If I... choose, Paul, I can hear the big words behind what you have written here, and I am not ashamed to hear them, but happy that you have not written them here.
I can look out of my upstairs window every day, and see the blackbirds outside, busy bringing their worms back to their nests to feed their young, because it is hard work for those blackbirds to feed their littl'uns, while I am dreaming, washing my dishes, inside.
And then go out and transplant a fig tree in a close pot that needs more room for its roots, and put my compost on it to make it flourish....
Yes for the joy, yes for the praise, for growing in the praise, the gratefullness of grace.
I look forward to finding the book on beautiful paper, with beautiful block illustrations, I hope...
A wonderful piece, Paul — thank you for reminding us what it is we're celebrating at Easter. Sometimes we have too small a vision of what the cross and the resurrection are, mean, and accomplished. Christ is Risen! Risen, indeed, Hallelujah!
I’m sitting having coffee and a scone after going to church this morning… a church ( of Ireland,Anglican) I’m making myself attend despite its apparent lack of life as it’s all that’s available in this town where I live now without a car, apart from the Catholic Church which doesn’t allow me to partake of communion and is similarly dispiriting g , and the Baptist chapel to which I’m allergic having grown up in evangelical circles, and who am I anyway to criticise unless I go and be a part of it … to sing hymns anyway is a joy and I’ve always loved morning prayer even when now the modern language for me lacks beauty and disables me from reciting a known liturgy. Never mind as I give my service book back the guy smiles into my eyes and says God bless you, and I exchange a few words with the rector , ashy man I know , and the lady in the pew in front of me turned to wish me good morning when I sat down and the Woman who sings loudly and out of tune , and recites the prayers faster than everyone else in a strident voice is annoying me less . And the sermon concerning the doubting of Thomas is good food for thought for this edgy follower of Jeshua , the seeker is already within the circle of community …..and here I sit and read your beautiful paeon…. And my frustration and impatience is stilled . And by the way surely st Francis called his non human relations brother and sister.
How lovely that your trees are become a forest …. In the old lodge I used to live in, the field behind is now full of native trees I planted near grown and I do hope whoever buys the house will leave them be but I must let go of their future now that I am no longer minding that land except interiorly.
I’ve been rereading a book A Life Together by my dear orthodox bishop friend bishop seraphim Sigrist who died recently
And the first paragraph of the preface has cs Lewis’s Screwtape saying ‘ when he gets to his pew and looks around him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided’ From this can come the more or less unconscious feeling that ‘ he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these ‘ smug’ commonplace neighbours at all’ thus feeling involves the moreorless subconscious illusion that these neighbours are insignificant in Gods eyes ‘ atall.’
Happy spring, Paul. And welcome back to remembering the land, if through a different lens. I believe a love of springtime is hardwired into us as biological beings no matter our culture or religion.
Christ is Risen! Blessed Pascha to you Paul. May this Spring help you to continue to heal and continue to write with the power of the Holy Spirit surrounding you.
I became a widow this March and as I grieve through this season the joy of Pascha is a powerful blessing; may the Cross always be our focus.
Delightful. Thanks for reposting. It has taken me there if only for a short time in heart and mind. Three weeks from today we will be road tripping in the north (ancestral home) and the west too of course. Among other things, meeting Tony Kirby on The Burren. ☘️
You wrote, "There has always been death, and there always will be." As a member of the Orthodox Church, I find that confusing. Death has been eliminated by Christ, and its final end comes with the Eschaton, where Saint John tells us there will be a "New Heaven and a New Earth". The World to Come is the Heart of our Faith. The Church was given to us by Christ to prepare us for it.
A very blessed Easter to you and all Orthodox brethren Paul! And a blessed feast of Divine Mercy for us Catholics. Spring comes late and slowly to the upper Great Lakes region where I live, but the winds that have been blowing for the last month are warm today and shoots are beginning to break through the soil. Life is returning as it always does. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Thank you Paul, Again you have captured what many of us are feeling. I was reminded the 54 years ago I was wounded on Good Friday during the Vietnam War and my next two Easters were spent in hospitals but in the end I survived and went on to live my life. As I think on my life it would be easy to see that events as a metaphor for dying and rising but at the time I was too clueless to recognize that it was perhaps a call to a new life, it look me another 22 years before I realized that it was a sign I must be aware of. Easter and coming of spring are signs of hope and renewal and should be celebrated as such, we have been given a gift of immeasurable value we should have the humility to accept it.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
The land singing itself back into life.
Us ? singing ourselves back into joy.
If I... choose, Paul, I can hear the big words behind what you have written here, and I am not ashamed to hear them, but happy that you have not written them here.
I can look out of my upstairs window every day, and see the blackbirds outside, busy bringing their worms back to their nests to feed their young, because it is hard work for those blackbirds to feed their littl'uns, while I am dreaming, washing my dishes, inside.
