petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk
SURPRISING ENCOUNTERS IN SINGAPORE
During September and October I am in
Australia. On the way here last week I
stopped off in Singapore for 24 hours, my first visit there apart from earlier
brief stop-overs at the international airport.
I had some hours to fill last Thursday and took a city bus tour. In Chinatown I left the bus and made my way
to the great new Buddhist temple which was opened a few years ago. The beautiful building towers graciously over
the local market area with its crowded, popular narrow streets.
As I explored the temple I became aware of
a certain calm within myself and as I chatted to a monk in the quiet of the
spacious reading room I felt quite overwhelmed by the serenity of the
place. A sacred place set right in the
heart of this frenetic city known across the world as one of the the best
places in the world to shop till you drop!
From this gentle, aware man I received a blessing – not a few rushed
words offered to a total stranger, but a shared time of healing silence; of mindfulness. When I left that room I experienced a new
clarity in my inner life, in my soul – something I had never imagined would
happen in my fleeting visit in Singapore. Many times I have written about
“God’s surprises” and this time of
prayer with a Buddhist monk was one of them.
But a further surprise was in store. In the
evening of the same day I was waiting for a shuttle bus to take me to the
airport and it never turned up. Somewhat against my will I had to get a taxi! I
had no sooner sat down in this taxi then the driver asked me how my day had
gone. I recounted my visit to the temple. He seemed delighted that I had spent
time there and asked if I had found it helpful to my spiritual journey! We then
started what I can only say was a very special conversation about the inner
life. I knew I was with a person of deep understanding. I could hardly believe
that of all the thousands of taxi drivers in Singapore, I was in the vehicle of
one who was himself a monk and a part-time driver! I learned so much from him
in our 25 minute drive to the airport and was reluctant to get out of the taxi.
He hardly charged me. Our time together was not complete without his giving me
a blessing. For my part, it had been a special 24 hours in my life.
Singapore may be a great place to shop
but it also holds other treasures.
WELLSPRING COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA.
Over the next two months I will be meeting
many old friends associated with the Wellspring Community to which I belong.
This year the Community celebrates it’s 20th anniversary. I have
valued my link with the Community over many years. Inspired by the Iona
Community, Wellspring aims to provide spiritual encouragement to all those who
are associated with it, and is committed
to justice and peace, sustaining community, solidarity and reconciliation, the
hopes of indigenous peoples, interfaith issues and the future of our wounded
planet. Its members and friends are scattered all across this vast country. In
the Community’s Prayer Diary for 2012, there are these inspiring words from Janelle
Macgregor the present Leader.
“In Christian life we have two
understandings of vocation. The first is love – love is our vocation. The
second is the divine call we each have to live a way of life which is spoken through our
discipleship, our ministries, our commitments, our disciplines, our practices,
our participation in community. This second meaning builds on the first – the
divine call shapes how we live and how we love. In living out our vocations we
aspire to use our gifts in our everyday encounters with others, and to devote
our energies to those actions and activities we most value – our relationships,
our interests, our work, our servanthood, our stewardship.”
If you would like to know more about the Wellspring Community in Australia the web
site is: www.wellspringcommunity.org.au
HERE FOR EACH OTHER
Every so often I publish a small booklet to
help the work of the Dr Dorothy Millar Charitable Trust and the Iona Community.
In August I brought out a new booklet
called “Here For Each Other : thoughts for our shared journeys.” Since
childhood I have loved art of all kinds and my maternal grandmother, herself an
artist, taught me a lot about painters and painting.
In this booklet I have included pictures of
some paintings and prints from my home in Edinburgh. Some of these pieces are
connected to India where we lived as a family for many years and others are
linked to Africa, Australia and Scotland.
Alongside each picture I have placed a
short reflection, but my hope is that the pieces which are pictured will set
off many streams of thought in the reader. Every art work has a story, but also
often a wider more hidden meaning which prompts the viewer to fresh thinking.
Since the booklet came out, many people
have sent me messages about it. I appreciate these messages. I think we have to
explore at many different levels that
vibrant connection between art and spirituality. In the Protestant tradition –
at least in the past – we did not seem able to fully celebrate the work of the
artist, but that has changed, and as a consequence, our spiritual journeys have
been greatly enriched. I would like to think that this small booklet will
encourage many others to explore this link between the visual arts and our
inner journeys. An exploration which I believe propels us always to a deeper
compassion; to a more committed engagement with God’s world. To be open to the
world having our minds rooted to that inner centre where silence, gratitude and
awareness inter-connect.
FINAL THOUGHT
Poignant words from the Australian
cartoonist Michael Leunig. (A man and a child are on a beach. The child has a
sea shell held to his ear.) “So what do you hear in the seashell?” says the man
to the child. “I hear the blue fin tuna being hunted. I hear boat people
crying. I hear villages being swept away…..I want my i-Pod back.”
