The Hills of God

Tags

Christianity, God, Lent, photography, Poetry

From the Stations of the Cross atop Monserrate in Bogotá, Colombia.

And a poem by my great grandmother, Mary Griffin Kramp:

The Hills of God

Whence comes my help? The hills of God.
The fields and flowing streams,
The changing seasons with their wealth,
The rain and light that beams.

Whence comes my strength? The word of God.
With messages so dear:
The blessed thought that though we sin,
His help is ever near.

Whence comes my help? The promises
That e’er before me rise,
To know that after all this earth
We dwell in Paradise.

Whence comes my all? The gift of God,
Our blessed Saviour’s love.
His sacrifices, pain and tears,
To make our home above.

The Lord’s Ways

Tags

Herrens Veje, religion, Television

Or “Herrens Veje” in Danish.  Herrens Veje is the name of a 2-season show we just finished on Netflix, which is so complex that I cannot do it justice here, but I’ll still say a few things, including: I highly recommend it.

The wall of photos in the rectory of Johannes Krogh.

An unassuming photo, perhaps, as many of us line our walls with photos (and/or paintings) of our ancestors. But, I agree with Frank that this wall of photos and paintings is extremely important as it summarizes what is going on in the show from the first episode to the last.

And that is the fact that Johannes Krogh (Lars Mikkelson, Mads older brother and currently on “The Witcher”) is being crushed beneath the weight of his history. The family of priests trace their lineage all the way back to N.F.S. Gruntvig, a Danish pastor who is one of the most influential persons in Danish history–someone that none of them have been able to live up to.

Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872)

IMDB summarizes the show this way: The story centers on a family of priests: Johannes, Elisabeth and their sons August and Christian. Johannes is God-like to his sons – he gives, loves, and punishes. His favoritism for August and his disappointment with Christian forces both into making desperate choices in order to either gain his love or break free from him.

A rare moment of family togetherness.

Obviously, it’s more complex than that, and August and Christian aren’t the only ones struggling, because Johannes and Elisabeth are struggling as well, as are many of the people closest to them. I cried a lot during this show because it was all so painfully real.

And, one of the best things about this show is how all the religions/philosophies–from atheist and agnostic to Christian to Buddhist and Muslim–are treated equally as are the characters who struggle within the bounds of their own philosophies and religions.

One of my favorite parts of each episode is the beautiful rendition of the hymn–God Moves in a Mysterious Way–which was borrowed from William Cowper’s poem, “Light Shining Out of Darkness.”

The first stanza . . .

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

. . . also sums up the show pretty well. And the English name for the show is taken from the last line–Ride Upon the Storm.

William Cowper by George Romney

Cowper, 1731-1800, has a fascinating history of his own including a friendship with John Newton that led to a number of anti-slavery poems. He also suffered from deep depressions and attempted suicide several times and was even institutionalized for insanity. And yet, he was highly respected by other poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth and is responsible, because of the above poem/hymn, for introducing the phrase, “God works in mysterious ways”, into the English language.

And after the final episode of Herrens Veje, I had to agree. God does move in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.

 

Dazzling Darkness

Tags

Henry Vaughan, Jesus, Poetry

The Night

Through that pure Virgin-shrine,
That sacred vail drawn o’er thy glorious noon
That men might look and live as Glo-worms shine,
And face the Moon:
Wise Nicodemus saw such light
As made him know his God by night.

Most blest believer he!
Who in that land of darkness and blind eyes
Thy long expected healing wings could see,
When thou didst rise,
And what can never more be done,
Did at midnight speak with the Sun!

O who will tell me, where
He found thee at that dead and silent hour!
What hallow’d solitary ground did bear
So rare a flower,
Within whose sacred leafs did lie
The fulness of the Deity.

No mercy-seat of gold,
No dead and dusty Cherub, nor carv’d stone,
But his own living works did my Lord hold
And lodge alone;
Where trees and herbs did watch and peep
And wonder, while the Jews did sleep.

Dear night! this worlds defeat;
The stop to busy fools; cares check and curb;
The day of Spirits; my souls calm retreat
Which none disturb!
Christs progress, and his prayer time;
The hours to which high Heaven doth chime.

Gods silent, searching flight:
When my Lords head is fill’d with dew, and all
His locks are wet with the clear drops of night;
His still, soft call;
His knocking time; The souls dumb watch,
When Spirits their fair kindred catch.

Were all my loud, evil days
Calm and unhaunted as is thy dark Tent,
Whose peace but by some Angels wing or voice
Is seldom rent;
Then I in Heaven all the long year
Would keep, and never wander here.

But living where the Sun
Doth all things wake, and where all mix and tire
Themselves and others, I consent and run
To ev’ry mire,
And by this worlds ill-guiding light,
Err more then I can do by night.

There is in God (some say)
A deep, but dazzling darkness; As men here
Say it is late and dusky, because they
See not all clear;
O for that night ! where I in him
Might live invisible and dim.

~~Henry Vaughan

A Way to the Manger

Tags

Advent, Books, Christianity, Christmas, Devotional

Now available for pre-order, my husband Frank, and I, have written a week of devotions for this book from Forward Movement:

Explore Christ’s birth as recounted in the Gospel of Luke through the lens of the Way of Love and the seven practices of turn, learn, pray, worship, bless, go, and rest. With daily devotions of personal stories, modern examples, art, and invitations to prayer and journaling, the authors challenge you to discover and incorporate these practices into your own life. During Advent and Christmas, walk with the shepherds and the angels, Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and Anna and Simeon. All of their paths—as well as yours—lead to the same destination: the humble manger where Love was born.

For more info, see here: A Way to the Manger

Eternal Worlds

Tags

Butterfly, photography, Poetry, William Blake

Monarch butterfly in Valle de Anton, Panama

Trembling I sit day and night, my friends are astonish’d at me,
Yet they forgive my wanderings. I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought, into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination.
O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness & love:
Annihilate the Selfhood in me: be thou all my life!
Guide thou my hand, which trembles exceedingly upon the rock of ages.

~~William Blake, Jerusalem

Mary Magdalene

Tags

Collect, Mary Magdalene

Magdalen with the Smoking Flame by Georges de La Tour

Tomorrow is the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalen. She is someone I have always been in awe of having grown up under the shadow of this painting by La Tour, which always held a place of honor in our home (at least, it always stood out to me). It wasn’t just the skull as much as the way she is gazing into the flickering light of the oil lamp and the way her hair shimmers in the light.

In the Episcopal Church, we mark this day in our Calendar of Saints with the following Collect:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene
to health of body and mind, and called her to be a witness of
his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by thy grace we may
be healed of all our infirmities and know thee in the power of
his endless life; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and
reigneth, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

John 20:

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹² and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,“Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (New Revised Standard Version)

And from the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene:

Chapter 5

1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?

2) Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you.

3) But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men.

4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.

5) Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman.

6) Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.

7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.