REFLECTION FOR JANUARY 2014   PETER MILLAR

                                     petermillarreflects.blogspot.com.uk

At the start of the year

One of my earlier poems as we start out on another year, opening our hearts to what lies ahead, even if largely unknown…..
It’s the hug,
It’s the crazy joke,
It’s the warm hand,
It’s the fish and chips.

It’s the sudden laughter,
It’s the silent tears,
It’s the washing up,
It’s the touch of love.

It’s the quiet smile,
It’s the burnt toast,
It’s the tender note,
It’s the lost glasses.

It’s the hidden pain,
It’s the long search,
It’s the truth telling,
It’s the inner healing.

It’s the intimacy,
It’s the parting,
It’s the tears,
It’s the farewell.

It’s life,
It’s death,
It’s the Spirit
Of blessing.

It’s the God,
Of surprises
Met again
On the journey.

***** Thank you again for your many messages received since the start of the year. I am sorry this Reflection comes a bit late. As the year begins, there are many places of darkness and despair in the world, but let us not forget that there are also countless signs of light, of deep compassion, of prayer, of truth-seeking, and of sacrificial love, often in these places where there is great suffering. We are all invited by God, whatever our situation, to be a people of hope. That’s not always easy, and we all experience dark days in our lives. Yet in trying, however falteringly, to be “ a people of hope” we have One with us who is the ultimate hope for the world. As the old Christian Worker’s Prayer put it succinctly, even if in old-fashioned language!

Lord, give me love and common sense,
And standards that are high;
Give me calm and confidence,
And please, a twinkle in my eye!

ON CHRISTMAS DAY

In the pain-filled places

of Sudan and Syria:

beneath the penthouses of  Manhattan:

by the paddy fields of South India:

through down-town San Paulo,

and on our streets

there are lights of hope

often dimmed,

yet still burning.

They are

the lights of Christmas

in a world

both linked and disconnected,

inviting us home

to that place

where Love shines bright

and where, amazingly,

our broken lives

are again made whole.

                      Peter Millar, Edinburgh, Scotland, Christmas Day 2013.
 
                                 (please feel free to share this  reflection)

THE BELLS OF CHRISTMAS

Even for the faithful

the Christmas bells are

sometimes hard to hear

for we move faster

than the Shepherds

and quickly overtake

the Wise Men

as they seek the Light.

Married to our shopping

and mobiles,

it’s hard to pause

and hear these gentle bells

announcing Love

within our hearts

and not on Twitter.

Yet still they ring,

and when we pause

they tell us something

beautiful and true -

that we are made for God

and connected

to what is always REAL.

Peter Millar, Edinburgh, Scotland  -  December 2013.

(Please feel free to share this reflection.)

EXPECTANT HEARTS: A POEM FOR ADVENT

The shopper’s Christmas

with its myriad deals,

and easy payments,

arrives with early autumn.

Santa in September – a symbol of our age,

robbing us of waiting,

of surprise, even of joy.



Yet with Advent

a different truth arrives

amidst our tinselled lives:

the gift of expectancy –

that silent longing of the soul

which is deep within us all.



It’s not the shopper’s rush,

for on this path we face within ourselves

the baggage of the years,

the memories that haunt the mind,

the fear that lurks behind the mask:

but let us travel on,

expectant, and with hope,

for there is a guiding star

tenderly leading us to outstretched hands of Love.

Peter Millar, Edinburgh, Advent 2013

NOVEMBER: THE MONTH FOR REMEMBERING

We remember,

and not just at the going down of the sun

do we see again these mangled bodies

and hear the screams of broken minds

or the tears of weeping hearts,

all easily labelled “the victims of war.”

 

Not one war,

but global conflicts

constantly scarring our frail securities

and taking us to places

we would rather avoid.

 

And yet we journey, year by year

into this remembrance

for it is  our story, and good folk

have given their lives for it.

 

The poppies may be red or white;

the grief personal or wider arched,

but let us pause -

for in our depths we know so well

that the tears in November

are not just for someone else.

                                   Peter Millar, Edinburgh, 1^st November 2013.

