Keep Awake!

Advent Sunday is a great day in the calendar we have stepped into the season of anticipation. Today has been especially so.

It's been bitterly cold with snow falling outside it was good to be cosily enclosed in St Mary's on the Harbour. A few had braved the elements and slippery roads to celebrate the beginning of the season.

Each year I am thankful for living quite a long way north in the Northern Hemisphere as its dark nights and shorter days seem to add to the season. Castletown is Latitude N 54° 07' 24" Longitude W 04° 06' 14" so the days are short and will get shorter as we approach the Christmas day. This mornings alarm clock was a rude awakening and served as a stark reminder of what Advent is about - we must not be tempted to press the snooze button! We do not know when He will return. Will we be ready?

In preparation for today I stumbled across this site. It's well worth a look ... www.AdventConspiracy.org

Big Silence

Our recent visit to the Borders, of Scotland allowed us to do the touristy bit. The ruins of abbeys are treasures waiting to be discovered. The monks of Melrose have left many traces to explore and savour. Here generations of faithful lived out their calling and left their marks. There are traces of a lively community and many little side chapels with their separate piscines - each a place for particular prayer. I was reminded that silence is a treasured part of monastic life.

Perhaps in an effort to seal out the rush and puff of everyday activity a wall was built between the religious enclosure and that of the lay people. I wondered what it would have been like living near the monastry in another age.

In the wall there is a doorway through which you would have had to pass get to the monks 'enclosure' - overhead as you cross the threshold there is this image ofChrist's face - reminding me of St Patrick's Breaastplate.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Recent mini series entitled 'The Big Silence' saw a handful of people, whose very busy lives meant they had little or no time to discover peace and quiet, introduced to silence first of Worth Abbey and then to the Retreat House of St Buenos. Each found refreshment and encounter.

The above average temperature, superb seasonal colours and glorious autumn sun were all combined to refresh and encourage this pilgrim.

Under Construction

There has been the first fall of snow out in Newport, which has melted, but there will be more soon. It's heads down in IYRS. The first years are working on their Beetlecats, here is Ivor and Matts boat they built last year.
The Chris Craft, one of the second year restoration projects, is coming along and you can follow the progress on the IYRS blog at http://iyrs.org/EducationalPrograms/InsideIYRSBlog/tabid/552/Default.aspx

Newport is a long way from home, and although I found it very challenging to let my youngest son go to school so very far away, I was sure that IYRS would be crucial in his education. This has been borne out in his commitment and achievements in boatbuilding. He may have many GCSE's and three A levels, but he is finding his hidden talent - he has always wanted to build boats.

Each one of us have inate gifts - it's important to find out what they are. Our education system sometimes enables that discovery, and sometimes misses it by miles. If you are dyslexic, your talents will often be broad, but sometimes hidden. One teacher I encountered as our boys were growing up, was a specialist dyslexic tutor. His belief was that dyslexics are very bright, some are brilliant, they just think in a different way. He had a saying - Dyslexics Change the World. They have an inate ability to think outside the box.

When I was at school, my dyslexia was unnamed. I was regarded as average, and the word blindness made it terrifying for me. Eventually as I left I was told to marry well, and advised that my limited achievements meant I shouldn't go onto further education. Twenty years later, when computers were an essential tool in the dyslexics armoury, I was accepted at Theological College! I had married well, raised a family and then with so much behind me I had courage to step out.

Testimony in Time

Many of our hymns are filled with scripture and quietly give direction. While the singer lifts their voice in song, the words feed and nourish the heart. One of those sung this morning was an old favourite of mine, I love it especially for the lines: filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.Perhaps its my love of the sea and the nautical references resonate, these lines are from Habakkuk 2:14.

God is working his purpose out,
As year succeeds to year:
God is working his purpose out,
And the time is drawing near;
Nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

From utmost east to utmost west,
Where'er man's foot hath trod,
By the mouth of many messengers
Goes forth the voice of God;
Give ear to me, ye continents,
Ye isles, give ear to me,
That the earth may be filled with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

Yet there's more here than the sea. The Isles of the scriptures were the northern reaches of the known land, beyond European mainland - that is Britain. The islands, the continent ... creation is bearing testimony to the works of the God. The Lord of history.

This hymn was written by Arthur C. Ainger (b. Blackheath, England, 1841; d. Eton, England, 1919) for use by the boys at Eton College, where Ainger was a popular schoolmaster from 1864-1901. Sadly there is an unedifying element of envy being perpetuated in politics, one that is discriminatory of people who've been to Public School, especially Eton.

Perhaps the challenge this discrimination presents may be overcome by celebrating all that's good. The fourth verse has the words:
That the light of the glorious gospel of truth
May shine throughout the world:
Fight we the fight with sorrow and sin
To set their captives free, that the earth ...
Goodness can emanate from across the political spectrum. We may need courage to make a stand so the gospel of truth may shine.

http://www.hymnary.org/text/god_is_working_his_purpose_out-1

Recapturing Advent

Advent is the season of Expectation, encapsulated, perhaps, in ingredients of our days here in the northern hemisphere. There is less daylight, protracted colder nights and the advancing of winter - so it's essential to prepare for any eventuality, especially on an Island.

The whistling of the wind today, couldn't muffle the incessant sound of canned street music, even to be heard inside the shops in Peel High Street. Rudolf, Frosty the Snowman, Santa and other characters were already grating on nerves. The chap in the second hand book shop told me he'd turned up his own music in the hopes of drowning out the 'musack'. Woman's Hour told their listeners that today was the first day of Advent. Apparently, over 25,000 people contacted the Beeb to put them right. It is 1st December, and the first window of an Advent calendar can be opened, but Advent Sunday was on 29th November.

Let's recapture Advent. The active part of Advent could be regarded as inactive! The very essence is about waiting - and a close walk with biblical people of waiting reminds me of its importance. Mary and Elizabeth were both awaiting the fulfilment of promises. In common with all expectant mothers, these women knew waiting must be accepted, even celebrated. This particular kind of waiting sometimes requires patient endurance, but promises much.

Even amidst the current culture of immediacy, there can be no shortcuts. We can't fast forward to Christmas. So consciously setting aside the bling of the run up to Christmas, I am actively reclaiming Advent and savouring its treasures - some of which are found in the long hours of darkness.


Weather update - We are once again being pounded by a storm, and sadly I have to tell you that the larger, very new window has failed, not quite as spectacularly as the last, but it is definitely not fit for purpose.

Pollack and Pesticles!

I'm sorry I haven't a clue

This has got to be the funniest programme on the radio. Tonight's was the first time the replacement to Humph - Jack Dee took the chair. Hilarious and quick witted it truly is - the antidote to panel games! -


Amongst the nonsense of this evening was the amusing comment on the nutty political correctness of our time. Would you believe that a supermarket has decided to rename, Pollack!

Go to have a listen
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nv8ng

Identified

You should see the mess! Yes the plumber made it and removed the radiator.

Without all the mayhem we might never have found the manx brick. You can just see the Three Legs of Man in the middle. If you want to look at the history of them here is a link to the makers: http://www.corletts.com/history.html have a look. Are they worth keeping? Don't know. Today bricks are not used as much as in the past.

It seems the water is coming in at the end of the sill, and probably has been for years. While the investigation is underway its just more chaos.

Wizzy is so scared she's hiding under the table under a dustsheet!