The Coming of the Spirit

The coming of the Holy Spirit

When the Spirit came down upon the disciples they were filled with a new power - the power to speak in tongues, the power to heal, the power of miracles even, was given to them. The fruits and gifts of the Spirit were made manifest among the people; Wisdom, Knowledge, Prophecy, Teaching, but the greatest of all was Love.

What relevance does this out pouring of Spirit have for us today, especially for those who are house or  bed bound or living in difficult circumstances under the Lockdown imposed due to Covid 19 virus. We may not be well enough to go out in person to spread the good news nor be allowed out, under the rules to keep us safe, but as Paul says, the greatest gift of the Spirit is the Power of Love. And we all can and do love in abundance. Love knows no physical boundaries and is present in our contact with God and each other through prayer. Love supports, lifts, restores and heals. Prayer has no boundary.

Love comes to us through our family, friendships, our compassion for others and unites all in our prayers. Friendship then, especially spiritual friendship, is a grace from God and how important it is for us to know that at this time of struggle and when we are too ill or distressed or in need, it helps so much to know there is someone there, holding us in their heart and praying for us, even though we may never have met physically in the world or been able to see them for a very long time. What greater gift can we give or receive then than this gift of  unconditional love and prayer?

We can all be connected then, by the Power of the Spirit, in this bond of love and through this connection, healing, hope, light, miracles even can be felt, experienced and known. And through the wonder of  love we can ask the Holy Spirit to bless us and our friends and families and the whole world.

So let us ask the Holy Spirit to visit us this Pentecost and lift us into the heart of Love, where we can freely find all the fruits and gifts of the Spirit that God gives us. So let us use them in Love, to serve God, however He asks us to and trust that God will hear our prayers and answer them powerfully and wonderfully. For the gift of Love the Holy Spirit brings is truly ‘wonder - ful’. 

May we be filled with the Joy that the Spirit brings and feel the Power from on High flowing in to us and blessing our lives and our prayers now and always. Amen!

Can you feel it? This is Pentecost.

CAN YOU FEEL IT?

Love, dancing like fire. Have you ever written a song, whispered softly, known the peace, known just what to do? Have you ever discovered the courage flowing in you like a river? Have you ever stepped up, made a difference, lit a brave candle in the dark? Have you ever wept?

Can you feel it? The power, the passion, the freedom, the joy, the wonder, when we flow with each other, with the birds, the plants, the trees, the stars and planets, the waves, each sunshine dappled new day, the rain, the wild wind and the pounding heartbeat of the universe ?

Have you ever looked up in awe? Have you ever cried out for help and found the healing?

This is Pentecost.

Here is a song I wrote and play on the Mountain Dulcimer to celebrate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uGVsaqKzl8

God

God

Without God my life is barren, extreme, bleak and horrendous.

I cannot exist without the truth of God, the energy of love, the brightness of hope to shine in the cracks between moments of tormented agony.

For me hope is a fundamental aspect of living.

It is not some fanciful idea or some achievement yet to manifest, it is the hope in the very essence of being that is utterly radiant, utterly beautiful, utterly whole and complete , brimming with energy that can and will heal the moment, just by coming aware of it and feeling the goodness of it.

Without hope life is grim, desperate, desolate, lacking in vision, lacking in truth, lacking in beauty and there is nothing to console you. It is the antithesis of life and it must be wrong. 

Yet it is where so many people live.

Hope binds us to truth, brings comfort and consolation, blesses the whole world. It lifts us into life itself and renews us when everything else fails.

You can place hope in possessions but that is short lived, you can place hope in status, but that whithers away like the grass, you can place hope in achievement - but it is a constantly moving target.

Where can you place hope then?

Stop. Open your arms and look up. Behold the wonder and infinite promise of this moment. That is where hope lies.

Come Holy Spirit Come, on the Eve of Pentecost

Come Holy Spirit Come

Fill us with Light

Fill us with Hope

Fill us with a Peace

Fill us with a Truth

Touch and Heal us now

Renew and strengthen us all,

Save us from all that assaults us daily.

