Hi folks, We are not meeting on Sunday night this week, we are putting our energy into our Standing Still event on the beach at Cullercoats Bay on Saturday afternoon… if you are able to come along it promises to be a good afternoon, if a bit windy!! See the flier!
So we won’t be back until the New Year, 5th January at the Tavern and Galley, where we will have a catch up. So we hope you enjoy this final blog of 2024, and we will see you in the New Year.
We trust you are all doing ok? I know that this time of year is marked with all kinds of feelings and so I write this week’s blog with that lens. We come to the final verse of the carol that we have used to guide us through advent, and so we listen to the completed version that we recorded with the wonderful folks from Mariners and Marras.
Here are the words to that final verse:
For, lo, the days are hast’ning on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And all the world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
As I pondered on this verse it inspired me to write this haiku:
Years constantly turn
Unflinching peace perseveres
Life’s rhythms echoing
As I wrote it i was reminded that year wracks onto the years that have gone before, despite what seems to go on with us and our lives, they just keep rolling… until they don’t… (climate emergency and all that)
It would be easy for us to be downcast with all that we are seeing within the world, this year we have witnessed so much death and awfulness, and of course you personally may have encountered a whole lot that you wish you hadn’t.
But yet… in the midst, you will have had moments when you have laughed out loud, you will have had moments of deep significance, you will have seen friends and family achieve and overcome… there will have been moments of joy… no matter how short or small…
Because…
Life is like that…
A blogger I follow, Grace Pengelly wrote this…
“These two feelings, of happiness and grief, sit side by side, and for now I’m allowing them to do so. Because the truth is that things are going wrong all the time. Every single hour of every single day there are unspeakable things unfolding. And all of that stuff exists alongside all of the joy and love and hope that we experience. One cannot displace the other, sadly – but also thankfully.”
She goes on to say:
“I’m reminded of a quote by the artist Oliver Lesser, who once said that ‘Everything’s coming together while everything’s falling apart’. He uses this phrase to describe the absurdity of living in a time where we have the tools we need to resolve climate change, but not the political will to do so. I feel that he is asking us to pay attention to both the wrongness and the goodness, the darkness and the light. The falling apart and coming together.”
And so I am left with that middle line of my haiku… Unflinching Peace Perseveres!
This is where i am… I dream of hope… I dream of peace… as we move closer to the moment when we celebrate the Emmanuel (divine (God) with us) moment I hold on and I look for signs of hope.
So we have a challenge for you, I used it in our Standing Still event on Saturday and its this… We would like you to NOTICE. This is commonly known as The Omen Days or in the Christian tradition the 12 Days of Christmas. This is an old Celtic tradition with its roots in practices from other parts of Europe. ‘Noticing’ invites an opportunity to use the days between Christmas and Epiphany to spot signposts, possibilities and nods from nature and anything that you notice pertaining to an incite for each month of the coming year: The first day speaks into January, the second for February, and so on.
Another blogger I follow is Lydia Catteral and she says: “In researching a little further, I came across reflections and relics from observers who were looking for very different things and from very different places: From positions of faith, religious or otherwise, hopelessness and desperation, surety and ease, from trusting signs, believing in predictions and seeking fortunes.”
So the challenge for us as we move closer to Christmas is ‘Noticing’ the moments that speak to you, try and intentionally find one each day and let that be a source of inspiration each month.
Peace, light and love to you,
Rob
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.
