Advent Once Again!

 ‘I come back, come back
You see my return
My returning face is smiling
Smile of a waiting man’
From ‘Waiting Man’ by King Crimson (from the Album ‘Beat’)

Two years ago, in the first of my Advent blogs of 2022, I wrote:

• I blog only very occasionally and haphazardly

• Notwithstanding  that, I do tend to blog regularly in Advent

• I love this season of Advent and wish that the church was better at allowing Advent to be Advent and not simply an excuse to prematurely celebrate Christmas 

• I use a lot of quotes from music (especially but not exclusively, rock music and particularly from that genre that is known as ‘progressive rock’) 

• I reflect a lot on the different changes and challenges of life as the years pass

Well, not much has changed! In spite of my own hopes and best intentions, I still only blog occasionally. But Advent, it seems, is the time when I am most likely to be regularly blogging (sometimes even daily!). The exception being last year when we were in the throes of moving house.

It makes me wonder why I tend to blog in Advent, but not so much at other times in the year.

Reflecting upon this, I think that there may be several reasons.

To start with, I can’t avoid the most obvious reason, which is that we tend to take a week’s leave in the first week of December. We have done this for years now, and it is, therefore, always a time with more space and opportunity to reflect and to blog. 

I also think that the ending of the liturgical year and the dawning of the new Christian year, along with the approach of Christmas and New Year, is a natural time for looking back and looking forward, for reflecting and pondering. 

But, I suspect the main reason is that I am so passionate about this season of Advent and (as I said two years ago, as mentioned above) ‘I love this season of Advent and wish that the church was better at allowing Advent to be Advent and not simply an excuse to prematurely celebrate Christmas’.

As I have said before (and I have stirred up a fair bit of controversy and complaint as a result!) if it were up to me, we would not sing a Christmas ‘carol’ before the Watchnight Service on Christmas Eve (after all, we don’t usually sing ‘Thine be the Glory’ on Good Friday!). And we would not put up a Christmas tree until that same evening, and so on. We would focus on Advent and what it is about, and explore the themes of patience, prayer and preparation, of waiting and watching, of hope… as well as the darker Advent themes of suffering and darkness, along with the related themes of repentance and rejoicing. Allowing Advent to be Advent, gives us room to develop anticipation and nurture hope. 

Now, to be fair, I would also then keep celebrating Christmas and singing carols joyfully up until the ‘twelfth night’ or even beyond! The Christmas season lasts until Epiphany (6th January). Some would say until Candlemas (2nd February). What fun that would be!

But, alas, that now seems like a wistful hope that is unlikely to find much traction in our contemporary, commercialised age. I recall a few years ago popping into Tesco on Christmas Eve just before it was closing, and already the staff were busy taking down all the Christmas decorations and displays.

And so, I find myself inevitably and inexorably (and a little unhappily) drawn into the premature celebration of Christmas, and – as one who conducts worship – find myself uneasily choosing Christmas praise for Sunday worship somewhat earlier than feels comfortable. But I feel obliged so to do, and I know of one colleague who faced considerable anger from the congregation due to his failure to do that very thing on the Sunday before Christmas. 

Ah well… I will try to avoid that, however reluctantly! 

But, for myself, I will make every effort to allow Advent to be Advent, not due to some pursuit of ‘liturgical purity’ (of which I have been accused more than once with regard to this issue!). But because I believe that Christians are denying themselves the opportunity to engage with a season in which we can reflect on some of the most important and significant and deep aspects of our faith. 

A Change of Rhythm

 

‘And through the rhythm,

of moving slowly;

sent through the rhythm,

work out the story’

 

Yes ‘The Revealing Science of God’ on the album ‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’ (1973)

 

I remember when I used to post supposedly deep (pretentious?) reflections on my blog regarding matters of life and faith and so on. It has been a while since I have done so. But I hope to get back to these posts… sometime.

Meanwhile, this post consists of (yet) more musings on the stage of life at which I now find myself.

