It's Lent! So, here's a little Easter book for the kids...
(Not quite a follow up to The Fall of Númenor
– but, occasionally, I can still be unpredictable!)
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Monday, 2 October 2017
THE FULLNESS OF TIME
The poem below is by James Stephens (1880-1950), the Irish poet and author of The Crock of Gold, and comes from his 1912 volume of verse, The Hill of Vision.
I heard it for the first time yesterday, when it was sung to the tune of the Welsh folk-song, 'Tros y Garreg' (well, 'Irish' and 'Welsh', they're both Celtic!) at the Mass for The Feast of Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and All Angels at St John the Divine, Kennington.
Twenty-four hours later, this profoundly mystical proposition is still rattling around in my mind...
The Fullness of Time
On a rusty iron throne
Past the furthest star of space
I saw Satan sit alone,
Old and haggard was his face;
For his work was done and he
Rested in eternity.
And to him from out the sun
Came his father and his friend
Saying, now the work is done
Enmity is at an end:
And he guided Satan to
Paradises that he knew.
Gabriel without a frown,
Uriel without a spear,
Raphael came singing down
Welcoming their ancient peer,
And they seated him beside
One who had been crucified.
[Illustration: Gustave Doré for John Milton's Paradise Lost, c. 1866]
Thursday, 24 March 2016
A NEW TAKE ON AN OLD STORY
Here, by way of a little Easter surprise, is a rather unusual retelling of the greatest story ever told–––
THE WOODLAND GOSPELS
(According to Captain Beaky and His Band)
Jeremy Lloyd's The Woodland Gospels dramatised for Radio by Brian Sibley
Starring David Langton as Artful Owl, Jeremy Lloyd as Captain Beaky,
Clive Swift as Timid Toad, Nigel
Davenport as Reckless Rat,
Beryl Reid as Batty Bat and Leslie Phillips as Hissing Sid
The programme, produced by Graham Gauld and directed by John Forrest.
was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 23 December 1984 at 18:15
Saturday, 26 December 2015
OUR LOCAL CHURCH
There are 139 churches in Venice, but our 'local' parish church is the Chiesa di San Moisè, dedicated to Moses, since Venetians, like the Byzantines frequently accord the patriarchs and prophets the status of sainthood.
Originally built in the 8th century, the church also honours Moisè Venier, the aristocrat who funded the reconstruction during the 9th century. Elaborately decorated in the Baroque-style (its frontage features camels among myriad embellishments!) San Moisè shares its small campo with the Teutonic Hotel Bauer and the emporia of Prada and other peddlers of the chic...
This year, at night it is bathed in icy blue light...
On Christmas morning, the small local community boasted a two-women choir who sang the mass with more musical beauty than the full choir of the Basilica had managed to muster on the previous eve!
Appropriately for so elaborate a church, their Christmas crib is hardly understated...
Photos: © Brian Sibley & David Weeks 2015
Originally built in the 8th century, the church also honours Moisè Venier, the aristocrat who funded the reconstruction during the 9th century. Elaborately decorated in the Baroque-style (its frontage features camels among myriad embellishments!) San Moisè shares its small campo with the Teutonic Hotel Bauer and the emporia of Prada and other peddlers of the chic...
This year, at night it is bathed in icy blue light...
On Christmas morning, the small local community boasted a two-women choir who sang the mass with more musical beauty than the full choir of the Basilica had managed to muster on the previous eve!
Appropriately for so elaborate a church, their Christmas crib is hardly understated...
Photos: © Brian Sibley & David Weeks 2015
Friday, 29 May 2015
FOOD FOR REMEMBRANCE
This is Koliva, a special Greek Orthodox food made to commemorate the souls of the departed...
It contains wheat or barley (the seed which is buried in the ground brings for the new life), thrice cleaned, steeped in hot water and then dried on cloths before being mixed with sesame seeds (toasted and ground), cinnamon, nutmeg, honey and, sometimes, pomegranate seeds. The finished dish is then blessed by a priest at a Mass at which the living remember and pray for their loved ones and all souls who have died in faith of the church as part of a tradition dating back to the 12th Century.
The recipe actually predates even Christianity to the ancient Greek culture with particular reference to the Pantheon of deities: the barley or wheat representing Demeter the earth goddess, pomegranate signifying her daughter, Persephone, the queen of the underworld and, when other almonds and raisins were added, Aphrodite and Dionysus to whom those nuts and fruit were sacred.
