A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, then raise it to nourish your beautiful, parched, and holy heart. Hafiz
Blog
Pererindod Melangell
Posted on by James Woodward
St Melangell’s Church There has been a Christian Church here for over 1200 years. Its setting, in a place of great beauty deep in the Berwyn Mountains, is peaceful and unspoilt. The church stands in a round churchyard, once a Bronze Age site, ringed by ancient yew trees estimated to be two thousand years old. […]
Pennant Melangell
Posted on by James Woodward
The Tanat Valley: Cwm Pannant, Llangynog, Powys Remote and isolated, deeply glaciated valley with clustered small farms with small enclosed fields on lower slopes and valley bottom, medieval church and legendary associations with St Melangell, abandoned farms. Historic background The area fell within the upper portion of the medieval ecclesiastical parish of Pennant Melangell, […]
Bank Holiday Musings
Posted on by James Woodward
Some of you know that I am in temporary accomodation tucked in just below the Round Tower ….. for those of you who prefer pictures here is the view from my living room window: Visitors to the College of St George will have noticed some considerable activity. This particular phase of a major refurbishment project […]
Now Thank we all Our God – Easter
Posted on by James Woodward
The trouble with you is that you are never grateful,’ was the heartfelt challenge from parent to child overheard by us all drinking coffee in a Windsor shop. As I looked out of the window I wondered how I might have responded to the accusation. Are we grateful? How do we express gratitude? Gratitude, thankfulness, […]
Good Friday
Posted on by James Woodward
Today of all days we must stand at the cross and gaze on Christ crucified with hope and trust. We must stand with Mary and John and claim the new life God offers us in Christ crucified. Looking up at him, looking into the infinite distance that death has set between us and Him, […]
Maundy Thursday
Posted on by James Woodward
Christianity gives us much to think about, much to figure out, it gives us lots of thoughts and words. But above all it gives us actions to do. Jesus, who in the agony of his last night, handed himself over once and for all to us, gave us an action as his living legacy. “Do […]
Wednesday of Holy Week
Posted on by James Woodward
Psalm 102 Refrain: My help comes from the Lord. 1 O Lord, hear my prayer • and let my crying come before you. 2 Hide not your face from me • in the day of my distress. 3 Incline your ear to me; • when I call, make haste to answer me, R 4 For my days […]
Tuesday of Holy Week
Posted on by James Woodward
Psalm 27 Refrain: The Lord is my light and my salvation. 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? • The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to […]
Monday of Holy Week
Posted on by James Woodward
Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation, to you be praise and glory for ever. As a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only Son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself. May we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be […]
Palm Sunday
Posted on by James Woodward
Matthew 21. 1-11 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If […]
We continue to fail older people
Posted on by James Woodward
Councils cut back on free adult social care Some authorities say they have no option but to cut one of their biggest areas of spending The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services study found just 26 out of 148 councils would fund people in “moderate” or “low” need, down from 41. The moves follow […]
Spring
Posted on by James Woodward
In spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt toward the Sun and the length of daylight rapidly increases for the relevant hemisphere. The hemisphere begins to warm significantly causing new plant growth to “spring forth,” giving the season its name. Snow, if a normal part of winter, begins to melt, and streams […]
The Royal Victorian Order
Posted on by James Woodward
Today in the Chapel of St Gerge many hundreds of people are gathering for a service of Praise, Remembrance and Dedication for the members of the Royal Victorian Order. The Royal Victorian Order is given by The Queen to people who have served her or the Monarchy in a personal way. These may include officials […]
The Unbinding?
Posted on by James Woodward
John 11. 1-45 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love […]
decline
Posted on by James Woodward
one day a day woke up and was sky, air, light and itself. Later, evening tapped my shoulder: a reminder, a privilege, a job to do. Record, it said the elegance of the day’s decline, and the perfect curves of all that is left of a tulip. Tom Davis, after Denise Levertov
Welcome and Wonder
Posted on by James Woodward
Ultimately cathedrals are places of welcome and transformation. Nowhere is this more true than of their worship. Their very construction points to the existence of a God of mystery and awe, yet in their nooks and crannies are places of intimacy and comfort, where the hesitant can light a candle and say a prayer. […]
Church Going
Posted on by James Woodward
Once I am sure there’s nothing going on I step inside, letting the door thud shut. Another church: matting, seats, and stone, And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff Up at the holy end; the small neat organ; And a tense, musty, unignorable silence, Brewed God knows […]
Open your eyes?
Posted on by James Woodward
Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through, and be silent. -Jalal ad-Din Rumi
wild flower
Posted on by James Woodward
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. From William Blake, Auguries of Innocence