Simon Marsh » Beginnings and Endings

ADVENT’S ADVENT ALREADY

Simon Marsh — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:24:15 +0000

ADVENT’S NEARLY UPON US again which means another whole year has upped and went! Maggi Dawn speaks of Advent’s Beginnings and Endings; Jan Richardson speaks of a door and of blessings; all of us look “for the City of Peace, in whose light we are transfigured, and the earth transformed.”

Advent: the coming of a Light by which we ourselves are first transfigured, a consequence of which is that the earth (and our view of it) becomes transformed. Beginning with transfiguration we end with transformation.

Transfigured and transformed we discover that we have been mightily blessed by the simple event of having walked through a door into a lamplit scene of New Life; we have stumbled upon the great and mighty wonder of a young woman and a man and a baby; we have stumbled upon the breath of God streaming from the nostrils of horses, sheep and cattle, mother and father, shepherds and foreigners, rich and lowly, baby in manger bed, tired, happy, servant tenderness; the transfiguring and transforming Holy beaming in the faces of the recently very worried unwed. There’s resurrection right here in this new beginning just as surely as there’ll be resurrection come the ending.

And having walked through that door and having seen that light we know that this is our beginning and ending; we know that we are breathing Alpha and Omega; we know that all the colour of the good life shines in this scene. As gobsmacked as kings from the Orient and black-clad shepherds from the fields we recognise our deep, deep primal need for the continual transfiguring that alone transforms the world and worlds. There’s no going back. Advent. Coming. Tiny infant lungs are filled with the Very Breath of God. For me. For you. For all.

The door is open at St Michael & All Angels, Bramhall. On Advent Sunday 27th at 8am, 9am, 10.45am & again for Advent Evensong at 6.30pm.

PASSING ON THE LIGHT

Simon Marsh — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:10:00 +0000

PASSING ON THE LIGHT is so much more fulfilling an exercise than passing on the gloom! Advent is truly a gift to us, as are the people we “wait” with. 70+ people have set about looking at Beginnings and Endings this week, here in Bramhall. There’s been plenty of laughter and discovery and wonder … and friendships forged the more firmly as always happens when people make pilgrimage together. And in a completely dark church building this evening there appeared first one light, and then another, and another, until the faces of a large throng were transfigured, and in our hearts the chief among the Advent songs was that of Gabriel. “Do not be afraid”. May we bear the Light; pass the Light on and on through the darkness. May we be not afraid, anymore.

THE IN-BETWEEN TIMES

Simon Marsh — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:12:00 +0000

MUCH TO OUR GREAT DELIGHT about 35 of us sat down “with” Maggi Dawn this morning. Others are readying themselves in-between times for a gathering tomorrow evening. Someone said at the end of the session this morning how struck they’d been by the musicality in most all of our beginnings and endings. Certainly it was true that a large gathering of friends hearing and telling “our story” brought to mind many a song; and a spot of liturgy:

Blessed are you, Lord God, our light and our salvation; to you be glory and praise for ever. From the beginning you have created all things and all your works echo the silent music of your praise …

Common Worship on the subject of common worship … and the possibility of just that, and of wondrous story-telling, and of beginnings and endings to be perceived and known and heard in oceans of wondering, creative silence …

Hey, Maggi, we’re enjoying this Adventing … and we haven’t really got started properly yet! xx

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

Simon Marsh — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:28:00 +0000

LIFE IS FULL TO BURSTING with beginnings and endings – though this page has seen a dearth of beginnings in recent months. My favourite bloggers go ‘blog lite’ from time to time … the muse dries up. Blogging is life “written down” after all, so we shouldn’t be surprised.

And then, every once in a while, something or someone really fires up the imagination again. Something or someone reminds us of the story. Our story. And that someone or something might be miles away, and never, for a second, dream of the effect they’re having on others.

Maybe Maggi Dawn has dreamed about having just such an effect. Perhaps that’s why she’s written one of the best books for Advent I’ve encountered in years. Here’s a book that will make Advent for you. Here’s a book that we’ll be using in Bramhall to get a grip again on what it’s all about. Here’s Beginnings and Endings: accessible teaching and encouraging reflection. Here’s a favour to the Church, a right royal blessing, an Advent in itself. Thanks Maggi!

Beginnings and Engings … buy yours and enjoy the Advent journey.