It was a privilege to be able to share in a moment of Greek (and Eastern Orthodox) culture that is both truly historic and full of spiritual symbolism – especially as tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of my own mother's death...
You can read all about Koliva here.
Photos © Brian Sibley and David Weeks
It contains wheat or barley (the seed which is buried in the ground brings for the new life), thrice cleaned, steeped in hot water and then dried on cloths before being mixed with sesame seeds (toasted and ground), cinnamon, nutmeg, honey and, sometimes, pomegranate seeds. The finished dish is then blessed by a priest at a Mass at which the living remember and pray for their loved ones and all souls who have died in faith of the church as part of a tradition dating back to the 12th Century.
The recipe actually predates even Christianity to the ancient Greek culture with particular reference to the Pantheon of deities: the barley or wheat representing Demeter the earth goddess, pomegranate signifying her daughter, Persephone, the queen of the underworld and, when other almonds and raisins were added, Aphrodite and Dionysus to whom those nuts and fruit were sacred.
It was a privilege to be able to share in a moment of Greek (and Eastern Orthodox) culture that is both truly historic and full of spiritual symbolism – especially as tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of my own mother's death...
You can read all about Koliva here.
Photos © Brian Sibley and David Weeks
Sunday, 5 April 2015
VICTORY IN DEFEAT
Remember Jesus of Nazareth, staggering on broken feet out of the tomb toward the Resurrection, bearing on his body the proud insignia of the defeat which is victory, the magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God.
– Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat
Photo: 12th century mosaics in Basilica San Marco, Venice; Brian Sibley © 2015
Friday, 3 April 2015
THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY
The Rood [Cross] of Christ speaks:
“It was long past – I still remember it – That I was cut down at the copse’s end,
Moved from my root. Strong enemies there took me,
Told me to hold aloft their criminals,
Made me a spectacle. Men carried me
Upon their shoulders, set me on a hill,
A host of enemies there fastened me.“And then I saw the Lord of all mankind
Hasten with eager zeal that He might mount
Upon me. I durst not against God’s word
Bend down or break, when I saw tremble all
The surface of the earth. Although I might
Have struck down all the foes, yet stood I fast.“Then the young hero (who was God almighty)
Got ready, resolute and strong in heart.
He climbed onto the lofty gallows-tree,
Bold in the sight of many watching men,
When He intended to redeem mankind.
I trembled as the warrior embraced me.
But still I dared not bend down to the earth,
Fall to the ground. Upright I had to stand.“A rood I was raised up; and I held high
The noble King, the Lord of heaven above.
I dared not stoop. They pierced me with dark nails;
The scars can still be clearly seen on me,
The open wounds of malice. Yet might I
Not harm them. They reviled us both together.
I was made wet all over with the blood
Which poured out from his side, after He had
Sent forth His spirit. And I underwent
Full many a dire experience on that hill.
I saw the God of hosts stretched grimly out.
Darkness covered the Ruler’s corpse with clouds
His shining beauty; shadows passed across,
Black in the darkness. All creation wept,
Bewailed the King’s death; Christ was on the cross….“Now you may understand, dear warrior,
That I have suffered deeds of wicked men
And grievous sorrows. Now the time has come
That far and wide on earth men honor me,
And all this great and glorious creation,
And to this beacon offers prayers. On me
The Son of God once suffered; therefore now
I tower mighty underneath the heavens,
And I may heal all those in awe of me.
Once I became the cruelest of tortures,
Most hateful to all nations, till the time
I opened the right way of life for men.”
From The Dream of the Rood
Translated by Richard Hammer (1970) from the 8th century Anglo-Saxon, this is the earliest Christian poem in EnglishPhoto: 12th century mosaics in Basilica San Marco, Venice; Brian Sibley © 2015
Saturday, 10 January 2015
PRIESTLY PRESENTS
It's amazing what you can find on-line!
I discovered a site devoted to tasteful gifts for members of the clergy.
There were...
I discovered a site devoted to tasteful gifts for members of the clergy.
There were...
...and...
...and this obviously essential necessity of priestly daily life...
Well, when your Virgin Mary Pill Box is empty what else can one do?
