REFLECTION FOR AUGUST 2013       PETER MILLAR

                                      petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk

God and the Edinburgh International Festival

As I write this the annual Edinburgh International Festival of arts, music and drama is coming to a close. The festival started in 1947 and was planned to be a sign of reconciliation in a Europe so recently torn by war. It is now one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the world. There is the official Festival and for the last 33 years there has been the Fringe Festival which this year had over 2,500 separate shows. Alongside these festivals there is also the Edinburgh Book Festival and the Just Festival which used to be called the “festival of peace and spirituality.” Vast numbers of people from all over the world come to Edinburgh  during August, and it’s true that the city’s old streets are “alive to the sound of music.” And looking down upon it all is Edinburgh Castle home to the famous military tattoo and one of Historic Scotland’s most visited buildings.

These great events in Scotland’s capital bring to the fore the range and depth of human creativity. Through the centuries many writers and people of faith have reminded us of the basic truth that everything is shot through with the glory of God. The divine energy at the heart of matter: at every moment empowering the depth and range of human imagination. The Edinburgh Festival invites hundreds of thousands of people of different traditions and faiths to encounter in a great variety of ways the human condition both in its agony and ecstasy. It mirrors much of the goodness and bleakness of modern societies. It reminds us that we are part of a greater whole, intellectually, spiritually and in terms of our global inter-connectedness. The 2013 Festival has also had much to say about the future of the planet, global justice and the place of the arts in uncertain times.

Such a torrent of creativity all in one place can be overpowering. From the young jugglers on Edinburgh’s ancient High Street to the great orchestras of the world performing in many locations, all are engulfed in an almost indescribable outpouring of culture. One afternoon during the Festival I sat with some visiting friends in the beauty and calm of St Giles’ Cathedral right in the heart of the city. St Giles’ - the national church of the Scottish people - has been intimately linked to Scotland’s history for centuries and its stout walls reflect that story. The Cathedral (to which entrance is free!) was filled with visitors, many of whom were seated and listening to an amazingly gifted pianist from China. (Much of the Festival music in St Giles’ can also be heard freely – a wonderful part of the year-round out-reaching ministry of the congregation.) And as I sat within these ancient walls, I thought of how much the living Spirit of God is embedded within this great annual Festival. This moving, surprising Spirit, richly at work in an event like the Edinburgh Festival is sadly not recognised by some Christians. They see the whole thing as rather pagan and if not pagan as purely secular – meaning it’s godless. In my book, nothing could be further from the truth. More and more I feel that we have imprisoned God (however we understand that word) in structures of our own making. An example of this is that unless an event uses traditional religious language, symbols or beliefs, it is somehow not of Christ. What inspires me so much about many of the events within the Edinburgh Festival is that they take this world and our human condition seriously. They recognise that we are all people of depth, of awareness and also of contradiction. This is truly something to celebrate in our age of many doubts and questions, and it is perhaps why events like the Edinburgh Festival have never been more popular.  Or more needed.  Or more enjoyable.                                                

A Vision Statement for our times

Recently I have been sharing this Vision Statement with various church groups. It is based on some words of the late and well-known writer/monk Thomas Merton although I have adapted it. It is a “vision statement” for any congregation regardless of denomination. It can form the basis of a challenging and encouraging discussion/reflection for any group of people seeking God’s guidance. It is a “vision statement” attentive to the times in which we live and recognises that our worship and our daily living are intimately connected.
* We believe that the role of any congregation is to simply seek God.

* We believe that God’s people are called to be faithful in prayer, even in difficult times.

* We believe all of us are in need of forgiveness and healing.

* We believe that no one has a monopoly on truth: this belongs to God alone.

* We believe that God understands our doubts and our uncertainties.

* We seek to be open to those of other faiths and traditions.

* We seek a closer connection with the good earth which often cries in pain.

* We seek to work for peace and for justice, locally and in the wider world.

* We believe that God is speaking to us in a special way through the poor and those on the margins.

* We know the value of both being active and of sitting quietly.

* We seek to encourage people of all ages to be true to themselves and discover their inner gifts.

* We wish our leaders to be servants more than rulers.

* We pray that love will guide all our actions, and that our personal lives may know peace.

* We celebrate the beauty and wonder and mystery of each new day. 

A Time to Mend

Several of you have sent e-mails asking where you can obtain my latest book “A Time to Mend: Reflections in uncertain times”  published by Wild Goose Publications, Glasgow.  Please contact Wild Goose Publications at www.ionabooks.com or send an e-mail to admin@ionabooks.com. The UK telephone number for Wild Goose Publications in Glasgow  is  0141 332 6343.

A Blessing for the day      (from: A Time to Mend)

Go gently, my friends:

feel the good earth beneath your feet, celebrate the rising of the sun,

listen to the birds at dawn, walk tenderly under the silent stars, knowing you are on holy ground.