Shalom

hymns for Pentecost

Ian asked in a comment about the two more modern songs we sang yesterday on Pentecost Sunday.
here's a list of what was sung. Although they are printed in the New English Hymnal, the words to the two from last century must be copyright as I can't find them.

Processional hymn was Sing to him in whom creation..., #142 in that hymnbook. It was written by Micaek Hewlett, who was born in 1916.

That was followed by Come holy Ghost, our souls inspire, translated in 1627 by Jjohn Cosin from the ninth century words.

The offertory was taken to the hymn, Come, Holy Spirit come!, inflame our souls with love, written by Michael Forster, born 1946 and the hymn was sung to Diademata. I found many of the words challenging in this song. It spoke of transformation in the heart and home, the gift of healing wounds of guilt or fear, revealing oppression and exposing lies. We need the gift to speak words of love and grace and to hear others speak similarly to us.

It concluded:

Come, Holy Spirit , dance
within our hearts today,
our earthborn spirts to entrance,
our mortal fears allay.
And teach us to desire
all other things above,
that self-consuming holy fire,
the perfect gift of love.

The post- communion hymn was come down O love divine quoted in full in the post below.

Lovely words all through these hymns and great music.

reconciliation week

On May 27, 1967, I voted in a referendum to allow indigenous people to be counted as Australian citizens in the census. I voted for the proposal which was passed, but I knew many, socially conservative Christians, who voted against it. Upsetting the status quo was unsettling to them.

This week marks Reconciliation Week. As has been noted, the current Liberal government still refuses any form of apology for the past treatment of indigenous people. Again, some conservative Christians applaud this stance. I find it interesting and somewhat ironic that many of these would quote the OT verses about repenting for the sins of the nation and of humbling themselves to pray for the end to this terrible drought. However, to say sorry for what is past is beyond them.

It's no secret that many indigenous people live in terrible circumstances. Poor housing, poor food, poor education, poor health services. Sure, there is often some contribution from their side, but should that stop us trying? Indigenous Australians have a lifespan some seventeen years less than others here. Many things have improved in the last forty years, but there is still lots more to be done.

I think that often there is a cultural divide with the government unable to understand many customs. A great deal of money was offered to upgrade housing at Alice Springs. Truly, the settlement is in a disgusting state. However, indigenous people let the offer lapse becaue they would lose rights over the title. Now surely, when a house is falling down, filled with vandalised fittings and yet still home to far too many families at once, there should have been more effort to find a compromise solution. It was one said there were two nations in one land. We've made advances, but much more needs to be done.

pentecost

Come down, O Love divine

Come down, O love divine,
seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;
O Comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn,
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light
shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

Let holy charity
mine outward vesture be,
and lowliness become mine inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart,
which takes the humbler part,
and o'er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace,
till Love create a place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

Words: Bianco da Siena, d. 1434;
trans. Richard Frederick Littledale, Jr., 1867

This was one of the hymns sung this morning at St James, King Street. I love many of the old hymns and this too is a favourite. We also sang others by 20th century writes. I knew the tunes but not the words. I found many of the words challenging in all the hymns. The second last verse of the one quoted made me think deeply. Holy charity? Lowliness of heart? let alone "weeps with loathing." as I said, challenging, and I'm in need of the Spirit's help to meet the challenge. Some of the other hymns were challenging about reconcilaition and forgiveness.

As the clouds of incense ascended, I pictured the prayers of the saints ascending and added mine to them.

saturday sky

Saturday sky is a meme which I usually reserve for my other blog on handcrafts, mainly knitting. However, I really like this photo so have included it here. It's early morning, early winter, taken at the front of my place. Clicking on the image will give a bigger picture with more of the branches with their interplay of colour and texture. The sun is shining from an early rising at my back as I took the photo.

This gum tree has bark which splits and peels in early summer. the runk whis is usaually a soft blue/grey/green is then very light in colour. When wet, it turns into a bright lime green.

