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oliness of the architecture and windows and furnishings or that of the strains of the choir s song but then something quite different had broken in on us a beauty of holiness of a different dimension not just echoing that of god but confronting us with it not just speaking of god but revealing his presence a real epiphany so isaiah is brought to his knees in a train crash between god s holiness and his lowliness proclaiming woe is me i am lost for i am a man of unclean lips just as st peter in our gospel reading is brought to his knees despite having gone around with jesus so many times before and now demands that jesus go away from me lord for i am a sinful man what s going on why awesome though the beauty of holiness of this cathedral and its worship is is that not normally our experience and does that matter where to start the phrase holy holy holy with its triple formula of emphasis stands out the hebrew word being used is kodesh which shares its root with the kiddush meal held as the sabbath begins and the kaddish sung at a funeral all three words patrol a boundary between the secular and sacred and derive like sacred in latin and hagiography in greek from ancient roots that speak of setting things apart and sacrificing them making them sacred and devoted to a god or gods you ll remember how the holy of holies in the temple was an immensely separated space with access limited to only chosen priests on special days and how the ark of the covenant had a deadly effect on those around it who were not properly authorised and how moses had to cover his face after being in the presence of the almighty lest its radiance caused harm we are being taken back to the earliest days of human culture in which the other the divine was dangerous and rituals and taboos were put in place to ensure our safety some of which survive as superstitions to this day but by the time of isaiah that raw approach to the dangerously divine had gone through a remarkable transformation beginning the long and fascinating journey of the development of religion that is still going on out of elemental spirits had grown a panoply of deities still far from good or safe and from them in turn the israelite understanding of a single godhead increasingly seen as the one maker and ruler of all and defined not just in terms of power but righteousness justice mercy compassion an earth shaking ethical transformation so when god is revealed to isaiah the prophet s reaction is one of suddenly realising the massive quantitative difference in scale and power between him and the almighty but also the massive qualitative difference in terms of holiness an ethical and moral deficit that poses an unbridgeable separation between them and calls out the well intentioned but in the end inappropriate way in which isaiah has entered the house of the lord he suddenly realises that he is like the wedding guest without a wedding garment or in a lighter vein like a nightmare when we suddenly realise we have come to church in our pyjamas or worse in case anyone s worried you all seem to be perfectly properly dressed this morning so the word sin creeps into the text the sin or not like god ness that defines our separation from god that is both the cause and the result of our inability to be with god and be of use to him in his world the sin that could be the end of the story as in a way it was for adam and eve there was no way back at least as things stood at the time but things did not stay as they stood at that time as understanding of god and his nature grew especially during the time of the prophets so also did the realisation that his justice was always tempered with mercy that god s relationship with humanity could be described as one of love and on his part a faithfulness that transcended our unfaithfulness and could offer restoration and redemption so out of the blue as it seems to me isaiah is granted a vision of a massive liturgical innovation that even the inventiveness of our own day would balk at one of the hot stones from the altar on which incense was being burnt is used by a seraph no less to touch isaiah s lips forgive his sin and make him clean needless to say there is no evidence that i know of for this liturgical practice in ordinary reality we are in the visionary world but for isaiah this was totally real and set him free to be able to accept his new commission from god here am i send me only with the coming of christ though would it start to become clear that redemption and restoration were not the perquisite of prophets or kings but were an essential part of god s purpose intended for all and so essential that the cost of them would be born by god himself and in the gospel for today we see that realisation starting to dawn on the first disciples though they still had a lot to learn as do we that brings me back to our own situation and what if anything the record of these exceptional occasions has to say to us now as we in our turn come into the temple and seek to be with and follow christ let s go back to that phrase the beauty of holiness which seems to me to very much resonate with the cathedral here whether i am thinking of the wonders of the norman architecture or the introductions of recent years it s a very special space to come into and there is much that if our eyes are open should stop us in our tracks and make us wonder the well known stonemason andrew ziminksi tells us in has latest book that he was once in sherborne abbey being blown over by the superbly fan vaulting that is perhaps their greatest treasure and asking some visitors whether they were moved by it when the answer came in the negative he rather less than politely suggested that they should see a doctor those of you who are cathedral guides will i hope not have had any encounters as awkward as that one but you will have faced the challenge of introducing our visitors to the building and while recounting its history also perhaps wondered how you can help them see through the windows as it were and glimpse the spiritual realities that underlie everything we see around us and even perhaps sense the spiritual presence that is at the heart of what we are doing here this morning which is one has to say the point of it all that challenge in fact and to state the obvious in fact begins with us ourselves not those we welcome moments of epiphany are considerably more widespread than we might imagine in our secular society one of the privileges of a pastoral ministry is that we sometimes hear about them often prefaced with a phrase like i m not religious but our job is then often to dispel the shadows of fear that come with such an experience and let the light within it shine and bring comfort and inspiration but moments they are and though a few people seem be to called by god to live with the curtains drawn back as we might say and we sense them to be a mystic or prophet amongst us most of our own religious experience is quite mundane by contrast so the challenge i think looks like this first like isaiah we must try not to let the ordinary lack