Do icons get cold?
If you’ve visited my parish or other Eastern parishes, you might have noticed that some icons have a scarf around them:
Like many other people, you might have wondered “What’s that all about then?”
Read moreMonth: January 2020
Friday Frivolity: Wise men follow the star…wars
Slow me down
Here’s poem whose authorship seems to be questioned, with possible authors being Orin L. Crain and Wilferd Arlan Peterson. Regardless, I rather like it…
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind. Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time. Give me, amid the confusion of this day, the calmness of the everlasting hills. Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory. Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations – of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book. Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that I may know that the race is not always to the swift – there is more to life than increasing its speed. Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values, that I may grow toward the start of my greater destiny.
Wise Words on Wednesday: Defeats
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou
PWJ: S3E6 – Bonus – "Introduction to The Narnia Code"
Matt and I didn’t manage to get together to record this week, so I thought I’d do a solo episode today. Last month I was on the Talking Beasts podcast discussing Dr. Michael Ward’s The Narnia Code and therefore thought it would make a good subject for today’s episode.
S2E6: “Introduction to The Narnia Code” (Download)
If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, Stitcher, TuneIn and Overcast), as well as on YouTube.
Read moreMusic Monday: In Christ Alone
I’ve shared a few versions of “In Christ Alone” here on Music Monday. This is my friend Yvette’s favourite:
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
When Musicians become Thought Leaders
This article came out last year and I had intended to share it at the time, but I think it’s still worth reading:
