December 2024: Smoke is rising
Advent is a season in which we look forward in anticipation and longing for another possible world when all things are made new, when Christ returns, when there will be no more injustice. That longing in the run up to Christmas is also waiting in hope for Jesus Christ to come into the world as a sign of that incoming future. There are lots of scriptures that embody this longing, some better known than others. There are also poems and songs which draw on those kinds of texts that express this longing and hope. Grace in Advent this year was a series of reflections/creative responses to such texts made by members of Grace.
Playlists:
Intro
Darkness into light [Mark Waddington]
Isaiah 9:2 For those who have been in darkness a light is shining. What does moving from darkness into light mean for you?
Darkness
In the darkness we are unable to work out where we have come from or where we are going. We can't see the path ahead or how to choose the correct turnings.
In the chaos of the shadows we are unable to discern what is real from what is imagined? What is true from what is not true?
What is your darkness at this time?
Do you see the world as a place filled with light or is it dark and shadowy? How do you feel about it?
Do you know where you are or where you are going?
Light
The light is the source of all life and energy. It burns up all that is dead.
The light shines along the way revealing truth and providing energy for the journey. And we can see our destination.
What is your hope as the light comes into your world? What do you want to burn up and leave behind?
As the warmth of the light clears the mist and unfreezes your bones, what is it that energises you?
Where will you go?
Music track to go with it - track 4 on playlist above - Jube domine - Lection: In principio
Smoke is Rising – sensory Advent [Steve Summers]
Rising smoke above the ‘fire of army boots and clothes of war’ speaks of a time when things will be different. Fire renders things different. We look for a time when we can live without the self-inflicted pain of warfare and destruction: where always the innocent are victims.
A time of peace: a time when the military hardware will have no use, and be of no interest to us.
Fire is destructive, it consumes as the smoke rises:
- Smoke rising from the burning of weapons of war...
- Smoke rising from the shells of bombed-out buildings in Gaza, or in Syria...
- Smoke rising from the residential neighbourhoods of Malibu, swallowed by a wildfire’s conflagration...
But yet, we also recognise
- Smoke rising from stubble-fields: burnt to improve next year’s crops...
- Smoke rising from oil-drum fires, that will keep some in this city warm tonight...
- Smoke rising to fill the sky following the celebration of New Year’s fireworks...
- Smoke rising above a camp-fire in Prospect Wood - speaking of warmth, camaraderie, food and relaxation.
Each one of these shares a common reality - that which is burnt cannot return. Burning is a ‘once only’ deal: for that which is burnt is spent, its fuel used once. We lose that which we burn, and that loss may be a cost connected to pain or to celebration. That loss may be violently taken, or freely given, to provide some benefit.
And so, this evening we are thinking of Advent. A hopeful season, a season of celebration; but a season also marked by sacrifice and loss. The Christ child, sacrificing the relationality of the Trinity, comes among us. And this Advent gift is no free gift - it is a gift with cost, with sacrifice and loss.
To be incarnate was to give up that which was, in order to embark on that which was unknown. An enfleshed life, as one of us, cannot be undone. The experience of living as a time-bound man, with all the frailty, joy, limitation and exuberance that this entailed, is now forever part of the divine life. Once Christ is made incarnate, there are implications for the Trinity - implications that even Easter day cannot eradicate.
So, in Advent – looking to the Christ child, and a hope-filled future, we remember the gift of frankincense. Gifted by outsiders to the infant Christ. The incense used in worship for millennia, across the world’s religions – through Judaism and on into the Christian tradition.
This rising smoke, full of perfumed incense, is a metaphor carried by a sensual experience. It rises and embodies the rising of prayers, and the swirling, enveloping presence of the divine. And in Advent this incense carries another strand – the profligate giving up of that which we offer to God. You cannot have your incense and offer it up in the fire. It is given up, willingly squandered in the offering. As with Christ who could not remain in the generative stability of the Trinity and be with us on earth. He willingly gives that up to be among us.
So as the smoke rises, we are reminded of how to give things up, to surrender that which is most precious, with no hope of reclamation. And it is done with enthusiasm, not regret. With joy, not reluctance.
Music - ‘A bright star in Cepheus’ – Ali Bain & Phil Cunningham
61 [Mike Rose]
Reading: Psalm 137
61
If the world wasn’t broken
word would not become flesh
If peace could come from bombing
I’d join a different march
If it was only one people
One place
If evil repaid evil
If evil repaid evil
If evil repaid evil
I’d keep my anger
I’d keep my hate
But it never has
It never will
The world is broken
And word became flesh
To right all wrongs
Track: Nick Cave - Have mercy on me (from Seven Psalms)
Like The Crocus [Sarah]
We planted crocus bulbs in compost, using hummus tubs as pots to reference the conflicts in the Middle East. We watered the pots, and participants went away with their planted bulbs. Sarah said this by way of intro:
Nature is very forgiving: over the battlefields the poppies and the bindweed grow.
The world may be going to hell in a handcart, but the growth of plants in Spring is a sign of hope, and anticipation of God's renewal.
Genesis 8 v21-22
Isaiah 35 v1-2
The Wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom.
A Prayer For Clean Water [Jenny]
We were invited to make a Lino print as a prayer for safe water. Firstly in the service we carved marks into Lino to represent water flowing in a river, each mark a prayer for clean water. Then afterwards in the cafe we made prints to take home.