In the Power of your Love

Amen

Today is the Eve of Pentecost. Let us call upon the Spirit to bless our lives in unforeseen, incredible ways. May be always be guided by Love. Amen!

Truth

I ask for wisdom and knowledge, gifts of the Spirit to help me know the Truth in all aspects of my life:

Truth that is radiant

Truth that is pure

Truth that brings hope

Truth that brings joy

This is what I ask today. That I can see and know the truth of things both of the world and spiritually; between the relative truth of things and His Absolute Truth and the wisdom to discern the difference.

Truth is knowing God. God brings us to a place of clear sight. He helps us to feel the goodness that emanates from Truth. He asks us to live in a more congruent way through the validity of truth. He helps us to speak the truth, to stand up for Truth, even if it makes us uncomfortable. In truth to live without it is a far more uncomfortable, unpleasant place to be.

I ask to shine the Truth today and to speak out. I ask to flow in all goodness that emanates from this knowledge and to be strengthened by my stand.

Let us pray for Truth. Amen

When no path is visible

When no path is visible

And all hope has dimmed

Shine a light for me

To regain the truth that all is possible

And things can change. 

Amen

A brief explanation of the Holyway and the Heart of Love

The Holy Way...

Is the spiritual path that we chose to enter into, more and more fully, throughout our lives. As we awaken to the awareness of the Trinity, we can then decide to seek, find and immerse ourselves more fully in their love. We can develop relationship with each, yet each points to the others, thus we come to know them all and find ourselves enwrapped in their oneness.

The Heart of Love....

Is the total combined love of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Trinity is one with the other, thus they are inseparable and united. 

Their love fills all of time and space and beyond time and space. Miraculously we too are part of that oneness, because we are held in the Heart of their Love. Following the Holyway, we immerse ourselves in the Heart of Love.

Expression,,,

Of our love of the Trinity may take many forms. Each will have their own unique and precious gift of expression which ultimately burns inside of them and demands expression. Some write poetry, create music, design, sculpt. There is no one right way, but many, inspired ultimately by love and a deepening connection to God. 

Days that turn

DAYS THAT TURN WITHOUT YOU

Here is the news: overnight, at the bottom of the garden, six bean plants have sprouted.

Right now, right here, in our tiny world, that is a lifesaver.

On days that are heavy with pain and inability when you cannot think of anything significant to say, you long for, you are desperate for hope.

So I was able to gently give my wife the good news, tell her how after weeks in the dark, our beans have finally come through. It’s a real achievement and that is what you need to hold onto. The joy of new life, growth from the darkness of the soil is inexpressibly wonderful. A gift from God truly on a difficult struggling day.

My wife’s poem sums up the stark emptiness of days like this, days that just “turn without you”:

I live in static land.
Nothing moves forward
Nothing gets sorted.
Nothing gets done,
Everything remains in the same place.
I cannot engage with it.
All I can do is look
And see the need not met.
The bills don’t get filed.
The poems do not get typed up.
The documents disappear from view
and cannot return of themselves.
The pastels remain in the box, gathering dust.
The music that could have been made
Remains uncreated in my head
The book I want to write lays weeping
in some dark corner of my mind, totally out of reach.
The body is numb.
The mind is dull.
The connections between thought are long gone.

    The explanation for this inability still not explicitly given
    Or reassuringly correct
    Another day turns without me
    And everything I hope to do
    Is stuck in static land too.

Only love then, can lead us on through difficult times and keep hope alive.

The Secret of Caring

THE SECRET OF CARING

The other evening, I held out my hand tentatively and a Robin flew down and perched itself confidently on my fingers; it was not in any hurry and contentedly ate some nuts from my outstretched hand, before happily flying off again at its leisure.

Just last night a collared dove suddenly landed at my feet, asking to be fed. It wasn’t bothered at all by me, busying around, with my seed trays and pots.

How does a wild bird ever learn to trust a human, I wonder?

Here, in our tiny existence, we are immersed in and have very much become a part of nature.

