Bring em all in – Easter musings

I have always been fascinated by Holy Saturday – the only day over Easter that has no gathering.  Where did Jesus go?  It has been traditionally thought of as the harrowing of hell ie when Jesus went to where God wasn’t and brought all the people home.  I still find this moving and when I used to attend the Easter vigil at dawn on Sunday – used to love the fire outside the church, plunging the candle in the water and the beautiful Easter exsultet accompanied by the first light and the birds.  Being me I’d tweak the liturgy not a little but a lot and still fancy doing that one of these days…….

Descent into Limbo – Mantegna

So I went to my book and reminded myself of the Exsultet.  It was written 5-7C.

This is the night,

when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.

Of this night scripture says:

“The night will be as clear as day:

it will become my light, my joy.”

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,

washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,

brings mourners joy;

it casts out hatred, brings us peace,

and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed,

when heaven is wedded to earth

and we are reconciled to God!

This reminded me of a song I’m ashamed to say, as a Waterboys fan, I’ve only just heard for the first time

Bring ‘em all in, bring’em all in, bring ‘em all in,
bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all into my heart
Bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all in
bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all into my heart

Bring the little fishes
bring the sharks
bring ‘em from the brightness
bring ‘em from the dark

Bring ‘em from the caverns
bring ‘em from the heights
bring ‘em from the shadows
stand ‘em in the light

Bring ‘em out of purdah
bring ‘em out of store
bring ‘em out of hiding
lay them at my door

Bring the unforgiven
bring the unredeemed
bring the lost, the nameless
let ‘em all be seen
bring ‘em out of exile
bring ‘em out of sleep
bring ‘em to the portal
lay them at my feet

Bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all in,
bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all into my heart
Bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all in, bring ‘em all in
bring ‘em all in,bring ‘em all in to my heart

 And of course, he borrowed that from the master.  I’m not going to print it all out but here is the last verse of one of Dylan’s masterpieces:

Starry-eyed an’ laughing as I recall when we were caught

Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended

As we listened one last time an’ we watched with one last look

Spellbound an’ swallowed ’til the tolling ended

Tolling for the aching whose wounds cannot be nursed

For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse

An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe

An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

from the divine Chimes of Freedom

There’s too many boys in this post (all of whom I love!) so out of respect for Mary Magdalene and all the other women who got there first, I’ll end with Julian.

Then his face, full of joy, our Lord looked into his wounded side.  He led me into his wound and showed me a lovely place, large enough for all humanity to rest in peace and love. For my own deeper understanding, I heard the words “See how I love you”.

Book Launch

Had a wonderful evening launching “Alternative Pastoral Prayers” on 26 March kindly hosted by the community house in Iffley Road.  Pete and his band played and the room looked beautiful.  Thank you to all the friendly faces who appeared to help launch her on a Monday night!  It is a memory I will treasure and she feels sent out in style to go where she will.

Book Launch – Alternative Pastoral Prayers, Liturgies and Blessings for Health and Healing, Beginnings and Endings

     This is a public event.                

You are warmly invited to come

to 244 Iffley Rd, Oxford

Monday March 26

8-9.30pm

for a glass of wine and a reading.

 

House 244 (OX4 1SE) is a community house lived in by several folk and their families and I am indebted to them for welcoming this event. There is no parking outside but you should find some in the streets around eg Chester St and Daubeney Rd. It is directly opposite The Magdalen Arms and the entrance to Magdalen Rd and has a no 3 bus-stop (plus a lot of roadworks) outside.

I have likened writing a book to giving birth in this blog before but actually it is feeling more like a teenager.  She’s left home and wandering about in the world now.  I have, to use another metaphor, cast her on the waters for her to find her way and because she’s my second baby I trust she will.  Celtic Wheel has sold more in the last two years than the first two so she’s made a life for herself.  But it’s not entirely mine to know though I’m always grateful to those who write to me to tell me how she is faring.

And so I invite you, if you are interested, to APP’s launch.  Because of this gap between author and reader I am actually looking forward to speaking into that gap and sharing what I have been working on.  But of course it is what comes back from your side that I must wait for….. and it is frightening because I care about how the child is received.  Except of course, in this book’s case, two thirds of it began life already “out there” in the ceremonies and seasons of other people’s lives, before it made it into print.  So, do drop by and wish her well as she begins her journey to the unknown life ahead of her.

Alternative Pastoral Prayers

……has at last arrived.  The labour felt long but funny how that all disappears once you set eyes on the baby! They have made it compact and holdable but given each liturgy and prayer space on the page.  And best of all, it has a ribbon which I’m very thrilled about.  Amazon are selling it for under £20 but if you live in the Oxford area, do wait for the book launch which will be a public event. The arrival date was also quite perfect, the day before my 50th birthday.  I do not have an ordinary Birthday blessing in the book. (There are so many other blessings I could have chosen but there’s always another time!) So I offer the last few lines of “Blessing for Coming of Age” which is meant for young people but we come of age several times throughout our life.

Edited extract from “Blessing for Coming of Age”

May you be unfrightened by your fear.

May you take the time to hear your voice into speech,

befriend silence and listen to the world with compassion.

May you be awake to the wonder of the earth

and see the single flame that lights every living thing.