But, perhaps that is the point; I am now reflecting on different things and it seems my focus has changed. Or – to put it another way – the rhythm of life has changed.

I am aware that since I became a grandfather, and since I retired, I have said quite a lot on my blog about contentedness, gratitude, the seasons of life, the ‘pleasures of a lifetime’ and so on. I am very much enjoying this new phase of life.

And, more than that, I am aware of how I am adjusting the rhythm of my life. As I look back over the years, I am amazed at, and grateful for, the many things I have done, places I have been, marvels I have seen, and so forth. Fifty years ago I would not have imagined even half of the experiences I can look back on.

But now I find that the rhythm is changing, or perhaps I am choosing to change the rhythm. No longer do I feel ‘driven’ (or even greatly motivated) to go to exotic places, do adventurous things, or so on. I realise that for many of my contemporaries retirement is a time for foreign travel, prolonged holidays and such like. And good for them! They seem to be enjoying it, and I am very pleased for them.

Just today, a group of old school friends who get together from time to time were in touch with one another by email to see if we could plan our next lunch date. The first date suggested suited me fine… and only one other person. The rest couldn’t make it as they were (variously) in Turkey, Japan, or Switzerland!

Now, I guess I still have a few foreign trips in me, but the prospect no longer ignites my excitement as once it would. Instead, I find I want to spend my time in different ways; possibly in ‘simpler’ ways?

I want to spend time with my grandchildren, I want to think about writing, to compose and play more music, to spend more time doing things around the house, to watch the birds in the garden, to explore local parks and museums, to read more books, and so on. 

Yes, the rhythm has changed.

And, although I am still involved in a little bit of ministry, I am pleased that the rather hectic rhythms of full-time parish ministry are a thing of the past. The new, slower rhythms of life allow me to enjoy just a little more time to pray and ponder, to read and reflect, to think big thoughts and even sometimes just stare into space.

I guess if I keep doing that then some new posts of the more reflective and thoughtful nature may eventually reappear. But then, perhaps even these will have a different rhythm.

 

Originality, Creativity, and Plagiarism

 

 

‘The eyes of honesty can achieve,

How many millions do we deceive,

Each day?’

Yes ‘Close to the Edge’ on the album ‘Close to the Edge’ (1972)

 

With the rich resources of the internet at our fingertips, it has never been easier to copy other people’s work and pass it off as our own.

However, with the proliferation of plagiarism-checking apps, we have never been more at risk of being found out!

Plagiarism is not new. Sometimes it is blatant and unapologetic. Sometimes it is unconscious and unintentional. But the question is, where do we draw the line and how do we act honestly in our creativity?

It may seem obvious, but I don’t think it is always easy or straightforward.

Of course, sometimes plagiarism is very blatant and – with something of a brass-neck – someone can pass off someone else’s work as their own; or attempt so to do.

I well recall a book by one of my professors at university, the first chapter of which was almost word for word taken from the book of another (more famous and renowned) professor from another university. It was so clearly copied, that all of my fellow students were aware of it and openly discussed it; and the professor appeared entirely unembarrassed!

I have attended church services where the preacher has simply read a sermon previously published by another (in one case, read directly from a well-known book of sermons, and in the other obviously and blatantly read from a then well-known publication). And in contemporary times, too many preachers simply copy and paste from online sermons, of varying quality, freely available on the internet.

My view is that this is not at all acceptable!

However, where do we draw the line?

Way back in the early 1970s, I was a member of a rock band. I played bass guitar, sang, and wrote some of the songs. One of the songs of which I was particularly proud (and which was written in good 70s prog rock style) was called ‘Mists of Time’. I (modestly) thought the main riff was great, and the melody line pretty good. I did not consciously ‘steal’ from anyone else… not consciously. But, years later when revisiting an album by one of my favourite bands of the time, I heard the riff – yes, that riff… what I had thought was my riff. I had not intentionally or consciously stolen it; but there it was on this other album. It  was a while after that when I listened to yet another album by another prog rock band (an album I had bought and listened to when I was 14) and I realised that the melody of the verse of one of the songs was almost identical to the melody of the song that I had ‘composed’.