Sunday, 20 April 2014
Saturday, 19 April 2014
EASTER EVE
Click image to enlarge
Stained glass window by W T Carter Shapland in St John the Divine, Kennington, South-east London
Photographed by David Weeks © 2013
Friday, 18 April 2014
IT IS FINISHED
Click to enlarge
The Three Crosses – Etching and dry-point painting by Rembrandt van Rijn
About the picture
Wednesday, 25 December 2013
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Received the following review request, this morning, from Amazon.co.uk, for a recently purchased product.
Being Christmas Day, it seemed a bit churlish not to give it the full FIVE STAR rating!
Being Christmas Day, it seemed a bit churlish not to give it the full FIVE STAR rating!
Saturday, 20 July 2013
SPLASHING OUT!
Spotted by Sheila in the grounds of the Wycliffe Centre...
Bearing in mind that The Wycliffe Centre is headquarters of the Wyncliffe Bible Translators, one can't help but wonder to what levels of stress – and, as a result, dark deeds – people are driven by translating the scriptures!
Bearing in mind that The Wycliffe Centre is headquarters of the Wyncliffe Bible Translators, one can't help but wonder to what levels of stress – and, as a result, dark deeds – people are driven by translating the scriptures!
Friday, 17 May 2013
THE PROMETHEUS FACTOR
The recent death of Ray Harryhausen reminded me of some thoughts I once expressed in relation to stop-frame animation of the kind demonstrated in Ray's films...
The creation story is found, with variations, in many different cultures and faiths: a symbolic picture, explaining not just the origin of man but also the source of man's creativity.
Such mythologies run deep within our souls, causing us to endlessly re-enact them throughout our lives and even memorialise them in our death: when mighty rulers died in past ages, they surrounded themselves with clay figurines of children, servants and cattle, pottery armies of guardian warriors; still today the priest intones the solemn reminder, 'Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, from the earth we came and to the earth we shall return…'
No wonder such stories, myths and legends have provided such a rich, recurrent theme for artists down the centuries and, in particular, through the work of the three-dimensional animators who have taken their puppets, crafted from a variety of materials from simple clay and precision-built metal skeletons covered in foam rubber, and gifted them with the ability to exhibit a range of emotions – menace, anger, joy, grief and loneliness – that we immediately identify as being as being real, honest and true to life.
And our identification is easily understood since, from childhood, we have played at being not the frail creatures plucked from earth, but the gods who are the creators; not the vulnerable but the powerful; not the recipients of life but life-givers. Give us a lump of clay or Plasticine as children – or, come to that, simply mud – and we will make for you a man or a woman –– or, indeed, a winged horse, a giant ape, a raging demon or rampaging dinosaur – that can hold within its fragile form all the passions, ambitions, dreams and despairs that are the lot of humankind and of whom Jehovah or Prometheus might have been justifiably proud.
There is a legend telling how the gods chose two brothers, Prometheus and Epimethius, to create the living things that would inhabit a planet which was beautiful to look at but, as yet, quite empty of life.There is another ancient story...
The brothers filled the world with their creations: birds soared above the mountains and the forests in a dazzling riot of coloured wings; shimmering fish darted through the rivers, lakes and seas; beasts huge and small, heavy and svelte, fast and slow, began to run and leap, bound, prowl and crawl, amble, waddle and lope through the woods, jungles and swamplands, across the fields, deserts and icy wastes of the new land.
To each creature, the brothers gave a gift: to some it was fleetness of foot, to others it was strength or cunning; some were given powerful teeth, some thick skins, some simply the grace of rare beauty.
Then Prometheus, unaided by his brother, conceived another idea: a being who would not be the fastest, strongest or most beautiful of creatures, but who would be the most intelligent of them all - Man.
Taking a lump of clay, Prometheus shaped and formed a figure that resembled the high gods themselves; a living image of the supreme powers who could stand upright upon two legs; who, though naked and vulnerable, would have the wisdom to clothe and protect itself; who, though set upon the earth, would have the desire to lift its head to the stars and dream...
Yahweh, the God of the Jews, gathered the soil of the ground in his newly created world and formed from it the shape and likeness of a man. Then, breathing his all-powerful life-giving breath into its nostrils, this naked, vulnerable creature formed in the likeness of God came alive…
The creation story is found, with variations, in many different cultures and faiths: a symbolic picture, explaining not just the origin of man but also the source of man's creativity.
