Today we get to watch a piece of art unfold as Michaela annotates a poem.

Today we have two different offerings…

The first is a brilliant vid by Joel Baker, made for a Grace service. Here is what Joel has to say;

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2

When reading a few verses / passages for inspiration this one really struck out at me. 

As we come to the end of the year we reflect; pulling together end of year playlists, highlights and lowlights, miles run, walked and cycled, goals and achievements. But one thing I haven’t particularly wanted to reflect on is what’s going on in the wider world. It’s pretty depressing.

Sometimes it feels as if we are walking in darkness and could really do with seeing a light. This then was my visual response & exercise. By scraping various headlines from the past year or so, I tried to see if I could shine a light through the noise and give us something to hold onto as we move into 2025.

Joel used this music originally – you might like to swap it out; Ben Frost — Theory of Machines

Next, we have just released the Proost podcast number 13.

In this pod, we talk to Mark Kensett about his 40 year long career as a professional photographer and film maker. Mark has worked extensively in the West Bank and Gaza for different charities, and we wanted to hear about this work, and take the opportunity to reflect on the terrible events in the occupied terrorities.

It can be so hard to form a clear view. There is so much ‘information’ out there, along with counter-information that easily becomes tribal and sectarian. As the discussion was unfolding you can hear my attempts to resolve my own anger and sense of profound impotence and moral injury- fortunately Mark was able to bring clarity and grace to the conversation.

In the show notes we placed a lot of links which may be helpful as you seek to make your own journey into the complexity. Here they are;

You can see some of Mark’s work on his website here.

The Amos Trust website, featuring much of Mark’s work is here

Edukid is here

Mark mentioned this organisation and this book

… Mark’s photography inpiration is this man.

… and finally, Mark and his wife Liane are part of the Kairos movement.

An old favourite poem of mine. That line about transcendent squirrels always makes me smile…

Taken from the book ‘After the Apocalypse’.

Thanks once more to Yvonne, Will and Emily for the music, and Si for those images.

Joy 2

Joy is not a bauble

Not a bubble, too soon burst

Never manufactured cost effectively

It is not bought or sold

It is not gold

.

Joy is not a jacket

You pick from a handy peg, it is

Never something worn externally

It is always a surprise

Like sunrise

.

Joy requires no skill

Its practice is not taught

It is not being ‘happy’ or content

It is just being open, to the

Beautiful and broken

.

Joy is an ambush

Hidden in plain sight

Wrapped up in the most unlikely things

It often comes with grief, not even

Promising relief

,

Joy is a squirrel

Transcending a tree

It is music played directly on the spine

You do not need to look, because

It stabs you the gut

Today we have a prose poem by Tim Watson, who is in a burst of beautiful creativity just now… This piece takes shape around a different kind of urgent waiting.

In yesterday’s post, Jonny’s carol offered us the hope of a time when war will end… It is a hope we sorely need this advent, overshadowed as it is by the terrible events in the the Palestinian occupied territories known as The West Bank, and (of course) Gaza.

Next Tuesday, We will be releasing an interview on the Proost Podcast that Rob and I are doing with photographer Mark Kensett – one of our Proost community members – who has worked extensively in both the West Bank and Gaza with the Amos Trust, an organisation that many of you will already know.

Perhaps you might be willing to support the Amos Trust Christmas appeal?

Mark made this powerful video, full of hope and love.

Let this be our advent pause for the day.

Another brilliant vid/poem from Tim Watson…

Time for some pottery… This is a short video around the creation of a large pot in Seatree Pottery up in Argyll. It is one of a series of pots in a grouping called ‘Hebridean devolution’ which use the same form- layers of altered clay built up to form a large urn, but each piece will be in different states of completion. The landscape up here is old, long eroded. It cradles so many stories, not least the Celtic traditions which have merged with and been altered by an encounter with the teachings of Jesus. In the midst of all this change, all this history, we are being made. We are being made new.

This morning we hear from Hannah Caroe again, with a lovely story poem…

Today’s post comes via Rob, my partner in Proostyness. This is what he has to say;

This reading from Ian Adams’ ‘Some Small Heaven‘ seems as appropriate and meaningful to me as it did the first time I read it.

The Hope of the Few

When the powerful manipulate the truth,

when the powerless are exploited,

and we who seek good seem incapable of bringing change, 

where is hope?

Advent is the celebration of the few.

Of the small.

Of the unknown and the unnoticed.

Never forget the potential

of a prayer made in seclusion,

of one generous action,

of some small gesture of faith,

or of a simple blessing 

– to scatter the proud 

and to shatter their illusion that theirs is the last word.

As alone as you may feel.

As small, as unknown or as unnoticed.

Your prayers, your generosity, your gestures, and your blessings

will heal the world.

Image, by Si Smith.