I did not consciously or intentionally ‘plagiarise’, but the similarities were so strong that I doubt that it would have gone unnoticed by the original artistes had our band every recorded my song (which has never since seen the light of day). Many bands and songwriters have faced similar issues from John Lennon to Led Zeppelin to George Harrison and so many others. There have been court cases and accusations galore.

Even stranger is when one (for example) uses a phrase only later to discover it has been used elsewhere in a work that one had no awareness of having previously read or heard. That has happened to me in the context of song lyrics. Had I perhaps heard that lyric at some time and not recalled it, but the phrase has stuck in my mind?

Is that plagiarism?

Truth be told, I am a bit paranoid about it all. While I have never had written works published (other than in a couple of journals.. and – of course – my blog!) nor songs publicly issued, I have recorded some songs which friends have heard, and printed some works that have had limited distribution (in a congregation or amongst a specific group). Even so, I have tended to acknowledge that I may have unconsciously and unintentionally used ideas from others (and in some cases I have specifically stated so in covering notes, and in one case I apologised personally and directly to a far better preacher than I, for using one of his illustrations in a sermon that came to be distributed in print form; just for the record, he was unconcerned and perfectly at ease with my having so done!).  

But the question remains; what constitutes plagiarism and what is simply being ‘inspired by’ someone else’s work? On the spectrum from blatant and intentional copying at one end, and unconscious ‘inspiration’ and influence at the other, where do we draw the line?

I’m not terribly sure. (But just for the record, this post is all my own work… I think!).

 

 

 

Seasons (again!)

 

‘Seasons will pass you by,

I get up, I get down’

Yes ‘Close to the Edge’ on the album ‘Close to the Edge’ (1972)

I posted a blog on ‘Seasons’ a few years back. In that post I reflected on how I was entering into the final phase of my full-time Ministry and how I felt about it. I also mentioned that, in looking forward to retirement, some folks spoke about a new chapter in life, but that for me it was more like a new season.

I have now been ‘retired’ for just over two years. I put ‘retired’ in inverted commas, as I don’t think I will ever fully retire from Ministry. Currently, I find myself serving as a ‘Locum’ which takes up two days a week plus the Sunday service. 

But things have definitely changed, slowed down, moved into a new phase, and at a different pace. As I anticipated a couple of years ago, it does feel like a new season. 

Retirement is part of that, but so is being a grandparent. That has definitely changed perspectives and felt like a new ‘season’! 

However, one other thing (pretty much unique to the experience of Ministers) is that, being retired, we only now own and live in our own home. Now, of course, over the years of Ministry we have had homes! But they have been owned by our respective congregations. We have also owned properties over the years, but these have not been our homes in which we have lived. For this first time, as retired people, we own the home in which we live. And that is a great feeling!

The drawback is that, given our age and stage, we want to get the house and garden sorted pretty quickly and are expending rather a lot of time, and energy, and money doing so. We are aware that this season of life is not going to go on forever. We do not have the luxury of several decades stretching ahead of us in which we can gradually get home and garden as we would like!

But that is ok.

And, in fact, the reason I began this post was because I have been reflecting on how content I have become in this new season. The experiences of retirement, grandparenthood, and living in our own home will all be part of this. But whatever the reasons, contentedness is not a quality I (or those close to me) would have previously attributed to me! 

But I do feel very content, and at peace with life, and deeply grateful. While I am more than aware that this new season will not go on forever (and I am very aware that the years pass ever more swiftly), it remains a time of peace, contentedness, mellowness, and gratitude. 

I feel less urgency about achieving, acquiring, experiencing, or striving. I have already done much, seen much, experienced much and achieved much. I am content (there’s that word again!) to look back on much of that with gratitude and happily settle into this new season.

The Apostle Paul once wrote; ‘I have learned to be content’ (Philippians 4: 11). 

