Not always eye to eye. But always heart to heart.

What can I say about Mothering Sunday?

A pair of swallows are busy building a nest under my porch and as they flit by I try to think of something meaningful about nesting and protectiveness. Nope.

My usual research sources are piping on about pagan festivals on the one hand and on the other, something convoluted about gaining freedom through the Mother Church. Nope.

Being a mother is not something I wish to celebrate just once a year. Having a mother is also not a once a year type of thing. I understand the origins of coming home to one’s mother church once a year and seeing family, but nowadays we have birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, bank and school holidays. Not to mention the good old internet. Even the great mother figures of Christianity have their own saint days. Nope.

So what should Mothering Sunday be? I would rather spend 5 minutes of every day, or even 30 minutes a week, telling my mother I love her. I prize the tea made for me when I was ill or the way my daughter always lets me have her orange smarties far more than the card Daddy made them draw under threat of no TV the night before. I read today about one company offering hug-a-grams for those kids who can’t make it home. I know what a stranger turning up at my door and trying to hug me would get. And it’s not a cup of tea.

What I’m trying to say, is don’t do it for the sake of it. Think about your relationship. If you must join the circus, then be pro-active. Use today as an opportunity to schedule a visit or a call. Maybe, if those rascals don’t call you enough, take the initiative and call them. Or maybe, if you’re in my camp, take a moment to think that the symbolism of special days can be very important to some people and that your mum might be one of them. And get her some flowers!

The Time Warp

Tomorrow is an extra day.

I know that technically, of course it’s not, it’s just a glitch in the system, but for me it creates a feeling of specialness, a kind of hidden delight: Tomorrow is an extra day, it doesn’t count. There goes the diet then.

In places that use lunar calendars, you get a whole extra month, but it happens more often and I think you can get too much of a good thing.

Of course, for some (can’t imagine who...) leap years are very special because leap day is their true birthday. Generally they will  try to charm you by citing their age in birthdays, but this can backfire, as Frederic discovers in Pirates of Penzance when his indenture lasts until his 21st birthDAY.

For Oswald of Worcester, leap day proved fatal. At the start of Lent in February of the year 992, he resumed his usual practice of washing the feet of 12 poor men each day. On Leap Year Day, February 29, he died after kissing the feet of the 12th man and giving a blessing.

The news of Oswald's death brought an outpouring of grief throughout Worcester city.

Oswald is now the leap day saint and it is fitting for a man that helped to bring learning into Britain. Leap year came about with the scientific discovery that the year was longer than, well, the year.  

The then Pope got to reorganising the calendar and sorting out the rules (via minions, of course). Oswald spent his time on this earth reforming the Church. Though it seems he was heavy-handed in his reforms, he strictly refrained from violent measures, relying instead upon prayer, fasting, dialogue and fatherly admonitions. He promoted learning amongst the clergy in his diocese and invited many scholars, including mathematicians and astronomers from Fleury, to instruct and preach in England. 

What will you do with your leap day? It’s a little present of time giftwrapped from God and don’t we all accept gifts with enthusiasm? The word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words: ‘en’ meaning “in or within,” and ‘heos‘ meaning “God.”  Oswald certainly had bucketloads of it and he used it for God. Maybe our extra time could include a moment set aside for God, a reconnection, a renewal of passion and enthusiasm. The scriptures this week tell us that we must keep at bay the temptations of the world, to remember that even when we are lost in the desert, Christ walks with us and we will see the glory of the Lord. The alternate collect for today runs thus:

  Eternal God,

  Give us insight

  To discern your will for us,

  To give up what harms us,

  And to seek the perfection  

    we are promised

  In Jesus Christ our Lord.

So: I challenge you. Sometime tomorrow, set aside half an hour, find a quiet spot. Take a cup of tea and some biscuits, be comfortable. Make sure  that you won’t be distracted and pray  those words just quoted.  Remind yourself of the wonderful things you have seen and experienced in God and spiritually top up your tank with enthusiasm for the Lord.

It's a 'leap' frog on fire with passion!

Then, and only then, go do something else you don’t usually have time for. A walk on the beach, coffee with an old friend, a chapter of the book you’ve wanted to start for ages.

Let’s make leap day a leaping for joy day (was that a bit over the top? Well you get my drift). You have time. Use it.

On Jordan's Bank

Every week, I check out any holy days or traditions in the week. Various things will catch my eye and sometimes I treat you all to my thoughts.

Today is the baptism or Our Lord Jesus Christ and according to the internet, words cannot express the importance and the meaning of this event. However, art has had a really, really good go at it. The first two pages of Google results were artists’ renditions of the event. Say a prayer and feast your eyes.

