God's Garden

The world is a beautiful garden,
The peoples the flowers therein,
Mixed colours to give us a contrast,
But similar under the skin.
Their cultures are many and varied,
Handed down over passage of time,
But each is a child of the Father,
A brother of yours and of mine.
So do try to study each other
In love and with every goodwill,
Share knowledge and all live together
As brothers, not seeking to kill.
Do not think that your class or your colour
Gives anyone privilege or right,
To think that he stands above others,
If you think so you stand not in Light.
Light opens the eyes of the faithful,
To show we are one brotherhood,
The family of God in His garden,
Dependent on Spiritual food.

                               Anon. (from my scrapbook in the mid 1970's)

                          Photo by REB, taken in the garden of Howick Hall, Northumberland.
This was the home of Prime Minister Charles, 2nd. Earl Grey, after whom the famous tea is named.

Consider the Lilies of the Field

Flowers preach to us if we will only hear:-
The rose saith in the dewy morn:
I am most fair;
Yet all my loveliness is born
Upon a thorn.
The poppy saith amid the corn:
Let but my scarlet head appear
And I am held in scorn;
Yet juice of subtle virtue lies
Within my cup of curious dyes.
The lilies say: Behold how we
Preach without words of purity.
The violets whisper from the shade
Which their own leaves have made:
Men scent our fragrance on the air,
Yet take no heed
Of humble lessons we would read.

But not alone the fairest flowers:
The merest grass
Along the roadside where we pass,
Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,
Tell of His love who sends the dew,
The rain and sunshine too,
To nourish one small seed.
                                           by Christina Rossetti (1830-94)

           'The Annunciation' - Detail - by Leonardo da Vinci - photo courtesy The Yorck Project

Our Lord's Prayer

A Healing Treatment

based on 

Our Lord's Prayer

by Georgiana Tree West

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Spirit Almighty, quickening and animating my whole being, perfect be the revelation of Thy Spirit in me.  All my cells are absorbing energy, health, strength, and new vitality from the power that dwells within me. Healing life flows through every cell, cleansing, purifying, and making me whole and well.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth,

as it is in heaven.

Let the harmonizing power of divine love adjust all things perfectly as I move throughout this divinely ordered day.  Let me feel the peace of Thy presence within me and all around me.  Let me walk in the light of the Spirit which Thou hast given me.  Let Thy good and gracious will be done.  Let every problem be solved through the loving wisdom of Thy Mind working in and through all for the best good of all.

Give us this day our daily bread.

May I partake freely this day of the bread of life - the spiritual understanding that nourishes the soul.  I give thanks that there is ample provision for every need of soul and body.  Let me speak with the tongues of men and angels - with worldly wisdom and spiritual understanding - throughout this soul-satisfying day.

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Let Thy forgiving love free me from all unhappy memories of the past.  Calm the turbulence of my thoughts; enable me to see through the problems of personality; and make me a radiating centre of love that shines forth to bless with understanding, compassion, tolerance, friendliness, kindness, loving helpfulness.

Leave us not in temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Free me from the temptation of negative thinking.  Let Thy presence within me guide me in controlling my thoughts and words.  I fear no evil as I let the Spirit Thou hast given me guide and protect me and call to my remembrance that

Thine is the kingdom and the power,

and the glory, for ever.  Amen

                                                                    Christ in Glory

                                               Pokerwork and acrylic on birch ply by REB

                                             Now in Lanchester Parish Church,Co.Durham

My Prayer

O God !
Give me the power to wipe out pain,
To ease the lot of my fellow man,
And to make them smile again.
For in sickness there are many
Who know not thee,
Pray let Thy Revelation
Come through me.

O God !
Give me the strength to smooth the brow,
To ease the pain of an aching heart,
And to show the people how
In grief, they too,
Can turn to Thee,
Pray let Thy Revelation
Come through me.

O God !
Give me a light to lead the way,
To bring all Thy nearness
As we journey day by day,
And then, Thy Truth will make it plain
For all to see,
And we shall know, Thy Revelation
Comes from Thee.
                                         
                                            by Sam Taylor, Stoke-on-Trent.

Saint Swithun

    Today is St.Swithun's day. Saint Swithun (800-862) was an Anglo Saxon Bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron Saint of Winchester Cathedral.  According to tradition the weather on his feast day will continue for forty days.

" St.Swithun's day if thou dost rain
  For forty days it will remain
  St.Swithun's day if thou be fair
  For forty days 'twill rain nae mare."
                                                             British weather lore proverb.

      St.Swithun's memorial Shrine at Winchester Cathedral.  Photo attrib. to WyrdLight.com

Speak of Talking

'You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts; and when you no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.  For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.

There are those among you who seek the talkative through fear of being alone.  The silence of aloneness reveals to their eyes their naked selves and they would escape.
And there are those who talk, and without knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not understand.  And there are those who have the truth within them, but they tell it not in words.
In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells in rhythmic silence.

When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the market-place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.  Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear; for his soul will keep the truth of your heart as the taste of the wine is remembered; when the colour is forgotten and the vessel is no more.'
 
                                  extract from 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran

Beatitudes for Friends of the Elderly

Blessed are they who understand,
            my faltering step and shaking hand,
Blessed, who know my ears today
            must strain to catch the things they say,
Blessed are they who seem to know
            my eyes are dim and my mind is slow,
Blessed are they who looked away
            when tea was spilled on the cloth that day,
Blessed are they with a cheery smile,
            who stopped to chat for a little while,
Blessed are they who never say .......
            "You've told that story twice today",
Blessed are they who make it known,
            that I'm loved, respected, and not alone,
And Blessed are they who ease the days
             of my journey Home in Loving Ways.

The Healers Prayer

Let me be still, the silent depths of soul to know,
Oneness, with the cosmic pool of power bestow.
Visions in the cloistered temple of the mind
Each etched like pain, its outline clear defined.

Hold now, the stricken head with kindly hands
Ere warm compassion flows, its benediction lend
A pause, a restful haven in life's sea.
Let then the flood-gates open wide in love's name,

Spirit of God, come thou, use me.

                                           by Rev. John Barclay

The Lamp of the Body

No one when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lamp-stand, that those who come in may see the light.

The lamp of the body is the eye.  Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is full of light.  But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.

If then you whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.

Luke - Chap.11 - v. 33-36.inc. New King James Version