Perhaps I too am learning that secret.

Soon, oh soon the light

 

Listen should we fight forever

Knowing as we do know Fear destroys?...

 …The fist will run

 Grasp metal to gun

The spirit sings in crashing tones we gain the battle drum

Our cries will shrill the air will moan and crash into the dawn

The pen won't stay the demon's wings, the hour approaches

Pounding out the Devil's sermon…

 

…Soon oh soon the light

Pass within and soothe this endless night

And wait here for you

Our reason to be here’

 [From ‘The Gates of Delirium’ by Yes, from their 1974 album, ‘Relayer’]

 

Sometimes it hurts.

Sometimes it really hurts.

I feel it like a constant ache inside.

A friend or loved one seems to be struck time after time with some disaster, setback, injustice, or illness. And I feel the pain inside.

I look at a church which, in our nation at least (although not worldwide) is seemingly in unending decline, struggling to know how to respond (and so often making panic decisions that only serve – so it seems to me – to make matters worse). I sometimes despair. And it hurts.

And perhaps it hurts most when I read about the climate crisis, and our apparent inability to take the hard decisions, or to do so sufficiently quickly or fully, or when I think about the horror of the fighting and killing, the misery and suffering in Israel-Palestine, or the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Yes, there is a real ache inside.

How long?

How long must all of this go on?

How long until it ends?

How long until God responds to our prayers?

How long until his Kingdom of peace and justice, ruled by love, is finally established?

I genuinely do feel all of this as an inner ache sometimes. And, as well as the pain, I get angry, sometimes so very angry, with God. I am comforted to know that I am not alone in this… and even in the Bible there is anger with God.

Perhaps this ache within is part of why I feel so drawn to this season of Advent, which brings together the mysteries of suffering and hope, of anger and faith, of darkness and light, of God’s here-and-now Kingdom and his not-yet-here Kingdom.

During this Advent time we sing the hymns that express all of this: ‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’, ‘Come, thought long expected Jesus’, and so on.

The progressive rock group, Yes, whom I have often quoted, frequently touch on ‘spiritual’ themes in their work. This past week, something brought to my mind the piece which I have quoted above; ‘The Gates of Delirium’. It is a 22 minute long song (or, perhaps better, a suite) that is inspired by ‘War and Peace’.

The opening sections are a frantic and confused depiction of war. Then, towards the end, the clamour and chaos give way to a gentle, hopeful, yearning section… almost like a prayer; ‘Soon oh soon the light, Pass within and soothe this endless night, And wait here for you, Our reason to be here’.

I almost want to say ‘Amen’.

Yes, I believe that the day will come; the Day of the Lord. I have a firm hope in God’s promises, and that his Kingdom of justice and peace will one day be established. ‘Thy Kingdom Come’.

But I pray that it will be soon, that the light will dispel the dreadful darkness, that God’s will and way will finally prevail.

And, until then, I guess I will continue to live with this ache within.

‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’.

December Snow

 

‘Like December snow, that lays in the wood

You're gone too soon...life can be like December snow’

‘December Snow’ by the Moody Blues

 

Well, here we are, and another Advent dawns; the start of the new Christian Year, and the beginning of our movement towards Christmas.

And yesterday the snow came.

Where we live, it came in abundance!

As I began to write this, the car is still to be dug out of the driveway.

My family know all too well that I have a very ambivalent feeling about snow. Actually, to be completely honest, they think that I have a completely negative view of snow! But, that is not actually true. If I have nowhere to go and nothing to do, there is nothing I love more than watching from my cosy sitting room as the snow falls. I have even been known to enjoy venturing out into the snow on foot (suitable clad, of course) and trudging through the deep drifts or throwing snowballs.

The problem is that mostly I have (or – at least – have had in the past) places to go, people to see, things to do, and so on. In such circumstances, snow is completely disruptive, dangerous, unnerving and unwelcome. As you may, by now, have gathered, I am not ‘Dreaming of a White Christmas’!