David Zelenka

Wolf Traut

Greg Olsen

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Mont-Saint-Odile/Odilienberg, Alsace, France

Carl Heinrich Bloch

Family Time

Christmas is a time set aside for family in this modern world. All the joys of seeing relatives that live far away, the looks on faces when big news is shared, the looks on faces when Aunt Mildred’s turkey is served....

Times may have changed but people haven’t, and Jesus’ family was no different to yours and mine. The family gathering prior to the first Christmas sounded a lot like a typical year chez Bodsworth:

First, you have to get past the door. Aunty Alison/Gramma/Weird Uncle Thomas is waiting... In Mary’s case, Elizabeth is guarding the portal with arms outstretched. Reunion, love, gladness, joy and excitement.

Then; one of the kids is in trouble. Massive scandal, cover up plan needs hatching. Both women are as happy as can be about their news, but nothing brings family together like unity in the face of adversity. Strength, trust, guidance and peace.

After dinner, the fun starts. Mary and Elizabeth are so happy that Mary starts singing. It’s a shame that Zachariah in the corner is ill and can’t join in, but clapping along is just as important! Fellowship, worship, thankfulness and encouragement.

And what would a family do be without the epic argument? Tradition states that Elizabeth’s baby is to be called Zechariah, a strong family name. Nope, says Liz, he’s a John. I can imagine how long that one lasted before Zechariah lost patience and wrote his final answer. My family is full of strong minded people and old traditions. These gatherings are a time for respecting and remembering what made us great, what ties us together. But we must also look forward to our futures, new family members, new ties and eventually, new traditions. Independence, experience, wisdom and innovation.

Our families stress us out. They yell at us, kick us out, bribe us in, tell us what to do and disown us when we do it. But most of all, they love us. They want to help build us and brace us and show us off to the world.

So you might not love Christmas pudding, you might not think Johnny made the best choice in his hairdo or his wife and you would really rather little Greta kept her sticky fat fingers to herself, but you know that deep down you would move Heaven and Earth to be with them and they would cover for you whilst you did it.

Eat much. Drink much. Give much. Pray much. Sing much and hug much.

Merry Christmas!

The Bishop Of Myra

Today is St. Nicholas’ day! 6th December is still the main day for gift-giving and merry-making in much of Europe. Many feel that simple gift-giving in early Advent helps preserve a Christmas Day focus on the Christ Child. Saint Nick himself has quite the split personality, having evolved over the years to fit in with all sorts of different traditions. In his mortal life he was a Greek bishop noted for his Christian spirit of giving. One legend tells of his throwing three bags of gold through a window to rescue the girls there from a life of poverty. The coins landed in the socks and shoes laid out by the fire to warm. This, along with his generous reputation, probably led to the tradition of asking him for gifts, specifically in a hung stocking. Unfortunately, some might say, the round bags of gold have morphed into oranges in most peoples stockings nowadays! 

Santa Claus as we know him is largely thanks to the poem ‘The Night Before Christmas’, which describes him in fair detail, and of course Coca-Cola for giving him his red suit. In order to get round all the children in the world on Christmas Eve this year, he will have to travel 221 million miles at an average speed of 1279 miles a second, 6,395 times the speed of sound. For all those of us who are exhausted just rushing around getting ready for Christmas, that is a sobering thought!

Laugh It Off...

October hosts one of the most controversial festivals on the calendar: Halloween. In my travels through the years and the churches, I have come across various attitudes toward and interpretations of this highly commercialised sweetfest. I am coming to a time when I need to decide what I am going to teach my children about this, so I thought I would share some of my ideas.

So, can we observe any of the modern traditions of Halloween or should we lock ourselves in the house with the lights out?

The Feast of All Saints on November 1st and All Souls on Nov 2nd meant that a vigil was traditionally held on October 31st. Various legends and traditions in the early church held that the dead were particularly strong in this world on this vigil night. We should take this opportunity to pray for the departed of the last year. Trick or treating probably descends from the tradition of going around the village asking for a ‘soul cake’ in exchange for praying for a particular departed soul and carved pumpkin lanterns may have originally had faces and a light to represent those that were prayed for. Presumably they had nicer expressions back then...

We have dwelt on death for quite long enough now, time to move on. All Saints day is a celebration of all those who are good, who have triumphed over death and now sit with the Father. Satan is forever trying to pull us down to death, but we know how to beat him. What better way to show him that he will never win but to laugh at his attempts? Dress your kids or grandkids up in their monster suits and show Lucifer exactly how much we fear him. Remember the Riddikulus curse in Harry Potter? Teach the kids to laugh in the face of evil, brush off their Armour of God and suit up. Christ has come and he’s already won.

So this year, I’m inviting some guests round, carving faces on orange halves and lighting the pith. We’re going to have fellowship, remember those we have lost, then we’re going to eat too many sweets, put on silly outfits and laugh. The Bible tells us to*.

*Psalm 37:12-13. For instance