                          REFLECTION FOR OCTOBER 2013   PETER MILLAR

                                     petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk

A LOSS FOR OUR WORLD

At a time when so much around us is bland and empty of real meaning. I would like in this month’s Reflection to honour a human being who has brought depth to the lives of millions. Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche who did so much to bring the riches of Tibetan Buddhism to the western world after he fled from his native country was recently murdered in China. He was 73. His tragic and sudden death at the hands of robbers is a loss to our world for this was a man who had come through countless sorrows and tribulations to understand in a remarkable way the depths and capacities of the human spirit. When I heard of his passing, I knew that our often divided human family had lost a soul whose goodness transcended many of these divisions. A man of truth among whose many accomplishments was the founding of the Kagyu Samye Ling monastery in rural Dumfriesshire in south west Scotland – a place of inner healing, of vision and of challenge for thousands of people. He will be remembered for many things and not least for the great range of charitable and philanthropic projects in many countries which have come into being through his wisdom, humility and prayer.

I much appreciated what the British journalist Madeline Bunting wrote following Akong Rinpoche’s death. This is in part what she wrote and it touches upon many issues concerning faith in our secular societies. “ Buddhism’s popularity over the past half century in the west has surprised and dismayed in equal measure. Alongside the fad for Buddhist statues, there has been a much more serious engagement with hundreds of centres opening, many of the most dynamic founded by Tibetan Buddhists. Given that Tibet had limited contact with modernity until the 20^th century, it’s been an extraordinary story of cultural export and rare religious success in a deepening secularism. Central to this was the remarkable life of Akong Rinpoche. Anyone visiting Samye Ling in Scotland or the London centre cannot fail to be impressed by the sheer scale of the ambition. This kind of institution  building by a refugee community is hard to match. Akong Rinpoche was a traditionalist and one of his driving motivations was the preservation of Tibetan Buddhism in the face of a concerted Chinese effort to obliterate Tibetan culture. In recent years he and a team gathered thousands of single-copy manuscripts and took them out of Tibet to be copied. What was at stake was an entire cultural tradition. And it was work done amidst huge struggle, difficulty and danger.”

Some have said that western followers of Buddhism romanticise it and only take from it what suits them. Samye Ling and other Buddhist centres remind us of the discipline within religious faith and invite us to take seriously the profound meaning of “mindfulness” in the modern world. The search for that inner awareness and “mindfulness of the present”  is no easy task - which may be one of the reasons why  much of Christianity has largely abandoned it. It is just too hard. But a Christianity devoid of a deep inner silence is not always able to contribute to real reconciliation in the world or to the healing of many secular people who carry within them a range of wounds. It is for that reason that contemporary Christianity must look again at its own narrative and re-discover the great tradition of inner silence which was, for example, so central in the early Celtic church.

The same combination of practicality, compassion and commitment to revivifying what he had known in Tibet led Akong Rinpoche to initiate many projects. He placed these in three categories.

First were spiritual activities focused on Samye Ling and a network of more than thirty Kagyu Samye Dzong Buddhist centres world-wide.  Second there was humanitarian work, mainly channelled through the charity ROKPA, which funds education, health and environmental projects in Tibetan areas of China. Third he was interested in healing and Tibetan medicine, writing books on the subject and initiating arrange of psychotherapy projects. Much of this was achieved through his ability to inspire others and the fundraising was never about soliciting big donations but about dozens of dogged initiatives, many of which lasted decades without losing a clear vision of the ultimate goal. As we look back at such a remarkable life, our immediate response must be one of gratitude. May women and men like him continue to give us new insights and courage for our own journeys.

TWO GREAT BOOKS

I would like to recommend:

THE OLD WAYS: A JOURNEY ON FOOT by Robert Macfarlane published by Penguin Books 2013

(ISBN:  978 – 0 - 141- 03058 – 6)

AMMONITES AND LEAPING FISH: A LIFE IN TIME by Penelope Lively published by Fig Tree 2013

(also an e-book.)

THE WIND OF THE SPIRIT

Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it wishes. You hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.  It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John3:8

God of the wild Spirit help me - may be for just once in my life - to take a risk for You, even if it is a small one and hedged around with safety nets, so that I can at least start to understand the words you spoke to those who wanted security rather than LIFE.

WORDS ON A POSTER

                                                 This is God’s day so make the most of it.

AND FROM POPE JOHN PAUL II

In different cultures, the fundamental questions which pervade human life arise: Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Why is there evil and suffering? What is there after this life? These questions are found in the sacred writings of Israel, and also in the Veda and Avesta: in the writings of Confucius and Lse-Tse; in the preachings of Tirthankara and the Buddha; they appear in the poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of Europedes and Sophocles; in the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle. And today’s church is no stranger to this journey of discovery and has a duty to be a partner in humanity’s shared struggle to arrive at truth.