We love the plants, the birds, the creatures, who are the only companions we see, from year to year. There is no such thing as just sitting, somewhat detached outside, as if in just another room; the garden is alive and constantly interacting with us. 

Full of song, it is a delight.

We have learned how, in a garden everything is in motion, living, growing, chirping, buzzing, asking you for nuts, for a bit of scone, telling you it needs watering or needs the careful pruning away of a diseased leaf or moving to a better place to grow best, maybe one more shady.

It’s not just in the garden. Right now, wherever you are, everything around you is in motion, flowing, growing, changing, being born, dying. And so are you, with your cells in this continuous process of renewal.

There is a great sense, especially when you spend time in the seasons, of the power and energy that moves the stars, the trees, the plants, the cells of your body. 

Ultimately an awareness comes, of the interdependence of all things, illustrated so beautifully by the birds that come to rely upon you and that you come to count upon as friends, accepted into their circle of being. 

You come to sense something of the great wisdom that so harmoniously knows how to create a vast infant universe as well as enabling the tiny seedling to sprout; that knows how to orchestrate the dawn chorus, the crashing of the waves over pebbles and a late night blues riff, to set you free.

What you find most, when you flow with the garden, with creation, with each other, is the to and fro of love.

How else can I explain the miracle of a wild bird eating, without fear, out of my hand?

After all these many years in the garden, I have learned a great deal about the giving and receiving of love, in all its wisdom and sacred power, how it is joy complete and the ultimate fulfilment. That, I have discovered, is the secret behind caring ....for all things.

What is contemplation?

Contemplation

What do we mean by contemplation?

We mean to focus our attention on God with us and to immerse ourselves in the beautiful, uplifting Love of the Trinity.

For this we need to allow ourselves time and a space in which to be still and focus innerly, so that we can find our awareness an connection with God. This will become easier over time as we develop the art of contemplation and meditation.

By seeking knowledge and by asking God to help show us His meaning, Wisdom and Intent, we believe it will be revealed in some way. 

God answers us on different levels, depending on how we hear, see, feel, relate to Him. Sometimes, we may want to understand a passage in the Gospel or some situation we are in that does not make full sense or we may need spiritual discernment or an answer to a question we have been pondering. 

Take time to be still with the passage or the issue or the question. 

Ask the Father to pour out His Love upon you. 

Ask the Son to bless you with His Peace not of the world. 

Ask the Spirit to bring you Wisdom, to guide you and reveal to you a deeper understanding. 

This may take time. 

Wait patiently, openly and hopefully. Do not feel discouraged. Just being with God and experiencing the flow of Love between you may be all you need. Or a new insight may be revealed that brings new understanding, strength and clarity of direction or healing.

Contemplation

We take a moment in time to still our thoughts 

as we place ourselves in the Heart of Love, the Holy Trinity,

from where we find their peace at the centre of our being. 

We feel that peace radiating out,

as it surrounds us and blesses us, 

touching and filling our own heart, 

so that there is a oneness that we too are embraced in ,

a wonderful unity.

And we feel blessed and centred 

in the totality of everything that is Love.

A prayer of faithfulness

A prayer of faithfulness

In my desperation, come to my aid, oh Lord

And calm me, like you calmed the waves,

Heal me, for I am faithful, just like the people who You healed

When you walked upon the Earth.

Teach me how to pray,

In total confidence to the Father,

As you yourself taught us.

May we always see Your face before us

Even in the bleakest moments

And be blessed by your radiant light

May we turn to You always

And find help,

Amen

We remember loved ones who have died

WE REMEMBER

They leave a trail of love in your heart when they go,

Each one adding together to the many others

Who sing and dance and leave a path of memories in your mind,

Till the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Wrapped in a special golden energy

Their images dance within you

Flashes of kindness, sadness, special words and deeds,

All meaningful, important somehow, precious, 

Come back at unexpected moments,

Tip over into every day feelings,

Run riot with happiness and grief,

Blend your mood with loss and remembering,

Yet touch your life with an urgency

To live

To feel

To dance

To express

To be

Something,

Anything

More than what you have been.