Go bravely and greet each new horizon with trust and gratitude

and may God bless you on your journey

and let flourish the person you were made to be.

c. Tess Ward, Alternative Pastoral Prayers Canterbury SCM 2012

Imbolc blessings all round

I have heard my book is due to emerge today!  And better still, it will not be £30 but £25.  Hoping Amazon can get that to £20 or maybe a bit more including p&p. I can sell them at £20 but postage for a hardback 325 page book is going to be steep.  Blessings of snowdrops on this frosty morning to you!

Imbolc/Candlemas

Just got home from celebrating Imbolc/Candlemas with my circle:  lighting the fire, calling the directions, and sharing the emergings of our lives and of the earth, planting iris bulbs. Then inside in the warmth and candle-light, the most beautiful altar with red green and white (red and white for snow and the rising sun and green for Brigid’s mantle for the life growing beneath the soil) – geranium, some green shoots, some white candles and white pumice stones, drumming into a long deep silence, placing candles on the altar for those who especially need the light tonight, cake and ginger tea, closing the circle.

Prayer for Imbolc/Candlemas – honouring Brigid and Mary

Praise to you O Caring one,

midwife of our newness and growth,

nurturing, generous and milky kind,

yet defiant as the snowdrop in a cold climate,

tend the fresh shoots of our emerging as we set foot this day.

from Celtic Wheel of the Year 2007

 

Blue Monday

The “powers that be” (who are they?) have for several years now christened the third Monday in January as the most depressing day of the year.  Apparently if you have made resolutions, they will have been broken by now, if you like Christmas it is a dim memory and you’re still paying for it, Spring is a long time coming and we’re still getting up and returning from work in the dark.

I’ve short circuited this this year by going to the Sunshine State for 10 days where the light is very bright and the glow hasn’t worn off yet!  Sadly this is not normal behaviour for me or anyone else I know though I can recommend a January holiday for starting a year.  The truth is, we never know what a year will hold when we approach it with all our hopes and fears. When we have those utterly suprising unlooked for moments of joy or sadness, or even downright tragic, we know all notions of control are delusional – though necessary to get us through the day! Rumi once said, “Today, like every other day, we wake up empty”.  The thoughts and plans quickly pile in to cover that up of course.  Way too scary!

So my new year’s resolution is to deepen my beginner’s practise of sitting with the emptiness.  I’m terribly bad at it but as I sit beside the beds of people who are dying, or listen to friends who are excited about creating something or as I sit with myself, in all our growing and dying, my living well depends upon it. To keep the space open so I can be alive to the Divine flowing within and beyond me and try not get in the way so much. It was there before I began and will be there when I’m gone and I don’t want to miss it.  It gilds everything. The Sufi Mystics have a saying that God says:  “I was a hidden treasure and I longed to be made known”.

The Sacred Pause

We think of the Solstice as 21  December but this year it is actually today, 22nd.  I love it that nature has pauses – at the Sol (sun) stices (standing still) and at the turn of the tides too.  This one is so longed for in the rush and hype of December.  I celebrated it earlier in the week and it was magical – we walked to the river in silence and dark.  Lit a fire beside the water and the bare trees and below the stars.  It always seems the more natural end to the Advent spiritual journey rather than Christmas but certainly, it’s lovely to have both.

Talking of waiting, there is no sign of my book so that must be appearing after Christmas, like my cards!  In my imagination, the hut beckons in December so I was not suprised that it found its way into my Christmas poem this year.  I offer it here, wishing you the peace of the little and the ordinary and the peace of the sacred pause.

A Winter’s Tale

I came here with a flame within.

It lights and leads me on

through dawns of mist and sparkling fields

and webs with hoarfrost hung.

I followed towards the wintry wood

through silver columns of trees,

on pale stones crossed the trickling stream

and glimpsed below, a fish’s gleam.

And when the sun was at its height

I leant against some lichened bark.

I shelled and ate a shiny egg

and drank cool water from my flask.

The ocean’s waves they called me on

with each breath’s rise and fall.

Down old sheep walks, gulls cry and glide

and settle and bob upon the tide.

And as the milky light did fade

and the chalky cliffs they stood and shone

the sun went down behind the sea

but I was far from home.

Which way to go I did not know

for the dusk it gathered with my fears.

The night fell thick, the hours moved slow

and nameless creatures stirred.

And so I stopped in stillness there

to listen to the world about.

Though lost and pathless and gone astray

the owls and darkness bade me stay.

I came here with a flame within

that kindles in quiet and deepest dark

for silence sheds its light to see

and guides us by the stars.

And so I wandered on and up

across black fields and branch and thorn

I faltered and stumbled until I saw

a glow from window and lamp from door.

There in the distance past the trees

in a clearing, an old cabin stood

and as I came close, by the fire-wood pile,

snow was floating and fallen awhile.

Before I knocked and entered there

with moonlight on my back

I smelt the woodsmoke in the air

and breathed with thanks my vapoury prayer.

If you are worn and weary this Christmas night

and stop to listen to my story here

know that between the porch-light and the heavens

the skies are alive and crackle with care.

c. Tess Ward 2011

My new baby

Congratulations if you’ve got this far!  This is my new website courtesy of Matt Freer (techie tho a very green one) and those gorgeous photos courtesy of Jim Barker.  I love those pictures.  Huge thanks to both for their time and talents given freely. This website over-rides my 2 others and is here in time to announce……..