I have been enjoying being challenged (again) by the daily meditations of Richard Rohr this past week.

This last week Rohr has been writing about Trinity. I was particularly reminded by Richard of how history has often fed people the patriarchal / supreme monarch / critical spectator and disinterested image of God.

That’s not the image of God I hold. It’s not the character of the God I follow. Richard correctly points out that we become like the God we worship. If our image of God is a God who separates and is prejudiced and discriminates then we become that person too.

I have for some time had a real issue with Augustine’s theology of original sin. In my reading ‘the fall’ comes a little while after God looks at the world and says ‘it is good’ before then looking at humankind and saying ‘They are VERY good’.

How can Augustine describe something created by God, in the image of God, labelled ‘very good’ by God to be embroiled in an original de facto layer of sin?!

If we view ourselves as created ‘in sin’ then our image of God is bound to be warped. It is quite difficult to believe in a God who loves us totally if we are then expected to believe that God sees us as full of crap and sin and stuff! To me … that does not hold with being created in the image of a loving and caring and fully engaged with us God.

Because God created us…. we are all loved and accepted totally by God …. just as we are with no need to change or be anything else other than the people we have been created to be.

This weeks daily readings have reminded me of this stuff which can be quite difficult to hold on to in a society that judges us according to how we look, how hard we workand how much we earn.
Every Saturday Richard Rohr gives a task to help us bed the weeks meditations …. I looked forward to Saturdays and it did not disappoint!:

Practice: Ecstatic Dance

God cannot be known by thinking but by experiencing and loving. As you read about the theological framework and practical implications of Trinity, I hope you will take many opportunities to explore this concept in your lived experience.

Here’s one way you might play—with a childlike spirit—and feel Trinity’s flow in your body. You may even lose track of where you, the dancer, end and the dance itself begins.

Choose a favorite or new piece of music—classical, world, contemporary; anything that calls you to move!—and find a place in which you can listen and move without inhibition, barefooted if possible.

Allow your body to lead, following the invitation of the music. Let your mind take a back seat and tune in to the sensations of each part of your body.

Feel your feet connect with the ground. Let limbs and joints turn and bend as they will. Swing and sway your head, shoulders, hips. Sink deep into your body, remembering what it is to be a human animal.

Dance until you are pleasantly tired and then gradually slow your movements, perhaps to another musical tempo. Continue moving in smaller, gentler ways: breathe deeply, stretch your arms and legs, roll your head.

Come to a seated position and rest in stillness.

So …. remember you are VERY good …. created in the image of a loving concerned and very involved God ….

so
go
dance
Ecstatically!

We had another good service tonight at HTGP as we concentrated on, and were challenged by, Homeless Sunday. We used resources from Homeless Sunday to help us in our planning.

Joe gave the homily which was good as he is the Chief Exec of Homeless Action in Barnet. Joe gave a good challenge to be involved in politics and to stand up for people that are vulnerable. He also gave a challenge that resonated with me on how valued taking time to listen to peoples stories can be. You can hear his homily on the HTGP website or here.

In open space we invited people to take a blank front door key while they considered when they first received their front door key themselves. One of the most dispiriting and demeaning aspects of being homeless is that you are also doorless and keyless. So we invited people to take a key, place it on their key ring and use it as a prompt to pray. If you’d like a key let us know … we have a few spares.

Next week we will be discussing ‘The wasteful and Obscene Extravagance of God’ with the ‘Wedding at Cana‘ as our text. Maybe see you there.

While on holiday over the summer in Derbyshire I came across David at an exhibition of local artists. I enjoyed chatting with David and left wishing I had enough money to purchase a painting I fell in love with.

A few months later I was able to contact David through his website as I had saved money for the painting I had loved …. only to be told that his cat had slept on it the night before and ruined it … so the painting was no more.

But … then … the email conversation got a little more exciting when David said he could paint one very similar for me. Of course I agreed and waited a few weeks patiently. I got an email to say she was finished … but that the weather was meaning the oils were taking an age to dry.

A few weeks ago I took delivery of this amazing painting loosely called ‘the Lady  in Oils’  …. my title as I could not come up with a definitive name for her. I find the painting stunningly beautiful. The calmness, dreaminess and serenity of this painting just draws me every time I look towards it …

And … I love ‘The Lady’ in her setting on this wall in my study with creations from my amazing friends Zara, Rikard and Andi.

I find this wall to be a gentle catalyst in my thinking, particularly when I am reflecting on what is happening around me. There is a saying …’beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ … to an extent that is true … but are there also universally understood ideas of beauty, for example? Lots of people have visited since I have received ‘The lady’ … and everyone, without exception, has remarked on the beauty of the painting. So … I think there must be.

Is there a point to this post?
I am unsure …. I am still tying to return to writing regularly sett a long break when stuff just crowded my head.
Part of this is just that I have not written anything … so writing rubbish and rambling is better than writing nothing!
I guess the point is that this … this space … here … immersed within and confronted by my wall of beauty created by others and kindly offered to me …. here is the space that I attempt to create.

Through reflection I am very aware that I can be creative, but for that creativity to thrive I need to be working in a  creative environment, preferably with others of a similar focus. So … I have the environment …. I simply need a few more people  ….

So … for now … back to look at my wall of beauty … back to reflect … and maybe create something better than the ramble I have just written ….