Whilst there is still time

Live

Laugh

Love

Be

Present

Now

And recognise

The sacred space

That is your life

And always remember

How they have touched you

How they have helped you

How they have loved you too.

Linda Crowhurst 

Jesus help with fear

When fear strikes, remember that a fear, itself, is always imagined, to an extent, as the future is yet to happen. 

Therefore let us ask for Jesus Christ’s help to banish the sense of helplessness and hopelessness and any of the unpleasant, tormenting, incapacitating feelings that come with fear. 

Let us ask Him to empower and strengthen us and come to our aid in each circumstance that fear dwells.

Let us ask the Spirit to free us from fears that bind us away from Love.

Let us ask the Father that we feel His Love in action with us.

Let us place ourselves in the Heart of Love to feel the Love of all Three blessing us and any fearful situation, lifting us higher than fear. 

Let us ask for confidence, for trust, for Love, for blessings to replace these fears and restore right balance to our life and to reignite hope in our hearts.

You might choose to pray aloud or in silence, whichever feels right for you personally, but whichever you choose, remember that you are praying to all Three in the name of Jesus Christ and They are present with you!

Be The Change You Want To See

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE

5.30 am, a glimpse of the rising sun, through a hedgerow, fills me with hope, for this new day.

So how is it going to be?

Inevitably it is going to be painful for my wife, constantly shot through with agony, paralysis, inability, profound , tortuous hypersensitivity , unbelievable torment.

But how am I going to be within it?

...distracted, withdrawn, irritable, tired, bored, listless, unable to bring any light to the situation, do anything much at all?

Or will I make all the difference today?

...by being present, alive, interested, open, aware, gentle, warm, welcoming, willing to help, to think things through, work them out together?

Will I know joy, will I experience togetherness, partnership, miracles, will today be wonderful , despite the atrocious suffering - in the moments in between, even if just in glimpses, even if just for a second or two ?

Here, in the beauty of dawn's first light, I know how much is down to me - to how I will choose to be today.

"Be the Change You Want To See in the world", the late, great Stephen Covey once wrote : https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GOZV3TM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Isn't that the truth?

Being with Linda has taught me this, over and over again: that if I want the day to shine, I must shine. If I want the day to flow, I must flow, if I want the day to be loving, I must love, if I want to make a difference today, then I must be different.

A brand new day. All is fresh and soaked in Spring time dew and light reborn, no wonder the bird song is so tremendous.

Treasure every fleeting moment, don't waste one precious second of it, they seem to sing.

A blessing for when you feel afraid

A blessing for when you feel afraid,

May fear reduce for you.

May hope strengthen you.

May truth live in you.

May wisdom guide you.

May discernment encourage you.

May love find you.

May beauty comfort you.

May inner peace bless your days.

When you feel overloaded

There is so much to do, here, yet so little capacity to do it, so that it is easy to become overloaded, disheartened, despondent and fall into negative thinking, that further disempowers!
This then is perhaps the time to stop, look, actively seek and listen out for God. For He can help you see clearly, especially when doubt and despair assail you, so that your own view of what is possible has become narrowed or blocked.
It might help if you can be still awhile and refocus your mind and heart upon the Love that is with you, the great Love of the Holy Trinity.
Ask the Father to help you.
Ask the Spirit to be with you.
Ask Christ to calm the waves of false messages that may be limiting you from seeing a way forward. Perhaps you are expecting too much too quickly. Perhaps you do not have as much energy right now as is required. Perhaps there is a different way. Give yourself permission to be kind to yourself. Accept you may need a rest or a break, accept it may take longer to achieve something you want,  see if you need to change direction, come to a new vision.
Time with God in peace and quiet is never wasted, allows discernment, enables you to hear, feel, see, know God’s message to you.
Let it unfold.
Allow it to take form and shape.
Find comfort and strength.
‘Ask and you shall receive.’ These are Jesus own words. Let us trust them in confidence, then, especially when it is discernment that you ask for. Surely it will be given.