Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires
Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art
We had dinner last night at Stanton St. John, a pretty village about 5 miles from Oxford.
I enjoyed driving there. Everything was pretty, picturesque. Wide open spaces for the spirit to unfurl.
Leaving Oxford to my village, Garsington, is a very similar experiences. You drive past open fields, and get into a relaxed, country frame of mind.
Stanton St. John was five miles further, so even more relaxing.
I wondered if I should have lived there.
But no, I am just the right distance from the wonderful city of Oxford.
I live in the beautiful village of Garsington.
Far enough so that I do not hear road noise on my dirt lane.
Far enough so that my neighbours are cows and horses.
Far enough so that I am surrounded by greenery.
Close enough to go in for French conversation classes, Christian history classes, small groups, church events, school events, museums, restaurants, all the delights of a city.
The amazing thing is that I stumbled upon my house. It was only the second house I looked it.
And I love both house and location!!
I am a a fan of Flylady, the Domestic Organization goddess, who suggests that one should not get caught up in guilt about recycling until one gets one’s act together–domestically.
And so I did not. I was an extremely sporadic recyler.
Then my county, South Oxfordshire, decided it did not want to be fined for over-use of landfill.
So it limited us to ONE wheelie bin of rubbish a fortnight, and one wheelie bit of recycling a fortnight.
What’s up with us? We can never manage to fit all our trash in that bin. Today, we took a trip to the tip with extra accumulated rubbish that the magpies were shredding open.
We even find it hard not to overfill our recyling.
But South Oxfordshire has certainly stumbled upon a very effective way of changing people’s behaviour. Limit the waste you clear, fine people who generate more than that (which somehow we do, I don’t understand how!) and provide bright new easy recycling bins.
I am actually happy to recycle now that it has become so easy for me. We just leave the bins in our driveway, and the county’s trash people collect it from there.
God determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ Paul to the Athenians, Acts 17:26
I was just reading an article on the individuals with the highest IQs, and got a little stressed. Their figures were far higher than mine!!
Then I remembered God determined the exact places we should live. He determines the precise IQ we should have to do the precise work he has determined for us to do. So my IQ is perfect for the work he has called me to do– not so high that no one can understand what I am saying; not so low that no one would be bothered to.
Relax, Anita; relax everyone. God has given us the precisely perfect set of intellectual, physical, social and emotional skills to do the work he has intended for us to do perfectly, if we walk through our lives step by step with him.
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Oh how I LOVE this prayer.
I rise today
in the power’s strength, invoking the Trinity
believing in threeness,
confessing the oneness,
of creation’s Creator.
I rise today
in the power of Christ’s birth and baptism,
in the power of his crucifixion and burial,
in the power of his rising and ascending,
in the power of his descending and judging.
I rise today
in the power of the love of cherubim,
in the obedience of angels
and service of archangels,
in hope of rising to receive the reward,
in the prayers of patriarchs,
in the predictions of the prophets,
in the preaching of apostles,
in the faith of confessors,
in the innocence of holy virgins,
in the deeds of the righteous.
I rise today
in heaven’s might,
in sun’s brightness,
in moon’s radiance,
in fire’s glory,
in lightning’s quickness,
in wind’s swiftness,
in sea’s depth,
in earth’s stability,
in rock’s fixity.
I rise today
with the power of God to pilot me,
God’s strength to sustain me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look ahead for me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to protect me,
God’s way before me,
God’s shield to defend me,
God’s host to deliver me,
from snares of devils,
from evil temptations,
from nature’s failings,
from all who wish to harm me,
far or near,
alone and in a crowd.
Around me I gather today all these powers
against every cruel and merciless force
to attack my body and soul,
against the charms of false prophets,
the black laws of paganism,
the false laws of heretics,
the deceptions of idolatry,
against spells cast by women, smiths, and druids,
and all unlawful knowledge that harms the body and soul.
May Christ protect me today
against poison and burning,
against drowning and wounding,
so that I may have abundant reward;
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me;
Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me;
Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me;
Christ in my lying, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising;
Christ in the heart of all who think of me,
Christ on the tongue of all who speak to me,
Christ in the eye of all who see me,
Christ in the ear of all who hear me.
I rise today
in power’s strength, invoking the Trinity,
believing in threeness,
confessing the oneness,
of creation’s Creator.
For to the Lord belongs
salvation,
and to the Lord belongs salvation
and to Christ belongs salvation.
May your salvation, Lord, be with us always.
“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.”
Whereas the etymological meaning of Satan, Diabolus, is the Accuser, the Slanderer, that of Paraclete, is the Advocate, the Counselor, the Helper.
That underscores what I have been thinking.
Accusation, criticism, slander–all these stem from the spirit of the enemy of the brethren, the one who “accuses God’s people night and day.” The Holy Spirit, on the contrary, is the advocate, the helper, the one who intercedes on our behalf.
And in a world of exaggeration and white lies, it is important to be truthful in all things, so that we might increasingly experience the presence of the Spirit of Truth within us.
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NIV footnote, The Paraclete is a Counselor or Helper. It is a legal term, but with a broader meaning than “counsel for the defence.” It referred to any person who helped someone in trouble with the law.
Rene Girard, a Christian anthropologist / philosopher, argues that paraclete ought to be translated as the defense attorney who is defending human beings against the assaults of Satan (the Prosecuting Attorney, the Accuser, the fomenter of violence).
The paraclete is often translated as to pneuma (the spirit) to hagion (the pure one) the Holy Spirit.
Roy and I are, and always have been, people who’ve earned our living, such as it is, at our computers.
None the less, whenever I embark on manual work, okay, not heavy duty manual work– just painting, cleaning, re-organizing, gardening–I am charmed by it.
By how manual work literally helps one work off one’s bad moods. Relieves tension.
How it gives you a fresh perspective. Calms and soothes you.
How birdsong calms the nerves and soothes the spirit.
How, at least for me, my thoughts turn to God and to spiritual things when I work in the garden or around the house.
I think manual work is essential to complete, round and ground the personality.
Further reading
Working with your hands: the secret to happiness?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/08/working-hands-happiness-burkeman
“cog-in-the-wheel office life, where employees see neither daylight, their families, nor the end product of their labours.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/02/dignity-of-manual-labour