greenFish Sings to Seals

Have you ever sung to a seal?

My first experience of seal-singing was on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, on the north-east coast of England.

After having been recommended the practice by a friend who lived on the island, I embraced the idea with only some trepidation. I’m not a good singer. I was feeling for the seals.

First we had to find some seals.

After making our way over to the north side of the island, and picking our way along the shore, we were delighted to come across several seals who were lounging-around on the rocks.

This was the first time we’d seen seals since our arrival in the UK. And it was pretty exciting. The only thing was that they were quite a distance away.

In addition, they were very content in staying put. They were sun baking – and sun doesn’t appear much in the north of England (so says an Aussie). If I were a seal, I would have been making the most of any opportunity as well. As we waited around to see if they’d had their fill of sunshine, we became slowly entranced by their lying around. They just lay there. Flapped a flipper around here and there. The odd seal-grunt of satisfaction. It was all simply indulgent. So simple. It sank into me – and infused throughout me – they were thoroughly enjoying just being. Questions rang in the back of my mind: when did I last do that? And, why don’t I do it more often?

Still, I had an objective. A task was before me. After having made this great discovery, I was a little disappointed that they were a bit too far away for singing. And, while there were no other people around, an untrained, warbally, loud singing voice would be the very thing to make concerned holiday-makers come running in case I was raising an alarm. So we took photos and enjoyed the spectacle, without the additional human company.

Choosing to meander further along the shore, it wasn’t too much later that we found another, smaller group of seals, who were also making the most of the sun. Except this time, they were closer in.

…Here goes. My music-aficionado partner shook his head in disbelief.

The thing is, they noticed. One, younger, more inquisitive seal was so impressed that he slid of the rock for a closer look at this singing being.

From then on we were dancing in a relationship of curiosity. Me, fascinated by the effect of my voice on the seals, and the seals, especially the young one, entranced by my voice.

I have no idea why some seals are drawn to humans singing. But they are. And from then on, whenever we toured the coasts of Scotland, my eyes were peeled for more opportunities.

There was one other time when we had a singing-seal encounter.

It was on the south-east coast of Harris, part of the distant island of Scotland which is known as the Outer Hebrides.

We were driving the coast road and my eyes scanned the countless grey rocks (of which every second looked like a grey seal), that spanned the coves. There! That’s not a rock. That there is a seal! We jumped out of the warm car and quickly rugged up in several extra layers, and then made our way to the embankment that overlooked the little beach.

This time a little group were lying around on a bed of seaweed. And this time, when I plucked up the early notes, two smaller seals slid into the water to come a little nearer.

As I searched my mind for songs or snippets of songs that I knew the words to, I was again struck by the beauty of the interaction.

Here I was, offering something to a seal (poor as the tune might be). And it was fascinated by me.

It somehow brought me onto a different level.  The worries – about where we would stay that night, what we would eat for lunch, and whether we’d get to see the highlights of the island in our short visit – all vanished and it was just us and the seals, enjoying a moment. Being together. Us, them, the ocean and the sky.

Whenever I reflect on my seal-singing experiences I am filled with wonder and gratitude. And thankfulness to the woman who shared her own joy of it. Now that we’re back in Australia, I wonder whether our southern-hemisphere seals like human tunes as well. And I wonder whether I’ll ever again share such a special moment with these friendly ocean creatures.

Having said all that, I hope that this story has also conveyed the humour and joy of the Creator. Who thinks of such lovely, life-giving details as curious and time-indulgent seals.

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God the Recycler…says Howard A. Snyder

Check out this poem:

 

God Works in Cycles and Seasons:

“…He guides the days and the seasons;
He guides the birds through the air.
God works his gracious redemption”
We are but dimly aware.

God has his own eco-logic;
God has his own Kingdom plan.
God works in Trinity wisdom;
God holds the world in his hand.

Cycles of cloud and of water,
Cycles of wind and of rain,
Deep-moving flows of the ocean,
Circling, returning again”

Cycles of love and of spirit,
Cycles of seasons of grace,
Times of refreshing revival,
Gaining fresh light from his face.