And then go out and transplant a fig tree in a close pot that needs more room for its roots, and put my compost on it to make it flourish....
Yes for the joy, yes for the praise, for growing in the praise, the gratefullness of grace.
I look forward to finding the book on beautiful paper, with beautiful block illustrations, I hope...
Cheers.
A wonderful piece, Paul — thank you for reminding us what it is we're celebrating at Easter. Sometimes we have too small a vision of what the cross and the resurrection are, mean, and accomplished. Christ is Risen! Risen, indeed, Hallelujah!
Christos Anesti!
It would not have been Pascha without a message from Paul Kingsnorth.
https://brianhoward.substack.com/p/he-is-not-here?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Thank you Paul, warms my heart 🙏
I’m sitting having coffee and a scone after going to church this morning… a church ( of Ireland,Anglican) I’m making myself attend despite its apparent lack of life as it’s all that’s available in this town where I live now without a car, apart from the Catholic Church which doesn’t allow me to partake of communion and is similarly dispiriting g , and the Baptist chapel to which I’m allergic having grown up in evangelical circles, and who am I anyway to criticise unless I go and be a part of it … to sing hymns anyway is a joy and I’ve always loved morning prayer even when now the modern language for me lacks beauty and disables me from reciting a known liturgy. Never mind as I give my service book back the guy smiles into my eyes and says God bless you, and I exchange a few words with the rector , ashy man I know , and the lady in the pew in front of me turned to wish me good morning when I sat down and the Woman who sings loudly and out of tune , and recites the prayers faster than everyone else in a strident voice is annoying me less . And the sermon concerning the doubting of Thomas is good food for thought for this edgy follower of Jeshua , the seeker is already within the circle of community …..and here I sit and read your beautiful paeon…. And my frustration and impatience is stilled . And by the way surely st Francis called his non human relations brother and sister.
How lovely that your trees are become a forest …. In the old lodge I used to live in, the field behind is now full of native trees I planted near grown and I do hope whoever buys the house will leave them be but I must let go of their future now that I am no longer minding that land except interiorly.
I’ve been rereading a book A Life Together by my dear orthodox bishop friend bishop seraphim Sigrist who died recently
And the first paragraph of the preface has cs Lewis’s Screwtape saying ‘ when he gets to his pew and looks around him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided’ From this can come the more or less unconscious feeling that ‘ he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these ‘ smug’ commonplace neighbours at all’ thus feeling involves the moreorless subconscious illusion that these neighbours are insignificant in Gods eyes ‘ atall.’
Ouch!
I like your candor and appreciate the no to AI.
Happy spring, Paul. And welcome back to remembering the land, if through a different lens. I believe a love of springtime is hardwired into us as biological beings no matter our culture or religion.
Christ is Risen! Blessed Pascha to you Paul. May this Spring help you to continue to heal and continue to write with the power of the Holy Spirit surrounding you.
I became a widow this March and as I grieve through this season the joy of Pascha is a powerful blessing; may the Cross always be our focus.
I pray for your success as God will deem it.
Your words-the Word-from afar, both temporally and spatially, found me today.
May God give you a glorious Pascha!
Delightful. Thanks for reposting. It has taken me there if only for a short time in heart and mind. Three weeks from today we will be road tripping in the north (ancestral home) and the west too of course. Among other things, meeting Tony Kirby on The Burren. ☘️
Blessed Pascha, Paul -- Christ is Risen!
You wrote, "There has always been death, and there always will be." As a member of the Orthodox Church, I find that confusing. Death has been eliminated by Christ, and its final end comes with the Eschaton, where Saint John tells us there will be a "New Heaven and a New Earth". The World to Come is the Heart of our Faith. The Church was given to us by Christ to prepare us for it.
Could you please clarify?
Christ is Risen!
Beautiful.
Love Dylan Thomas' poem.
The great mystery of it all.
Fernando Pessoa 'Always Astonished'.
A very blessed Easter to you and all Orthodox brethren Paul! And a blessed feast of Divine Mercy for us Catholics. Spring comes late and slowly to the upper Great Lakes region where I live, but the winds that have been blowing for the last month are warm today and shoots are beginning to break through the soil. Life is returning as it always does. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Thank you Paul, Again you have captured what many of us are feeling. I was reminded the 54 years ago I was wounded on Good Friday during the Vietnam War and my next two Easters were spent in hospitals but in the end I survived and went on to live my life. As I think on my life it would be easy to see that events as a metaphor for dying and rising but at the time I was too clueless to recognize that it was perhaps a call to a new life, it look me another 22 years before I realized that it was a sign I must be aware of. Easter and coming of spring are signs of hope and renewal and should be celebrated as such, we have been given a gift of immeasurable value we should have the humility to accept it.
Thank you. Christ is Risen - Indeed! and btw, what kind of trees did you plant almost a decade ago?