’s no water left.

However … the saving grace has been the people. Almost without exception, the nurses, doctors and other staff we have encountered have been patient, kind and good humoured. It’s the systems that we need fixing.

Bible · Political · suffering · World Affairs

The Blackbird, Squirrel And Me

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Having been inactive for a while due to a long lasting heavy cold, and Christmas celebrations, I went out for a run today.

I was thinking about the practice of ‘Terra Divina’, and looking around me as I ran. The first thing I noticed was the litter, but I didn’t feel like a meditation on waste; then I looked up at the sky – grey and cold; nothing there that inspired me.

I ran on. As I rounded a corner I saw a blackbird, pecking for food on the ground. I stopped and watched for a while, and as I watched, a squirrel scampered up a tree nearby and then leapt from one branch to another, stopped, and looked at me. (Or, at least, it seemed like it was looking at me). After a moment, it carried on climbing and out of sight.

I paused and thought – both the blackbird and the squirrel are simply being themselves. That’s what they do. They can do no other than be a blackbird, or a squirrel.

For us, it’s a lot more complicated. We often try to be something else, or are forced by our circumstances to be something other than who we really are.

I had started the day reading a few verses from Mark’s Gospel, where Jesus crosses over into Gentile territory and meets a man possessed by demons. Jesus casts out the demons, and the man is described as once more being ‘in his right mind.’ (Mark chapter 5)

It feels to me like this is what we all want, and are hopefully moving towards – to be free of all that tries to drag us away from who we are, and become ourselves, wholly, completely.

It can then be a personal thing, but in the context of the passage from Mark’s Gospel it can be about something wider. In the account of the Demon possessed man, we learn that he is called ‘Legion’, and that the territory where he lives is not only Gentile land, but is the furthest extent eastwards of the Roman Empire.

There’s something much deeper going on than a healing miracle. Jesus has already been in conflict with the religious authorities – who were very powerful in the community; he now enters the region where Rome rules, and in the healing of the demon possessed man he announces that the kingdom of God is stronger than, and of a very different nature to the Roman Empire.

The man is a stand in for Israel; the ‘Legion’ of demons represents the might of Rome. The command that Jesus speaks to cast out the demons is the word that a Roman officer would use to command a soldier. The signs are all there. Jesus’ mission is not only to help people be ‘in their right minds’, it’s also to restore to Israel a way of living that is truly, genuinely who they are called to be.

As I reflect on this whole question of the things that prevent us from flourishing and being truly ourselves, I’m thinking about the situation in Gaza and how the imprisoned population of that strip of land have been unable to live freely for years. Blockaded with little access to the outside world.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it feels like Gaza and the West Bank are like first century Palestine; like the demon possessed man. While Israel is a stand in for first century Rome – the occupying force, the presence that needs exorcising in order for the Palestinian people to be once more ‘in their right mind.’

May we all recognise the things that prevent us from being who we are, and experience more freedom, day by day.

–

Creativity, · music · Prayer

The Practice Of Close Up

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The practice is a little bit like something I’ve written about before – Street Wisdom – However, this is a little different with some subtle changes that I find really helpful. The first stage is similar to Street Wisdom in that you are creating a space for something to catch your attention. Becoming aware of your environment or something in your environment. The idea is to receive this as a gift, although it may not be clear why this is a gift.

The second stage is like the ‘Meditatio’ stage in Lectio Divina. In this stage we begin to wonder why this particular thing has caught our attention and why it might be a gift to us. The thing that I noticed on my walk was Birdsong, and as I sat and wondered about the sounds I was hearing, it struck me how important music is to me, and how it has been a constant presence in my life.The truth that I received was something to do with the gift of music, and the way that music can tell stories and convey both joy and sorrow engaging us at a deep level.

The third stage is like ‘Oratio’ in Lectio Divina. This might be likened to prayer or yearning.Here we ask about the thing that’s caught our attention, and what a prayer might be in relation to that thing. For me on that day, it was to do with my own songwriting, and a prayer that I might be able to tell stories in such a way that people see themselves in the story; to write about human life in way that touch people. This is a high aim but in the end this is the power of music and storytelling and songwriting at its best.

