Clarion Online
February 2008 - a selection of articles
Father Kevin Morris writes: Delighting in God
The theme of our Lenten journey this year is “Delighting in God.” The remarkable 12th century Abbess, Hildegaard of Bingen was renowned for her interests in music, medicine, science, literature as well as her insights into prayer and the Christian spiritual life. She wrote: “God the Father had such delight in himself that he called forth the whole of creation through His Word. And then his creation pleased Him too and every creature that He lovingly touched, He took in His arms. O, what great delight you have in your work!”
God’s nature is to take delight in his creation. We are created in His likeness and so we shall only be most truly what we are when we too take delight in what is.
In his poetry the 17th century cleric, Thomas Traherne, suggests that the source of evil and unhappiness in people is often ingratitude. The darkness will be overcome by “enjoying the world aright.”
He says, “You never enjoy the world aright, till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens and crowned with the stars: and perceive yourself to be the sole heir of the whole world, and more than so, because men are in it who are every one sole heirs as well as you. Till you can sing and rejoice and delight in God, as misers do in gold, and kings in sceptres, you never enjoy the world.”
A similar appreciation of the importance of delight as the key to true spirituality emerged in the writings of two contemplative monks in the last century, Brother Roger of the Taize community in France,and the American, Thomas Merton. Their writings reveal a deep appreciation for the beauty of the countryside in which they live, and their evident delight in the other brothers of their community, as well as everyone else they met. It is paralleled by a confidence that Christ has placed a source of true prayer within the heart of every person. Importantly, both monks make the same point, that delight in the creation and in human love and friendship is not in any way separate from a desire for justice and peace in our world. The link between delight and prophecy may not be broken: delight in creation will be the source that protects it from pillage, and delight in human beings that source which will not allow oppression. True delight in God will be the source of compassion and forgiveness.
So what does that mean for our Lenten discipline?
I am encouraging people to take up doing something they have always wanted to do, or haven’t done for a very long time, which they will enjoy and which will be a source of this “true delight.” This means of course giving up time, and being committed to the task, but it will also mean giving up worrying that you may be no good at it, (whatever it is) or that it may not pass the scrutiny of others. It doesn’t matter if you are the worst painter, musician, story writer, sculptor, or whatever, as long as in participating you are enjoying, experiencing something of that “delight” which might touch your soul. Hopefully, these Lent exercises will lead into that kind of contemplation and prayer that makes us aware of God’s delight in us and His creation.
So what will it be for you? Knitting, script writing, baking, walking, visiting galleries, theatre, swimming, football, listening to different kinds of music, learning about something new on a course?
Our Lent programme: Visits
Our parish Lent programme consists of a series of “group visits” looking at film, paintings music, sculpture, and architecture. Do sign up at the back of church and join us. But there are also Bible study groups, Stations of the Cross on a Friday evening, our Sunday morning preaching programme and our Sunday evening series “On My Desert Island.”
Delight as a discovery of God
In Alice Walker’s marvellous novel “The Colour Purple” (also made into a film) there comes a time when the central character, Miss Celie, is brought face to face with delight as a discovery of God and with delight as the true source of liberation and prophecy. Miss Celie is unable to see any worth in what she is and she talks to Shug Avery, a singer and a deeply liberated woman about God. In their own dialect, Shug Avery says: “Listen. God loves everything you love- and a mess of stuff you don’t. But more than anything else, God loves admiration.”
“You saying God vain?” I ast
“Naw”, she say. “Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
“What it do when it pissed off?” I ast.
“Oh, it make something else…”
May you find your delight in God this Lent and be led to His delight in you through the Resurrection of Christ at Easter.
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About USPG, our Lent charity
USPG: Anglicans in World Mission works in direct partnership with Anglican Churches in
over 50 countries, helping to support vital church work, including healthcare, education, leadership training and action for social justice.
In Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, we are enabling Anglican Churches to reach out to poor and marginalised communities in practical and life-changing ways.
In practice, this means we are helping local churches to run schools and hospitals, build houses and dig wells, and provide agricultural training for subsistence farmers. We also support church outreach, theological training and youth work programmes
In all of our work, we don't dictate what priorities our partner churches must follow. Instead, we encourage shared decision-making among equal partners. Furthermore, where grants are provided, they are given on a long-term basis so that churches have a secure financial base from which to plan for the future.
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Retrospective
Eileen McGregor
January has, as usual, been a busy month for us at St Michael’s. On January 4th we had a New Year’s Party in the church for the culmination of the Silent Auction of pictures from the Advent Calendar. The artists generously donated a third of the proceeds of the sales of their pictures to our Advent Appeal.
This year's beneficiaries of the Appeal are: HAY: Hanworth Action for Youth, the Christian School in Ramallah, the Microloan Foundation and the LAMB project in Bangladesh. The Appeal also included collections from our main Christmas services and carol singing at the tube station and raised a total of £6,600 after costs, which was an excellent result.
The first Sunday in the month was the Feast of the Epiphany and at our Family Eucharist service our lovely carved figures of the three kings joined our crib in the church. The following Saturday the next concert in our Bedford Park Recital Series was held, bringing international concert performers to St Michael & All Angels. The baritone Mark Stone performed Franz Schubert’s Song Cycle, Winterreise, accompanied by pianist Rebecca Barham and it was a delightful evening of music.
On January 19th the Charities Group organized our annual Quiz Supper in aid of Christian Aid. The quiz was compiled by last year’s winning team, the questions were challenging and the competition intense! It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and the event raised the splendid sum of £1,800 in aid of this worthy cause. The following day Bishop Michael came to St Michael’s to confirm eleven members of our congregation and two candidates from other local parishes. It was almost his last confirmation service as Bishop of Kensington before he leaves the Kensington Area to move to St Paul’s Cathedral and it was a very moving occasion.
January ended on a high note with a marvelous performance in the church of Puccini’s opera La Bohème, by the Garden Opera Company. It attracted an excellent audience of over 200 people drawn from all over West London, many of whom had not visited our church before.
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Bishop’s Farewell Service raises over £2,000 for flood relief in Mozambique
On Saturday 2nd February a packed Church bade farewell to the Bishop of Kensington, the Right Reverend Michael Colclough, who presided at his final service as Bishop of Kensington. The service at St Mary Abbots, Kensington High Street, was attended by over 600 people who gave over £2,000 to help the people of Mozambique whose lives have been devastated by recent floods. People came from all over the Area: from Staines to Chelsea, from Hounslow to Hampton, Hammersmith to Teddington to say ‘goodbye’ to the Bishop, who has been appointed Residentiary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral. Testimonies from across the Kensington Area spoke of the Bishop’s care and
concern for people and his commitment to make a difference to the life of the Church and of local communities. The service celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (commonly called Candlemas) and concluded with a candlelit procession led by the Bishop. Bishop Michael said “These candles remind us that our job is to take hold of the Light of Christ, to carry it out into God’s world. Go on cherishing and reflecting that Light in your lives and your parishes.”
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A Message from Bishop Michael
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I attended a planning meeting at the Cathedral for my installation on 20 April at 3:15 pm. The Dean and Chapter will send invitations to all Clergy and Readers (and their spouses) in the Kensington Area. The Dean will be grateful if you will all issue an invitation to all members of your congregations and send the number of people intending to be there (not their names) to Maureen at this office (maureen.burton@london.anglican.org). She will need to have the numbers by the Friday of Easter Week, 28 March.
Many thanks for your help with this.
Yours in Christ,
+Michael