Post 16/2022 Saturday 16 April . . .No place appears immune from issues circling the globe, including in our seaside idyll in Cornwall UK. I use the word “idyll” advisedly, drawing on its definition as a period of happiness, peacefulness and picturesqueness. Those qualities, with deep gratitude, bolster the opportunities, challenges and joys of our daily living.

Our idyll comes to flower in walks along town footpaths, among pastoral scenes over fields and hills, in the stirring crash of waves on beach and cliff, in the solitude of woods, walking out for groceries or a meal. Also, interactions with people locally (worship, Lenten study, social events) and at a distance (email, Zoom, even letters), reading (newspapers, books, recipes), watching TV (including deciphering weathercasts)–the ordinary and extraordinary stuff of daily living.

Major issues front of mind include the rising cost of living across the UK, the lack of affordable housing, businesses short of staff, Covid-19 and its variant offspring that are even more contagious than the parent, the global plight of refugees, climate, and, centrally, war devastating masses of people in Ukraine with dislocation, destruction and death.

Lord, help me live compassionately, repenting my failings, forgiving as I have been forgiven, sharing the Easter story.

Q-Queue

Please refer to last weeks blog for the explanation for how I’m using letters of the alphabet.

My mini edition Collins English Dictionary defines queue as “a line of people or vehicles waiting for something.” Plenty of that to go around. There are major transport backups at the Port of Dover, major delays at airports, heavy Easter weekend traffic, queues of ambulances waiting to discharge patients at hospital E&R departments in Devon and Cornwall–the anticipation of “something” ranging from mild annoyance, to frustration, to anxiety at life-threatening delay.

R-Robin

`“Robin (Passeriformes: Erithacus rubecula). Familiar small song bird, allied to the thrushes, noted for its red breast (it used to be known as Redbreast), its aggressive habits in defence of its territory, and its song period lasting almost throughout the year, being interrupted only by the moult period in late June and July. In 1961 it was selected by the British Section of the International Council for Bird Preservation as the British national bird. Widespread and abundant, penetrating right into the middle of towns. The American Robin Turdus migratorius, a much larger bird, but also with a red breast, is a rare straggler from North America.”

Idyllic moments from the week past

Just like Spring, human endeavors spread the seeds of well-being, deal with invasive harms, mend fences, care for God’s created order, and pause in gratitude. Really, it’s about growing community, doing and being good, righting what’s wrong, enjoying and sharing the fulness of life beyond what we can come up with on our own.

From our Lent study book I offer this quote: “And so we arrive at Easter Sunday, the climax of our story–and yet not the end. The wonder of the empty tomb must continue to send its echoes into our daily lives, as we take up the message it sings to us and sing it in our turn, sharing the story of God’s loving purposes for every one of his children.” Sally Welch, Sharing the Easter Story (Bible Reading Fellowship, 2021)

Happy Easter!

-John