Shared Smiles - poem

Shared Smiles Cycling round Alexandera Park/ In the Autumn of my life/ Looking for the tree/ That turned me around/ In the Spring of my life.// Moved by the colours/ And the golden Spring/Autumnal light/ And the energy of live and creation/ And the small signs of humanity In shared smiles and familiar nods.

Thomas meets Julian

Thomas meets with Julian - Hello again Julian, it is good to be here. - You too Thomas…. Always good to see you…. What bring you here today? - The usual….. Although that could be seen as diminishing the significance of what troubles me and its impact on me. - Go on. - Well, I have several dear friends with significant and life changing health issues. It seems mean and unfair. They are all good decent people who deserve better. - Hmm. - Please don’t tell me it’s God’s will that they should suffer. - I wont and I don’t believe that is the case…. However- - However? - Yes, however…. However, we might understand this suffering, what it does invite is love and tenderness from those around them…. And dare I say it?.... Yes, I do, love and tenderness towards themselves. - Wow! - Yes, wow… Suffering is finite. It ends so yhe important point is the journeying and what we can learn from it. - Oh no Julian that is tough, really tough. And I can only accept that from you as I know you have suffered. - True but this is not about me. - OK and it is not about me or rather not just about me… Even though it can be heart breaking to witness my friends’ suffering. Julian nods. - Rather than being theologically clever about this – Heaven forbid. - Thomas smiles – Heaven forbid. - How about how a pearl is formed when an oyster swallows some grit. So maybe pearls develop over time inside us as we suffer. - Hmmm, I quite like that. - Me too.

Spiritual Practices

Over these past few years since I retired from full-time work in 2015, spirituality has become increasingly important to me as will be apparent from my posts. Some regular activities in my life have a spiritual flavour to them, so much so I refer to them as spiritual practices: 1) My regular early morning 2 hour bike ride which does wonders for me and I do it 3 times a week if at all possible. I am out in nature and not too many people about; I pray at a regular point on my journey; my head clears, I compose poems, posts and sermons and write some of it down when I get home, I pass a church on the route and if the bells ring I remember people who have died. 2) I love my fresh made bagels and if I get up early which I often do I might just make this, especially if we have visitors. You can't rush it; you have to wait for the dough to rise. Its timeless and nothing else to do. 3) I have been going to Death Cafe for over 7 years and it meets in one of my favourite cafes - T Hive - which is just round the corner from me. We say what we need to say without worrying. At the end of the gathering I leave always feeling uplifted. My physical life in this body is finite so I need to enjoy the moment(s) and to be thankful that I and you are here. 4) Singing in a community choir which is non religious but boy the music and lyrics are so so spiritual. And we rehearse in a church and I can feel the spiritual energies there. And we breathe in unison and our heart beats apparently start to synchronise. 5) And of course walking in the countryside seeing flowers, trees, clouds, sunshine, rain and rainbows. 6) Visiting holy places/places of worship that often have such amazing spiritual energies - York Minster, Glastonbury Tor, Lindisfarne, Avebury and plenty more. And the energies are subtly different on each visit. "May the long time sun shine on you And all love surround you And the pure light within you Guide your way home"

Holy Moments

In Cross Chapel this morning for the final rehearsal for the lunchtime Advent Concert. Listening to Robert the tenor do a solo with lovely piano and flute playing. Spirit rises in me and I am weeping with joy and appreciation. It's a holy moment. I haven't earnt these moments (unless in a past life!) them seem to be part of how I am wired. Again and again I am blessed with such moments; they have changed my life for the better. I am grateful.

Richmal Crompton and I

Richmal Crompton who wrote the Just William books – who I was named after at it was on the radio when my mum was pregnant with me(!) – always wanted to be a serious novelist. She did have one such book published, which I have read and it is OK, but it was the William books that hit the spot. As a teenager I wanted to be a poet and fiction writer and have written off and on ever since but never with any great success – a few poems published and the odd short story mostly online. I have enjoyed at times reading my poems and getting immediate audience reactions but it did take it out of me so I stopped doing it. Anyway instead and almost accidentally I became an academic aged 43 and to get and keep a full time post I had to have stuff published in academic journals. At the time I got some great support from my PhD supervisor Prof John McLeod. And more recently, now no longer in post I just write on request, usually the odd book chapter and paper. A new voice has emerged from which is more personal, more autoethnographic and less referenced. Curiously this part off me feeds over into sermons and homilies when I am asked to take a Unitarian Service at Cross Street. 2 of my favourite recent papers, which I enjoy re-reading, were published by the extraordinary Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy are ‘On becoming (a) patient’ which draws on my 13 days in hospital with a broken leg in 2014 and ‘Hymns to the silence’ 2021 about my spiritual experiences and music. So, I have learnt that my conscious ambitions are not necessarily what happen to me but are general pointers. A writer Yes but probably not fiction. In the late 1980s I wanted to run some therapy groups in the USA. I sent about a dozen letters to contacts there but nothing happened – probably coals to Newcastle as it were. But I also wrote to an American contact in Japan. He replied that he was about to write to me to invite me over. I had 3 lovely visits over the next few years. So perhaps I can honour what I have done and the good ways I have been put to use; not about my personal ambition but about what is needed from me.

Lets grow

During Covid, Brexit, Ukraine War food supplies to the UK have been disrupted as has harvesting. Climate change is going to make all this worse. So we need to grow and harvest more locally and eat less meat. Ideally our government would set targets and support this. We can grow more in our back gardens and in pots and more allotments would be a good thing. Dig for survival! And we need a different better relationship with each other and with our planet. If you like a Buber I/Thou relationship. So there is a need for a healthy and inclusive spirituality to be part of this new life.

Poem for Chris

Poem for Chris// I am sure the time/ Was just right/ For your soul// But you left us/ Way…. Way too soon// We still re-member you/ There is a Chris shaped/ Hole in our hearts// (Amen)