The last stage is like ‘Contemplatio’ in Lectio Divina. It is simply sitting with the experience of attending to the thing that’s caught your attention. Allowing it to sink in. It’s something to do with allowing this experience to work in you.

To quote Iain Adams again – “some experience this as being held in a benevolent universe. In the ancient Jesus tradition, this is understood as being in the presence of the community of God, the Holy Trinity.

In this time of contemplation, there may be a hint of what the great English mystic, Julian of Norwich discovered through her own practice, that – “All will be well, and all manner of things will be well.”

Grace and peace.

Activism · Bible · faith · suffering · World Affairs

Reading Scripture From The Margins

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I walked to church this morning. it’s about a half an hour walk, and on the way I was thinking about stuff that’s going on in the world, especially Israel and Gaza. I had noted down this phrase few days ago that came into my mind. – ‘stories that no one should have known’ – there are so many stories that we’ve heard that no one should ever have to hear.

Then, in church, we had this reading from Isaiah chapter 41

14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
you insect Israel!
I will help you, says the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Now, I will make of you a threshing-sledge,
sharp, new, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff.
16 You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
Then you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 so that all may see and know,
all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

I looked at these words. And God’s word to Israel where God says “you shall thresh the mountains and crush them … you shall make the hills like chaff … and the wind shall carry them away.”

It brought to mind the intent of the state of Israel, that their aim is to do away with Hamas completely, and similarly, the aim of Hamas to do away with the state of Israel completely. (I will make of you a threshing sledge)

Reading scripture is a dangerous business. I fear that there are those who might see justification in holy scripture for acts that are unholy.

I wonder if some might be tempted to see in these verses an encouragement to continue in acts of terror, or in raining down bombs on Gaza – and to see that as God‘s work ? I trust not.

The thing about the Bible, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament is that they are written by and to people on the margins. These verses in Isaiah are written to the people of Israel who have been in captivity in Babylon. They are the ones without power. Context is – well, if not everything, then almost everything.

These words – all of them – are addressed to the poor and needy, those parched with thirst. And who are those people ? Not Hamas, and not the State of Israel, but citizens of Israel and Gaza and everywhere else where the might of military power is at work to terrorise and subdue.

The violence in the language is utterly human and borne out of powerlessness and suffering. But in the end, the aim is not destruction, which is easy to understand and all around us, but something that always seems out of our reach and yet is held out to us as hope.

These words, from earlier in the Isaiah prophecy give us a sense of what that might be – The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. (Isaiah 11 verse 6)

God is God of the poor and the suffering. Hear our prayer for them.

music · Songwriting

What We Hesitate To Name

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On Holy Ground

Latest song … got the tune and everything. Just looking for an opportunity to sing it …

By the way … we started rehearsals with a band a couple of months ago – such a delight to be making music with friends. It looks like our first gig might be in February at the Folk Trail in Gloucester

(Friday 16th Feb upstairs at the Drunken Duck in Gloucester)

Anyway … here’s the song lyrics …

We left the house and climbed the hill
One morning in the early spring
We saw a flock of sheep just standing still
As if they saw something
And there we knew
That we had come to holy ground

A silent wonder like a flame
The very coolness of a stone
And it was like reminders of a dream
I wasn’t there alone
And then I knew
That I was there on holy ground

The night we sat and looked at stars
One constellation caught our eye
A sudden breath of wind that made us start
The colours of the sky
Both black and blue
The mystery of holy ground

Holy ground x3

The moments when we feel the touch
Of what we hesitate to name
(For fear that now we try to say too much)
Remind us why we came
For something new
That speaks to us of holy ground

I know more than I understand
I know more than I understand
I know more than I understand

I’m seeking holy ground
Remember holy ground
This might be holy ground

Holy ground x3