God is the world’s great Composer,
Dramatist, Architect, King”
Rhythms of art; sounds melodic”
God gives us music to sing.

God simplifies deepest mysteries;
God complicates best-laid plans.
We walk in wonder before him,
Trusting our ways in his hands.

God in our own lives recycles”
Physically, through blood and cell;
Spiritually, through prayerful rhythms;
Stewardly, as we serve well.

We are a part of the story;
We have our key roles to play”
If we but follow the Master”
Spirit led, day after day.

We are God’s keepers of nature;
We are his stewards of grace.
We live the Spirit’s commission,
Stewarding both time and space.

God makes us all his recyclers”
This is no secular whim.
This is no plot of the devil”
God makes us stewards for him.

God is the Lord who recycles,
Bringing forth things old and new.
God even makes evil to serve him,
Turning the false to the true.

God is the perfect Recycler”
No wastage; nothing is lost”
Whether in storm, wind, or fire,
God wins the world through the cross.

“Praise God in his sanctuary!
Praise him for his mighty deeds!
Praise him with loud clanging cymbals!
Praise him, all that lives and breathes!”

 

This poem is based on Psalm 150 and other Scriptures.  By H0ward A. Snyder, Professor of Wesley Studies, Tyndale University College and Seminary. See here for the full poem.

What do you think…? Do you agree that God works in Cycles and Seasons?

Poem posted on the Evangelical Environmental Network website.

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A Recipe for Love: Christ, Creation and Care for the Poor

Do you donate money to charity? To an aid organisation?

Do you sponsor a kid or get moved to give during times of natural disasters?

Guess what,

climate change will undo sixty years of development if we don’t act now.”

So says Tim Costello from World Vision Australia.

Do you want to know why? Check out this article by World Vision’s Jarrod McKenna.

Jarrod reflects on what Martin Luther King Jr would say today about Christians and climate change.

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Hurt ‘n’ Hope

Check our this Christmas reflection from Mehrin.

Mehrin is part of the Seeds mob of Victoria – a network of Christians seeking to explore together what it means to know the Word, live in community and engage in the wider world (mission).

She writes:

“…it takes faith to believe in something when others choose to doubt it.

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Food and Faith and Strained Relations

There is a lot to celebrate at Christmas.

The Incarnation signals a renewed relationship between God and humankind, between heaven and earth, and between the peoples of the earth.”

So says Simon Holt in an Evangelical Alliance article, “Christmas Feast.”

Drawing on his own Christmas culinary cravings, and the work of L. Shannon Jung (Food for Life), Holt challenges us to reposition our understanding of Christmas roasts and all the trimmings into a Christ-centered perspective.

Holt writes:

The real joy of Christmas is found in connection, connection to God and each other.”

Food is a gift. From God. Making it sacred. (So says me reading Holt who read Jung). The problem is that we’ve become distanced from the gift-Giver, and we’ve become disconnected from other people and the earth – with whom, I’d argue, we can share this gift, and better appreciate it.

What am I going to do this Christmas to reconnect food and faith? Do you agree with Holt’s article…if so – how are you going to respond?

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Encountering Jesus @ Christmas

Jesus and Christmas. What’s it all about? What is He all about?

Check out this little reflection by Nils von Kalm via John Mark Ministries.

Sweet baby Jesus, no crying he makes. Really?.

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Going Deeper: Why Christian Care is Different

What does a green bag, a wheelie bin and mound of compost have to do with God?

What does my care of water have to do with my faith?

According to Margaret Feinberg and Wendell Berry (see here), quite a lot.

In “More Than a Trend: Why Creation Care is Good for the Christian Soul“ Feinberg reflects on how caring for creation requires a change of heart in how we see ourselves and the surrounding world (and, I’d add, better understanding God’s love for all of creation).

Feinberg celebrates the learning we’ve all been doing about caring for the world, and for the changes that we’re making in our daily lives.

Yet she probes deeper into what drives our care (or lack of care).