Jen said this by way of intro:
The story of our planet as told in the Bible starts with water covering the earth and then being parted to create a safe space for life to begin. It ends with a river flowing through a city. From the first to the last, Water is essential for life and access to water is recognised as a basic human right.
But with climate change disrupting our weather systems, with companies bottling water for profit, with violence and conflict endemic in our world, for far too many people, water is no longer safe. It is something people have to fight for, or to fight against in different ways.
Like Gaza and the West Bank where access to water is used as a weapon of war and of intimidation and control
Like Valencia which experienced drought for more than 12 months and then catastrophic floods when a year’s worth of rain fell in under 24 hours
Like Tenbury Wells in Gloucestershire where the town centre has been flooded 7 times in the last four years and shop keepers can no longer get insurance
Like swimmers in Teddington needing to monitor sewage outflows into the Thames because they can’t assume it’s safe to swim
Isaiah 35 talks about the transformation that water can bring, turning the desert from a place that’s uninhabitable to a place of peace and safety:
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
Joel
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2
When reading a few verses / passages for inspiration this one really struck out at me.
As we come to the end of the year we reflect; pulling together end of year playlists, highlights and lowlights, miles run, walked and cycled, goals and achievements. But one thing I haven't particularly wanted to reflect on is what's going on in the wider world. It’s pretty depressing.
Sometimes it feels as if we are walking in darkness and could really do with seeing a light. This then was my visual response & exercise. By scraping various headlines from the past year or so, I tried to see if I could shine a light through the noise and give us something to hold onto as we move into 2025.
Follow the smoke [Kurt and Lori]
Kurt and Lori's slideshow here
A garment of praise
Isiah 61 v 2-3:
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified
Gill made a piece called ‘Reclaimed’ in response to thinking about what a garment of praise might be in 2024.
The language of praise of the psalms and worship songs can sometimes feel far removed from my everyday vocabulary. I reflected on where effusive language is most used in 2024 and found myself thinking of 5 star reviews of theatre, film, hotels, restaurants, and, well, pretty much anything these days (yes, including things as mundane as a sink plunger).
I marked words from reviews on a waistcoat - a cast off from a charity shop - an item of formal wear, but one worn close to the body. (Medium: Tweed, White marking pen, gold sharpy, white wool). Some of the words are more and less legible.
How would it be to bring more of these words into my vocabulary in talking with others and how I talk to God - becoming more praise-ful. And how would my spirit become less faint if I believed even a couple of them about the person God made me to be.
Words included:
Mike-drop moment - Magnificent - terrific - exquisite - good - extremely knowledgeable - top notch - my daily companion - it does what it says on the tin - unsurpassable - sparkling - on my wish list - a feast for the eyes - will last forever - laugh out loud - transformative - creative - unforgettable - wonderful - banging - emotionally charged - game-changing - phenomenal - a tonic for my tired soul - knocked it out of the park - kind - must see - delicious - gripping - intellectually rigorous - a voice from heaven - sick - performance of the century - irresistible
A carol I have written [Jonny]
As explained on Jonny's blog
Earlier this year I wrote a carol or perhaps it might be better described as an Advent hymn. It has been posted as part of the Proost Advent series here incorporating a video from Jon Birch. I was inspired reading Isaiah 9 and in particular the imagery of verse 5:
The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire.
In a world with so much brutality and violence the image of a fire burning army boots and clothes of war struck a chord and a deep sense of advent longing for another possible world. That turned into lyrics for a carol or Advent hymn ‘Smoke is rising’. The last verse quotes Arundhati Roy which I am sure many of you will recognise. Niall Dunne has written what I think is a beautiful melody. This came about through a chance conversation at CMS (Niall has started the undergrad pioneer training this year). I’d love any reactions to it. Even more I’d love any of you to try it out and lead it. Let me know how you get on if you do though it’s a bit late possibly for this year now. I imagine it with a huge church or choir but I don’t have one of those!
My sister Ruth kindly has written out the melody and chords. I should add that the guitar tuning is DADGAD which sounds lovely. Hopefully you can work out what I am doing from the video if you go that route and like me are not used to that. That’s how I learned it from Niall. I should say I am singing it a bit lower than Niall as I struggled to reach the top note in F. Ruth has written chords in F and in D and unhelpfully I am playing it in E flat!
I have not had the time or kit to record it properly so this is recorded on a phone - thanks to Jon Birch for his steady hand (and gorgeous lounge). Maybe this will spark a new project?! And double thanks to Jon who was inspired to make a movie loop of a fire of army boots and clothes of war (with help from AI) which you can see incorporated into the Proost version. It's great to be able to contribute to Proost which seems to have risen like a phoenix from the ashes.
Here are the lyrics:
Smoke is rising
[Jonny Baker and Niall Dunne]
Smoke is rising from a fire
Of army boots and clothes of war.
Weapons made into ploughshares
Violence is no more
Violence is no more
You have broken slavery’s yoke
And the oppressor’s rod
Lifted the burden from our shoulders
Prince of peace, mighty God
Herod’s palace is in crisis
At the news of a new king.
One has come into the world
Who makes the angels sing
Who makes the angels sing
Peace on earth, peace on earth
Their chorus fills the skies
The rich will leave empty handed
The humble poor they will rise
Peace on earth x 3
Their chorus fills the skies
Another world is possible
She is on her way
I can hear her breathing
On a quiet day
Another world is possible
This shall be the sign
A child is born, a son is given
In darkness light will shine
Peace on earth x 3
Their chorus fills the skies
Photos
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