Such mythologies run deep within our souls, causing us to endlessly re-enact them throughout our lives and even memorialise them in our death: when mighty rulers died in past ages, they surrounded themselves with clay figurines of children, servants and cattle, pottery armies of guardian warriors; still today the priest intones the solemn reminder, 'Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, from the earth we came and to the earth we shall return…'
No wonder such stories, myths and legends have provided such a rich, recurrent theme for artists down the centuries and, in particular, through the work of the three-dimensional animators who have taken their puppets, crafted from a variety of materials from simple clay and precision-built metal skeletons covered in foam rubber, and gifted them with the ability to exhibit a range of emotions – menace, anger, joy, grief and loneliness – that we immediately identify as being as being real, honest and true to life.
And our identification is easily understood since, from childhood, we have played at being not the frail creatures plucked from earth, but the gods who are the creators; not the vulnerable but the powerful; not the recipients of life but life-givers. Give us a lump of clay or Plasticine as children – or, come to that, simply mud – and we will make for you a man or a woman –– or, indeed, a winged horse, a giant ape, a raging demon or rampaging dinosaur – that can hold within its fragile form all the passions, ambitions, dreams and despairs that are the lot of humankind and of whom Jehovah or Prometheus might have been justifiably proud.
Saturday, 30 March 2013
THE GRAIN OF WHEAT
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains just a single grain;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
Image: Detail from Deposition of Christ by Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435,
Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Saturday, 2 February 2013
FORTY DAYS ON
Today – forty days after Christmas – is the ancient Feast of Candlemas...
Marking the mid-point of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox, the name Candlemas derives from the custom of taking into church the candles to be used in the coming year and blessing them.
Since the earliest days of the Christian church, this festival has signalled the formal ending of the Christmas season by commemorating an event recorded in the Gospel of St Luke.
Following the Jewish tradition of pidyon haben, Mary and Joseph presented their first-born child, Jesus, in the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Luke, the event was witnessed by an elderly devout Jew named Simeon who had received a promise from God that he would not die until he had seen the Saviour of the world.
Taking the child in his arms, Simeon spoke words that, across the centuries, have featured in the daily services of worship throughout the Christian church.
In Greek the words say...
In popular culture, the 'Nunc Dimittis' will be forever associated with the closing titles of the 1979 BBC TV dramatisation of John le Carré's spy novel, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in a setting by the late Geoffrey Burgon (responsible for another magnificent television score accompanying Brideshead Revisited).
The Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy version was sung by a boy soprano (the uncredited Paul Phoenix) and, despite having a child singing what is the prayer of an old man, it it has a haunting and gloriously ethereal sound as you can hear here.
Here's another famous former boy soprano, Aled Jones singing Burgon's setting in company with a current young chorister, Ben Crawley...
This Candlemas, I wish you all a day of peace and tranquillity.
Images: Candle in St John the Divine, Kennington by Brian Sibley © 2012; 'Simeon's Song of Praise' by Aert De Gelder c.1700
Marking the mid-point of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox, the name Candlemas derives from the custom of taking into church the candles to be used in the coming year and blessing them.
Since the earliest days of the Christian church, this festival has signalled the formal ending of the Christmas season by commemorating an event recorded in the Gospel of St Luke.
Following the Jewish tradition of pidyon haben, Mary and Joseph presented their first-born child, Jesus, in the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Luke, the event was witnessed by an elderly devout Jew named Simeon who had received a promise from God that he would not die until he had seen the Saviour of the world.
Taking the child in his arms, Simeon spoke words that, across the centuries, have featured in the daily services of worship throughout the Christian church.
In Greek the words say...
In Latin...
- νῦν ἀπολύεις τὸν δοῦλόν σου, δέσποτα, κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου ἐν εἰρήνῃ·
- ὅτι εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου τὸ σωτήριόν σου,
- ὃ ἡτοίμασας κατὰ πρόσωπον πάντων τῶν λαῶν,
- φῶς εἰς αποκάλυψιν ἐθνῶν καὶ δόξαν λαοῦ σου Ἰσραήλ.
And in the English of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer...
- Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace:
- Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
- Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
- Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
The prayer, known as the 'Nunc Dimittis', became part of the night time office of the Christian church called Compline, or Evening Prayer, and many composers have written settings for the 'Nunc Dimittis' from Thomas Tallis to Arvo Part. (You can click on the composers' names to link to recording of their versions.)
- Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace : according to thy word.
- For mine eyes have seen : thy salvation,
- Which thou hast prepared : before the face of all people;
- To be a light to lighten the Gentiles : and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
In popular culture, the 'Nunc Dimittis' will be forever associated with the closing titles of the 1979 BBC TV dramatisation of John le Carré's spy novel, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in a setting by the late Geoffrey Burgon (responsible for another magnificent television score accompanying Brideshead Revisited).The Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy version was sung by a boy soprano (the uncredited Paul Phoenix) and, despite having a child singing what is the prayer of an old man, it it has a haunting and gloriously ethereal sound as you can hear here.
Here's another famous former boy soprano, Aled Jones singing Burgon's setting in company with a current young chorister, Ben Crawley...
This Candlemas, I wish you all a day of peace and tranquillity.
Images: Candle in St John the Divine, Kennington by Brian Sibley © 2012; 'Simeon's Song of Praise' by Aert De Gelder c.1700
Friday, 28 December 2012
MORE NEWS FROM BETHLEHEM
The Donkey Salesman who made a fleeting appearance in the earlier programme got to do his own turn (enabling the successful Flight into Egypt) and was joined by an Apprentice Angel, a Civil Servant in the court of King Herod and a genuine Biblical character, Simeon...
I hope you enjoy these little thoughts as we once more head away from the Christmas season towards the New Year...
Image: 'The Flight into Egypt' by Sandao Watanabe
Sunday, 7 October 2012
PRAYER
One of a number of photos I took today at St John the Divine, Kennington. Quite striking, I think...
You will find more of David and my photographs taken today (and on many other days! ) on my Flickr Photostream.
© Brian Sibley 2012
You will find more of David and my photographs taken today (and on many other days! ) on my Flickr Photostream.
© Brian Sibley 2012
Sunday, 4 December 2011
A GLIMMER FROM THE PAST
It's amazing what turns up on YouTube every now and again: such as lost moments of TV that you thought you'd never see again. The other day, I stumbled over myself – well, that is, the me I used to be a decade or two ago! – hosting the BBC TV's then Sunday morning God-slot, First Light.
There's mercifully little of me in this clip: basically just the opening to the programme and my introduction to Adrian Snell and Friends' performance of 'By the Waterfront', an appropriate number for a Sunday morning...
Seeing this snippet of my brief-ish TV career, brought back a lot of memories of working at the BBC studios in Manchester and of being totally thrown in at the deep end of television presentation: learning, amongst other skills, to read auto-cues and take direction via an earpiece... Of course, in those days, I was still young enough to believe I could do anything and never once batted an eye-lid at tackling something new... Nowadays, I'd be a tad more reticent!
Having been told, two days ago, by The Church Next Door (in a outburst of pre-Christmas spirit) that we have to vacate our flat by 27 January, I rather wish I was still presenting a religious current affairs programme!
As a result of the imminent upheaval caused by having to move our joint 60 years of possessions (or, I guess, that should be 120 years) – out, into storage and possibly – at some point in the future, as yet unknown – back in again, is likely to curtail much serious (or even trivial) blogging for a while; but if and when I disappear from view, rest assured I will, eventually, return!
There's mercifully little of me in this clip: basically just the opening to the programme and my introduction to Adrian Snell and Friends' performance of 'By the Waterfront', an appropriate number for a Sunday morning...
Seeing this snippet of my brief-ish TV career, brought back a lot of memories of working at the BBC studios in Manchester and of being totally thrown in at the deep end of television presentation: learning, amongst other skills, to read auto-cues and take direction via an earpiece... Of course, in those days, I was still young enough to believe I could do anything and never once batted an eye-lid at tackling something new... Nowadays, I'd be a tad more reticent!
Having been told, two days ago, by The Church Next Door (in a outburst of pre-Christmas spirit) that we have to vacate our flat by 27 January, I rather wish I was still presenting a religious current affairs programme!
As a result of the imminent upheaval caused by having to move our joint 60 years of possessions (or, I guess, that should be 120 years) – out, into storage and possibly – at some point in the future, as yet unknown – back in again, is likely to curtail much serious (or even trivial) blogging for a while; but if and when I disappear from view, rest assured I will, eventually, return!
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