Shrove Tuesday

The sun appeared through the clouds periodically this morning, the wind and rain was a much lighter than it has been for several days. Clare cooked a lentil dish for lunch, followed by traditional pancakes spread with Nutella for dessert. I finally left the house to attend my double session of Chi Gung and Tai Chi, back to back. Both classes were unusually poorly attended. I wondered if days of bad weather was deterring people from venturing out.

This morning the Lent blog went live with the first scheduled posting at 10.00. I'll schedule this time for each day's posting, to provide an element of consistency and rhythm. Even at the planning phase, I'm finding the exercise making clearer to me things about my own spiritual journey. I hope I can sustain my interest right through. Without that I cannot expect to interest others in what I want to say. You can find and read the Lent blog here.

Family misfortune

While I was out and about this morning, a message came through from sister-in-law Ann to say that Clare's brother Eddie had collapsed at home and taken emergency unit in Ipswich hospital. It wasn't clear from the symptoms whether he'd suffered a serious stroke or an epileptic seizure. Once they had him stabilised and gave him an MRI scan, the reality was different, more serious. An aortic aneurism, striking without warning. Stranger, still, as this was what killed his father in his eighties, he'd had a scan earlier in the year to ascertain whether or not he was vulnerable, and no risk detected.

Later in the day, pondering on this turn of events, I went for my annual 'flu jab at the GP surgery, and was also given an inoculation against shingles which I wasn't expecting. My mother suffered from high blood pressure, given diet and lifestyle factors that's not surprising, and she suffered a stroke on her first ever holiday abroad in the Black Forest. I've traveled more than they could have dreamed of, and have had a fairly stressful mobile lifestyle on times, but a different kind of diet has kept the worst problems at bay so far. With medication, my tendency to hypertension is more or less under control, though diastolic readings continue to vary wildly. A dear ex-colleague, John Duncan would put this down to what he called 'mercurial celtic temperament'. There are always stressful situations in life to respond to. The question is how resilient is it possible to remain as one gets older. I owe a great deal to what I've learned about coping well from regular Chi Gung and Tai Chi practice. I was thankful I had a class to go to this evening.

 

Midweek meditation

So good to awaken to a day of clouds but no rain, and as warm as one might expect in a British Spring. My first assignment of the day was to celebrate the mid morning Eucharist at St Catherine's, our local Parish Church, for a regular midweek congregation of eight, plus a couple of small children. After that, I had to get myself to the far end of Canton to join the monthly Ignatian prayer group, meeting there in the home of one of  its members. I spend quite a lot of time in silence and solitude these days. I doubt if I could cope with doing many other things without dipping into this infinite spiritual reservoir. Even so, silence together is even more nourishing, like a place where many deep running waters flow together. 

I get the same sense of rightness from Chi Gung and Tai Chi classes too. Even though we're being talked through our movements by a class teacher, everyone is quietly focussed, aware and intent on right action. To say that the one is Christian in its ethos and the other is indeterminate, or Chinese, fails to recognise universality of endeavour motivated by a higher sense of value and purpose. Divine grace, to the scandal of this world's particularists, knows no boundary of religion or culture. Communion in living silence can be achieved from no matter what starting point or means, as a path into the heart of the divine life. It's a conviction that's grown in my heart the longer I've lived, and I refuse to surrender it, no matter what hyper-orthodox or conservative fundamentalists threaten regarding my spiritual welfare.

From lunch after the meditation group, I went into town to spend the afternoon in the CBS office. St John's City Parish Church bells were ringing for a wedding. When I got into the office, the city centre manager's CCTV monitor displayed the camera output showing the church west door under the tower, with bridal limousine parked outside and people arriving late for the service. I was told that it was the wedding of a Sayer family member - leading fun-fair providors in the city and across the country. Seven coaches of guests, plus limos had been allowed through the security cordon for the occasion. It was so nice to know that access arrangements I'd worked at putting in place years ago when I was Vicar were still functioning.

As there are continuous changes in the world of commerce, with companies starting up, going bust or trying to re-start all the time, the management of record changes involved is continuous, sometimes complex. Attention to detail is everything. It's not my strength, but Ashley is generally thorough and diligent in checking and following through on the requirements of every users. What I have to do is make sure all is well recorded, and users know what we know. It's a perpetual work in progress. My reward for the day's efforts? A night at home doing nothing in particular.