of such experience and our sheer familiarity with the trappings of the temple close our hearts and minds to the possibility i think i want to say probability that there will be moments when we do feel the awesome presence of god or his angels and the air thickens and silence deepens and time itself stands still to stand behind the altar and celebrate the presence of christ in the eucharist is to invite such a moment when the veil is drawn back between heaven and earth one i am privileged to feel nearly every time i celebrate and which can transform routine into rapture and to kneel before the altar and receive christ into your hands and heart is another as barely noticeably to those around us we may feel with john wesley that our heart is strangely warmed or with mother julian that all shall be well and that we and the whole world are cradled in the hands of christ secondly we are asked to hold and treasure the privilege of such a gift knowing it to be out of all proportion to our deserts and to pray that god through his gift will cleanse our sin with the fire of his love and make us worthy of our calling there is no gig economy in the kingdom of god a bit of work and a bit of money to be done taken and then off we go with no further obligations we are re called into membership of a family business and bearing the family likeness are to carry that likeness wherever we go so thirdly like isaiah again we are emboldened to say yes to say here am i send me and take up the business of the family which is no more and no less to help it all happen again to do what we can to help another person whose light has not yet shone out or gone dim with time glimpse again the glory of god know that they are loved and know that they have work to do and here in this place or wherever the spirit takes us that may well mean helping the beauty of its holiness speak into hearts that are full of the burden of carefulness comforting their sorrows and answering their prayerfulness as perhaps for the first time for a long time they allow the beauty of truth and the tenderness of love to touch them and see evenings of tearfulness give way to mornings of joy share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized quintessence of dust posted on february 22 2023 by david thomson the latest edition of the faraday institute newsletter is now live at https mailchi mp e5794f252fc0 faraday institute for science and religion e newsletter february 2023 e bb77eb2959 it carries the advert above for nick spencer s new book magisteria the entangled histories of science religion which comes out on 3rd march the blurb is very enticing most things you know about science and religion are myths or half truths that grew up in the last years of the nineteenth century and remain widespread today the true history of science and religion is a human one it s about the role of religion in inspiring and strangling science before the scientific revolution it s about the sincere but eccentric faith and the quiet creeping doubts of the most brilliant scientists in history galileo newton faraday darwin maxwell einstein above all it s about the question of what it means to be human and who gets to say a question that is more urgent in the twenty first century than ever before from eighth century baghdad to the frontiers of ai today via medieval europe nineteenth century india and soviet russia magisteria sheds new light on this complex historical landscape rejecting the thesis that science and religion are inevitably at war nicholas spencer illuminates a compelling and troubled relationship that has definitively shaped human history i can t get to cambridge for the talk but the book is definitely on pre order share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized st mary s church tretire posted on february 22 2023 by david thomson st mary s tretire is another tiny gem in the garway hill area between hereford and ross a nove 19th century rebuild of a medaeval predecessors the far from populous parish even boasts a second church at michaelchurch even more remote which was a good thing as when i took the candlemas service there recently on a superb early spring day with an equally super congregation the safe lock failed and the churchwarden had to shoot off at high speed to fetch the silver from the other church i was naughtily reminded of the comment of a dean of ely when the dioceses commission were contemplating merging that diocese with peterborough that a second cathedral would be very useful for spares st dubricius brought the gospel to these parts even before the saxons and some earlier roman folk of the faith may have preceded even him the light still shines share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized hay on wye castle posted on february 22 2023 by david thomson back in november we visited the newly open and rather wonderfully restored castle at hay on wye and after coffee and welsh cakes of course had to pop into the gallery to pay our respects to the king a purchase did of course also have to be made at his bookshop we are told that some still think the decision maker does a better job than those in charge of several countries today share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized st george s church kelmscott posted on february 22 2023 by david thomson one of the perks of being an fsa fellow of the society of antiquaries of london alongside a fine library at burlington house that will actually post books out to us in the sticks is free entry to kelmscott manor which the sal look after https www sal org uk kelmscott manor that was of course home to william morris and it was his influence perpetuated by the society for the protection of ancient buildings universally known as spab https svbb org uk kelmscott that has meant that the 12th 13th century church of st george in the village is wonderfully preserved a good solution for such a church in a village of 100 souls where this side of revival and even beyond there is never going to be much of a congregation or demand for all singing all dancing parish church activity star of the show for me were the wall paintings of c 1280 and the one showing cain s murder of abel above is the most dramatic cain s hairstyle says it all the manor church and village make a splendid destination if you re in the cotswolds and oxford area do call in share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized goings on at garway posted on february 22 2023 by david thomson regular readers may remember that jean and i went to look at the rather special church at garway not long ago founded by the templars originally with a circular nave then taken over by the hospitallers before they too were dissolved after which it continued to serve such local community as there was and still does since then i ve been to take a service there too and also been recruited to talk to the local heritage group https www garwayheritagegroup co uk historic garway early middle ages later in the year as they know their local history far better than any outsider like me that s quite a call i can probably chip in with a lit...