June 2017 - Rector's Ramblings
‘Glory be to God for dappled things …’ (Gerard Manley Hopkins)
So, what to write on my first reflection … ? Perhaps something that I had no expectation of writing, but which has hit me between the eyes in these first few weeks. As far as I know my heart, I have never experienced such joy in nature as has overwhelmed me in the past fortnight. Strong words, I know, and to give them some context, I have in recent years enjoyed the wild-washed shores of the isle of Iona, and the steep slopes of the neighbouring and misty Mull, the imperious cliffs of the Norwegian fjords, the white sand of the Eastern coast of Tasmania, and the big, big skies of southern Africa with wobbly-legged giraffes appearing unexpectantly and comically from behind the trees.
And I feel my prayers fed and watered as never before by the rich truths of all that is. This has caught me quite unawares. I have never been, what you might call, a nature-mystic; though I respect that genius in others. I’m sure that many who read this will be far more closely attuned to those sights, sounds and smells than I have ever been. Still, this whole experience of Maytide in the Sussex/Hampshire borders has been ‘good unto me’, and has reminded me powerfully of how a great range of different provocations, different triggers, may awaken in us an awareness of the divine.
The invitation to us all is to make from these things that move us, that which we call ‘prayer’: to fashion a fresh attentiveness to the God, who is within, and beside, and beyond. May whatever stirs your spirit, in this beautiful corner of the world, lighten your life and be a source of deep satisfaction. Revd Andrew Doye
Thanks to Ray West for his pictures taken on the Palm Sunday Parish Walk |
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