The Moody Blues song (quoted above) suggests that December snow can be gone too soon. But, in my view, too often it is not gone soon enough!

But, it depends on so much. It depends on perspective and circumstance.

My wife, Jane, loves the snow. Her spirits lift when the snow falls. A few years back, when it snowed and everything around looked lovely, she posted on Facebook, ‘I love when the snow falls, does that make me a bad person?’. Of the replies to her post, exactly 21 people said ‘Yes’ and exactly 21 said ‘No’!

I guess the truth is that there are two sides to the snow. It can indeed be beautiful, evocative, and ‘magical’. It can also be disruptive, disabling, and even dangerous.

And it seems to me that there are also two sides to this Advent Season. Of course, it is when we begin to look ahead to Christmas and anticipate the celebration of Jesus birth. But it is also a season of waiting and of ‘not yet’. Hope on the one hand, and delay on the other. The joy and peace is tempered by the awareness that the coming of God’s Kingdom in all its fulness is not yet. We sing of peace but we still are so acutely aware of so much conflict in our world (even, at this time, in that very land in which our Saviour was born). We talk of joy, but we know that there are many who are so weighed down with despair, anxiety, dread, illness or loss.

God’s Kingdom is not yet here.

Advent has (as it were) a ‘dark side’, which is why traditionally such things as death, judgement heaven, and hell are themes for this season. Doesn’t sound very Christmassy, does it? But that is one of the reasons I would like the church to be more focussed than it often seems to be, on holding off on the Christmas Carols etc during this season. By all means, once Christmas comes, let us sing them with joy and delight, and continue to do so for the 12 days of Christmas that begin on 25^th December.

But there is a place for acknowledging the dark realities of our world and our lives, and for affirming that God’s Kingdom that has come, and keeps coming, is nonetheless still to come in fulness.

This does not mean that we fail to anticipate Christmas, still less refuse to share in the joy and celebration that is around. But, just like snow, there is another side to it.

And, I suppose, this is why in this season, I tend – both in my own devotions and in public worship – to focus on the three themes of hope, waiting, and patience.

Bruised and Broken (but Honest and Hopeful!)

 

‘One thing you can’t hide, is when you’re crippled inside’

John Lennon ‘Crippled Inside’ on the ‘Imagine' album (1971)

 

Not that I actually feel ‘crippled inside’. Not really.

But, I am aware of the bruises and brokenness we all bear. I have never shied away from acknowledging that in myself, nor in being open about it.

It is only as I have grown older that I have increasingly realised that the ‘normal’ thing seems to be to live in denial, to pretend that all is well, to ignore the ‘broken bits’ and certainly never to admit to them!

Whoops! I have got all that spectacularly wrong then. Or not!

In fact, I really do not believe that denial and pretence are healthy. Quite the opposite. So, I am not at all sorry to have been so aware of my inner failings, nor to have been open about them (as and when appropriate).

A conversation a few days ago with a family member, confirmed to me that openness can be a very positive thing, not just for the one sharing, but for the other who listens.

And a much valued chat with a friend the other day, in which we were open about some of our struggles etc, was so helpful for me (and, I think and hope, for him too) that I was once again reminded of the power of honesty and openness.

Don’t get me wrong. I think that there can be inappropriate ‘sharing’ and I do not think for one moment that we should be profligate in our exposing of our weaknesses to others. But in the right place, with the right person, at the right time, and when it is both safe and appropriate, then sharing in this way can be so beneficial and therapeutic.

I think I always believed that; it is only more recently that I realised that this is not ‘normal’!

I am so glad to know that some of my friends and some of my family members find that it has been such a positive experience for them too.

And, truth be told, I cannot quite divorce this from my understanding of what Christian fellowship can mean, or from the words of Jesus who said ‘you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free’. What if that means more than the truth about God, but also means the truth about ourselves? And what if we cannot really know the truth about ourselves until we share it?

That has certainly been my experience.

I have never found the reaction of the ostrich a very helpful guide to healthy living!