                                         From Pope John Paul’s encyclical , Fides et Ratio.

REMEMEMBERING…..in the coming weeks we remember all those who have suffered through wars.

REFLECTION FOR SEPTEMBER 2013 – PETER MILLAR

                                      petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk

The Pope, his phone calls and atheists:

One of the social markers in modern societies is that many aspects of daily life can become impersonal. Personal lives can be very private, and although commentators may disagree about the details, millions of people may see very few other human beings in the course of a week or month or year. This is in contrast to the strong community bonds still found in poor countries and in places of suffering and violence. Yet in many ways it’s not always possible to generalise for there are still communities within affluent countries where positive human connecting is a fundamental and daily reality.

Enter our new Pope, Francis who as we all now know has chosen not to live in the papal apartments inside the Vatican but in small house close by. He also drives around Vatican City in a rather battered Fiat with 200,000 miles on the clock, given to him recently by an Italian priest who was finished with it. It has also become public knowledge that Pope Francis after his day’s work is over returns to his small home and sometimes telephones people all over the world. Not for him in these calls presidents and prime ministers, or the good and the great, but people who have sent him a letter. Like Anna who addressed her note, The Pope, Vatican, Rome. Much to her astonishment after receiving her note he rang her mobile. Of course she thought it was a wind up. In her note Anna had told the Pope that she was a single pregnant person who felt that the local church might not be willing to baptise her anticipated baby. Francis told her not to worry, and that if she could not get a local priest to baptise the child he himself would do it.  Wonderful. He has also said clearly that the church should be far more willing to accept the diversity within human sexuality, and that seeking meaningful peace in our world is a thousand times better than sending missiles. Now in the sixth month as pontiff, Francis has made this conciliatory style and pragmatic openness to dialogue with groups on the margins of the church’s traditional life one of his trademarks.

In a world of impersonal life-styles, millions are attracted by his approach in which human beings with their strengths and vulnerabilities actually matter. They matter to him and more importantly they matter to God. It’s a simple message, but incredibly affirming at a time when more or less all of us are at some point treated just as a number or a statistic or as a shape on a video camera. It was the approach Jesus had to those he met, whatever their situation. Time and again he saw in people their real self, their true self – a self which was deeply precious to God. Centuries ago, the Celtic church understood that truth profoundly – a fact which came home to me when I lived on the island of Iona which has been a place of Christian witness since the 6th century. Whether or not the churches understand it or can creatively respond to it, there is a huge search now going on for ways of living which are not so depersonalised and which interact, in a face to face way, with others.

There is another area in the global ministry of Pope Francis which is fascinating many of us, whether Christian or not. The Pope has called for a sincere and rigorous dialogue with atheists. With those who feel sincerely that there is no God. Francis said recently: “Given – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits, if He is approached with a sincere heart, the question for those who do not believe in God is to abide by their own conscience. There is sin, also for those who have no faith, in going against one’s conscience. Listening to it and abiding by it means making up one’s own mind about what is good and evil.” So here, despite the Pope’s theological conservatism in some areas, we have a meaningful openness to those on a different path. What we all share is not doctrinal certainty but our basic humanity whatever our faith tradition. If Christians cannot come to understand this, the world is truly impoverished. The task, which some find impossible, is to remain true to our faith journey while listening to the journeys of others. For religious fundamentalists in all faiths this is, tragically, a “no-go” area.  Why is it so hard for many people in our connected world to accept human difference - especially at a time in history when we have never more needed to understand those who walk on a parallel but to us, unfamiliar, road? Thankfully, the narrow view is not the only one in our world community.

A Native American prayer:

Talking God, with your feet I walk: I walk with your limbs, I carry forth your body.

For me your mind thinks, your voice speaks for me.

 Beauty is before me, and beauty is behind me,

above and below me hovers the beautiful;

I am surrounded by it, I am immersed in it,

in my youth I am aware of it,

and in my old age I shall walk quietly the beautiful trail.

And from Pippa a homemaker:

I long for compassion to be the hallmark of society – I long to see men honouring women and women honouring men – I long to see gentleness, tenderness and integrity in relationships between sexes, and between races and people of all ages.

And the coming revolution:

God invites us today to re-define prophesy: that voice of truth which often comes from surprising places. The world’s next revolution will be a religious one, but not in a sectarian way. It is a revolution just waiting to be touched and tapped.

     ( Adapted from some words of Vincent Donovan, priest and companion of the poor.)