Wednesday 30 July 2008


Work in the Parish goes on. Offices are prayed and the Sacraments duly celebrated. Today's intention is for our servers giving thanks for their dedication and praying that their closeness to the altar will fill them with heavenly blessings.
Above is Rembrandt’s rendition of the calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee. As I use this image for my meditation I realise that the boat is a realistic allegory of the Church, and it truly feels like that in the Church of England at this time. I ask myself what the apostles did, and from the sacred text and with the help of this image I realise that they did all they could to save the boat, and they prayed at the same time until they woke Him up. It was only after this process that He stopped the storm and restored calm. I realise that this is the way forward for us Anglo-Catholics. We need to work very hard in adverse conditions, we need to do whatever we are able to do and a little bit more and at the same time, but not instead, we need to pray, very hard, until our Beloved, in His time, wakes up and gives us calm.
Below is the Sea of Galilee as we hope the Church would be for us one day, but even if it is not like that in our life time, it does not matter as He is on the boat with us. Blessed be the Lord for ever!


O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!

Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.

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