Birds

I enjoy birds.

I always have, though at times, with more intensity than others.

What it is about those little fluttering scraps of feathers that excites and inspires the imagination?

Their aeronautical acrobatics.
The delicately hued combination of feathers
The elaborate dances and dips and dives
Their pure lightness of being.
The language of their birdsong, with its alarming clucks, animated chatters, and soaring arias.

And the fact that each one is an individual, contributing in its own small way to the richness of God’s vast biodiversity. When I was boy I was given a book “Birds as Individuals” by Len Hutton, written way back in 1952, which opened my eye as a young teenager to the fact that it's not just about birds as species, but that each one is a separate individual, in particular, in the eyes of God, in the eyes of whom..

"not even a sparrow falls to the ground without its Heavenly Father knowing."

So there I was, Sunday morning, out walking by the river.
Early morning.
Sunrise.
The silence.
Before the runners, the walkers, the cyclists

And all at once, a reed warbler.
Least, that’s what think it is.
Dancing along the wire
Flitting between bush and fencing post
Just you and me, in a secret conversation.
Yes, I’ll leave your babies alone.
No, I won’t go near your nest
Just let me enjoy your beauty

In the early morning
Amen

Now How did He do That?

This little 11 year old girl on Youtube interviews Irish rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll, and one of the questions she asks him is “If you met Jesus on a bus what would you ask him?” I love it. And his answer was just as smart and off the cuff. “I’d ask him how he did that water into wine trick.”

Now that’s interesting. It’s not the most obvious or the most dramatic of Jesus miracles. Yet, it’s the one that catches the imagination. (O’Driscoll must have gone to Sunday school somewhere along the way to hear that story). And to me the fascination of the miracle is not the question “how he did it” but the “why he bothered”. How is it Jesus decides that the first time he would demonstrate his supernatural powers as the Almighty Son of God is to help out a friend at a wedding party. To add a bit more gladness to a happy event.

It’s not as if it was a matter of life and death. The worst that could have happened was that the friend would have ended up a bit embarrassed that the wine had run out, and the guests gone off in a huff. But bringing joy and gladness is very central to what Jesus is all about. Yes it’s about saving us from Hell, and Him paying the price for our sins and setting us on the right path to walk with God through life, but its also about adding that extra sparkle into life, putting the “joie” in the joie-de-vivre, the “spumante” into the Asti, and generally giving us the ability to truly “enjoy” life. He said as much when he declared later on that “I have come that you may have life, and that you may have life abundant”

We were at this wonderful wedding in an amazingly beautiful location earlier this month, and the preacher Paulo Oliveira, preached from this very story about the wedding feast, and as the day turned into night and we chatted and conversed with Davide and Arlete’s wonderful family and friends, it was as though Jesus was still there turning the bland water of an ordinary everyday Portuguese wedding ceremony into something rich and special and that tasted wonderful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFTRWa8LgIs&feature=player_embedded

More About Brittany

Discovering Brittany in August was the most pleasurable rewarding thing we have done in a long, long time. Partly it was the amazing richness and variety of culture history and natural scenery; partly it was the companionship of being together and doing different stuff, (plus enjoying some amazing hospitality); and partly it was...well, being in a corner of France that is not really France...or at least does not consider itself to be French.

You were kind of on the edge of Europe, and yet you felt at the heart of Europe, among ancient dolmens, and with the marks of the Romans, and Napoleon and Hitler imprinted in the landscape. And you’re always within reach of the amazing Atlantic coastline with its wonderful light and shade and every colour of an artist’s palette. No wonder Gauguin and Monet and Turner and others flocked here for inspiration

You were kind of on the edge of Europe, and yet you felt at the heart of Europe, among ancient dolmens, and with the marks of the Romans, and Napoleon and Hitler imprinted in the landscape. And you’re always within reach of the amazing Atlantic coastline with its wonderful light and shade and every colour of an artist’s palette. No wonder Gauguin and Monet and Turner and others flocked here for inspiration

Highlights of that coastline for were the amazing constructions in pink granite, shaped by the wind and the waves that lay along the northern coast, and the white expanse of the coast at Mont St Michel, where sky meets sea and salt marsh in one impressionistic monochrome sweep, and in the middle of this the medieval spires of the cathedral thrusting heavenward.

The climax of the holiday for us was last evening strolling in Lorient among the celtic flavours of Britanny, Galicia, Wales, Ireland and a host of other places and to end up at a concert of the legendary Chieftains which was amazing. Not so much that this band of brothers had been together for fifty year, but the eclectic bunch of talented young musicians from around the globe that they brought on stage with them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwNyU5ZRKMU

The Kindness of Strangers

Hospitality is one of those unsung gifts that the Bible mentions but that doesn’t get a lot of air time when people are talking about what’s important in walking the spiritual life. We experienced this gift last month with Mike and Valerie Smith, our hosts at Manoir du Poul deep in the countryside of Central Brittany. They run the manor as a bed and breakfast business, but it’s a gîte with a difference. Leaves visitors somewhat bemused as they experience a warmth and a welcome way beyond the polite professionalism of most of the hospitality industry. It’s there from the moment you arrive, and the personal interest is genuine in their conversation over meal times.

And it’s backed up by prayer, as they shared with us how they often pray for their guests, Valerie when she’s changing the beds or ironing the sheets, and Mike when he’s mowing the grass or weeding the garden.That takes some grace, and its where the gift comes in.

We experienced during that week in August, the kindness of strangers who end up not being strangers, but, even after only a few hours together, like friends we have known a long time. And because of the spiritual connection, the idea of hospitality takes on a yet deeper significance as it becomes the mutual sharing of the physical (food and shelter), and the spiritual (prayer and encouragement), as we feel that we as well have been able to minister into their lives, and they into ours.