She draws on Berry to highlight the way that we’ve put ourselves first, and that creation has suffered for it. This isn’t to say that we have to worship trees. Rather, Berry – and Feinberg – argue that caring for ourselves and the world can and should go hand in hand. They should compliment each other.

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Dominion of Creation Explained.

Check out this message by Phil Kniss: “To serve God and the land.”

“To serve God and the land”

Here are a few snippets to whet your appetite:

“…the Bible, as a whole, is not a random collection. It has a plot. The plot begins in Genesis with creation. It ends in Revelation with a new creation. And everything in between is a long story of God working to save and redeem and restore creation, which has suffered from the destructive forces of sin.”

Question:

“What happens when we start with the story that God created the world in beauty and wholeness and shalom, and after God’s human creation rebelled God’s full-time project is bringing creation back to shalom?”

Answer:

“The cross stands at the apex, the pinnacle, of this sweeping saga of God’s work to save and restore all of creation. It was not just for me and my sins that Jesus died. It was for all the brokenness in creation that resulted, directly or indirectly, from human sin.”

And …

“The other thing that happens is that we see God in the right light. We begin to grasp the intimate, loving relationship God has with all creation, even in its broken state.”

See here if you’re having trouble accessing the clip.

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Heaven and Earth. Here and Eternity. What does it all mean?

I’ve just read a blog post by Dave Fagg, titled “Heaven is my home, one day I’ll be there…”

In it he discusses Tom Wright’s book “Surprised by Hope” and muses about what it means to be caught in the tension between life in the here and now, and when God renews all of creation – which we understand to be heaven.

In explaining Wright’s work, Fagg says:

…in some way we will be living life in real bodies as God intended – radically different from how things are now, but in some ways radically the same.”

In reading Fagg’s work, I can’t help but think of the Job 19 text (19:25-7), when Job declares:

I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!”

What beautiful, confident, hopeful words. Do I – do we – believe them? Does the way that I live testify to my belief? What a challenge, and yet, what a privilege to try live out these words.

As in my last post – about Philip Yancey – this article also challenges me to think more deeply about how I personally, and within my faith community, can participate in the story of heaven and the journey we’re on as people of God to its realisation in its entirety. If only God had given us a step-by-step instruction manuel about how to go about this. Yet, as Fagg concludes, we’ve been given some help: the Bible gives us slivers of insight about the journey and about what the fullness of heaven will look like, and we’ve been set on our way by the example of Jesus.

If you’re looking for further reading on what our care for creation might look like, check out “A Covenant with the Earth” by Matthew Farrelly (the second part of the article provides a helpful discussion on covenant, Christ and creation) at Christianity Today.

And there is more to the story…see here for the second part to Fagg’s article where he continues with and develops his discussion.

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Gen Y inspired by U

In the Guardian online, Brian Draper has published an inspiring and challenging article: “Church’s vision can guide the young.”

Gen Y has very little contact with, or understanding of, the Church or Christian faith. So says the Church of England – in a report published last week – along with other thinkers on the issue.

He writes that the youth of today have neither the hang-ups about the church that some Gen Xers have carried, or the wisdom and insight about life that our faith tradition is so rich.

Yet there is hope, says Draper. Despite facebook, twitter, and the other aspects of the internet that so attracts their attention and defines this new generation, many Gen Y’s are “…keen to make a meaningful, positive difference through who they are and what they do.”

And it is a good thing too, argues Draper, because these young people are decision makers for the future. He continues:

they are the first generation which has no choice but to reject the short-termism, greed and ecological indifference which has taken us to the verge of planetary catastrophe.”

The message of Draper’s article is this: the church plays an important and vital role to play in helping these young people. The Church holds a vision of the world, of the Kingdom of God, that can equip and inspire this young generation to live in hope. And they are not going to understand or take up this vision unless they see it enacted by those who hold it most dear: us.

Draper asks:

Where else could they find such a vision?”

(Would we want them to go elswhere anyway?)

And what a gift to give others: a way of life that leads to life: today, tomorrow and the hereafter.

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