Last year, Miss Six was hopeless at taking photos, so I was pleased she was practising on a digital camera, not one where I would have been paying for developing the photos. Her cousin, a year older, was quite good and took some unusual shots. The year has made the difference. She took this shot in her backyard a week or so ago. I've cropped it a bit because who wants to look at back fences? The sky was as blue as it looks here. Beautiful weather, although rain is always welcome. Again, clicking will enlarge.

investiture

My posting lately has been very sporadic and fairly mundane. I have a lot of things going on at the moment, many of them with unpleasant outcomes and I really cannot see just where my life is heading.

So here is something more pleasant to lift my mood.

I have done volunteer work for very many years, usually for Christian organisations, but also in other areas. I'm not the only person who volunteers by a long shot. Many charities would not function without volunteers and there will shortly be a fair to show opportunties to volunteer.

I have a friend who is a member of the St John Ambulance brigade. He currently is a reasonably high rank, holding state and regional positions and has a position of some responsibility. This position is fairly "elastic" and he finds himself being given assignments which don't seem to fit in any other area.

Yesterday I attended an investiture at Government House in Sydney where he was raised to the position of Officer Brother in the order. There were another half dozen or so raised to this level, and then about a dozen raised to the order below. The citation for each member was read as the Governor, Marie Bashir, invested them and pinned on a rather attractive medal. The ceremony was impressive and the band of the NSW Ambulance Service played the national anthem and also a selection of music during the reception which followed. I don't think I have ever sung anything while the accompanying music came from under a tree outside! They also played durung the reception later.

I was struck by the generosity of the service offered by these people. Almost everyone of these people had given many thousands of hours over years to serve the community. I sat there trying to add up these hours and then see if I could get an indication of what that was in years. I allowed eight hours/day as I took that to be a working day. I never did really get to the end, but I figured it was well into many years in total of service, often in harsh conditions, all without pay.

One award was posthumous, given to the St John member who died during the Christmas - New Year bushfire emergency in 2006. He died while trying to obtain asthma medication for some who had been evacuated from a fire area and did not have it with them. He had been particularly active in training cadets and in nurturing many different community groups. There was tremendous applause as his daughter accepted the reward on his behalf. My friend, in his official St John position, had conducted some of this man's funeral service which had been attended by the Premier and the Governor.

Those in such organisations often risk their lives and give amazing service to the community. I'm sure there are many other groups, but ones which readily come to mind are St John, the Rural Fire Service volunteers and the State Emergency Service. Thank you to all.

The service was impressive. Members of St John Priory processed, clad in swirling great black capes with a large St John emblem on the shoulder, extending down to the elbow. The Bishop of Bathurst who heads the chaplaincy group, read the prayers and was robed. The Governor who is also the patron of the organisation, seemed to be very warmhearted and compassionate.

I haven't been inside Government House before and there are no pictures as we were requested not take them inside. The ceilings were at least 15-30' high and intricately painted. The cornices were very detailed, with one concave section being paintd in narrow stripes. The position is superb, of course, right on the point overlooking the harbour. There ws a reception afterwards, very professionally done, under one of the outside colonnades. this overlooked the harbour and I could jjust imagine how pleasant a hot afternoon would be, sitting there, watching the harbor traffic while being in the shade with a cool breeze from the water. Daydreams of course, but the setting was marvellous.

I was trying to take a picture of my friend's award, a very attractive medal. Just as I clicked the camera, he decided to take a photo so it didn't really show!

Here's a site with thumbnail pictures of the grounds and buildings of Givernment house. Click for more detail.

all we like sheep...

I remember how games used to change overnight at school when I was a kid. Yo-yos one day and skipping ropes the next. Hoops and then hopscotch. Or something like that. Oh, and marbles somewhere there too, although I was stopped from playing with the boys because I used to beat them and get their best marbles. I certainly wasn't a "dolly" person at all. It almost seemed as if the order and date of the change was instinctual.

Yesterday at the college where I work, I noticed this instict again. Although the day was quite warm for autumn, many of the girls had scarves on, most of them tied in an identical knot. Almst as if they had had a meeting and decided that scarves would start on Tuesday. Some of them catered for the temperature of the day in that they had strappy tops on, but still had a scarf. Then on the way home in the bus, a group of high school girls boarded the bus. Practically every one of those girls also had a scarf, tied just like the college girls. So is this something like the cicadas starting singing and then stopping in chorus?