So the collection of birds grows. It is a practice, perhaps a contemplative practice, that found me at 10 years old. I had to create a project for school with coloured pencil drawings and original research. I chose birds of Ontario. I had just moved back to Canada after 5 years in Scotland. The woman across the street helped me. I do not remember how I met her but I recall her name: Mrs. Beaton. This photo of one of my favourite birds, the pink one in my collection, is a shout out to her, thank you, you helped me form a lifelong practice.
These First Century Second Covenant Scriptures are considered Christian. However, sources say that Jewish scholars are beginning to claim that the New Testament is written by Jews about Jews. Academics are finally claiming it as their own writings to be studied. This seems right and good to me. I will leave my meanderings in Scripture here for now.
First Century Second Covenant Scriptures
Matthew 27-28
Judas changed his mind
Threw the money on the floor
And went out and hanged
Himself
Crucify crucify him
They stripped him and put
A scarlet robe on him
And made a crown from
Long thorns
Spat on him
After the crucifixion
The soldiers threw dice
For his robe
Early Sunday morning
Mary Magdalene and the
Other Mary went out
To the tomb
Suddenly there was a great
Earthquake an angel of the
Lord came down and rolled
Away the stone
And sat on it
The guards shook with fear
The angel spoke to the women
I know you are looking for Jesus
He is alive
Go quickly and tell his disciples
To meet him in Galilee
I am with you always.
I leave the exploration of Scripture here now with the beginning of the birth, life, death and finally resurrection of the Messiah. Jesus, the God man, according to Scripture, and experience, is alive and acts on our behalf through the Holy Spirit. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf until the Second Coming. We can keep reading on our own about the things of the past, of the present, and of the things to come in the rest of the books of the New Testament.
Who do you say that I am? Creator, Saviour, Light of the world, Flourisher of humankind.
The benchmark for the others to follow . . . *** He was the first royal sex symbol of the modern age. *** He looked more human than the others, almost vulnerable. *** swollen after shaking so many hands *** spontaneous adulation and adoring affection *** He balked at the very idea of becoming king. *** The gloomy prince considered suicide as the only sure way out . . . *** reserved and shy *** The prince blam[ed] the malign behaviour of politicians for creating conflict between ordinary Germans and Englishmen. *** generation haunted by the First World War . . . *** extensive stamp collection *** considered himself a leading member of the so-called Jazz Age . . . *** Even a saint would find himself driven to exasperation. *** consider hs safe haven the United States . . . *** foreign republic where the runaway regal could easily be led astray *** was after all a bona fide war hero *** prince taking risks that would make many others shudder *** caste system where royalty only married other royalty *** English royals traditionally matched with their German counterparts. *** Procreation is the principle function of royalty . . . *** The future of the crown rested on the shoulders of the firstborn. *** Dramas went on behind the royal curtains . . . *** a fall from his horse *** working on his beloved garden, playing bagpipes or ukulele *** an acquaintance that within five years would set the throne tottering *** a toughness, a boldness, and a greed paired with a gnawing sense of insecurity *** She was chic, well-groomed, but not traditionally pretty. *** intelligent laughter, her manner confident and animated, her carriage graceful *** He was a quiet Renaissance man. *** her breezy conversational style *** The talk was witty and crackled with new ideas . . . *** No letter, no nothing. Just silence. *** neither gorgeous, not glamourous, had no title, standing, or lineage, not any money . . . *** The Simpsons were watched and followed every day . . . *** Se, money, drugs, and Fascist politics . . . *** Peter Pan figure . . . blackmail upon an extravagant basis *** spoken of openly as a Nazi spy *** Here soirees are the talk of the town. *** conversation sparkled along with diamond tiaras *** the respectable years of the Nazi regime *** sending seventeen carnations – some say roses – every day to her apartment *** He proved to be a willing acolyte. *** The prince had clearly been out manoeuvred . . . *** his growing belief that what he said and did could transform traditional thinking *** the king and his son both firmly of the opinion that another war was simply unimaginable *** quiet invasion of German nobility onto English shores *** the fascination of London society for aristocratic Fascism *** She seemed to be able to hypnotize men in the way he could transfix audiences . . . *** the Fuehrer ordering that the new king be treated like one of the family . . . Edward and Wallis were the pivot for Anglo-German relations. *** The new king believed that the funeral was an occasion to extend the hand of friendship to former adversaries . . . backing of fifty members of both Houses of Parliament *** The new tenant knew little an interfered much . . . *** secret codes used by British embassies could be compromised . . . *** a further factor in a toxic mix *** The allies hesitated and did nothing. *** behind the bluster and bonhomie *** Sceptics were kept at arms-length . . . *** the seduction of the Canadian-born Lord Beaverbrook *** It was all an act. *** unpublished memoir *** the unlikely catalyst who inadvertently started the countdown to abdication *** It began, as these things often do with . . . the urgency of sex. *** Her whole future was decided by these two men without discussing it with her. It left her absolutely shaken. *** own Masonic Lodge *** It was as impossible as it was impractical. *** to be more diligent with his red boxes . . . *** That anguished letter broke the king’s heart. *** In the face of that tortured emotional blackmail . . . *** I feel it will hurt your popularity in the country. *** She felt trapped. *** tragedy for him and catastrophe for me *** The drawbridges were going up behind me. *** the disloyal, rootless, and shallow circle who deserted . . . *** The queen’s opinion prevailed . . . *** The duke forgot the first rule of royalty – never complain, never explain . . . *** General Motors put a fleet of ninety Buicks at their disposal. *** It was a fitting place for an ex-king to hang up his crown. *** In the dogged pursuit of peace . . . *** keen to sign up and help the country he once ruled in its hour of need *** Churchill took him to the secret room . . . *** the miracle of Dunkirk *** He had his own scheme for the duke and duchess. *** For a man schooled in the arts of discretion and prudence, he was making the most tactless and incendiary statements. *** The duke and duchess were rapturously received in Miami . . . *** The duke settled a serious race riot and managed to reduce the muscle of the ‘overmighty’ Bay Street mafia. *** 1,200 tons of files *** It was only in death that the duke and duchess were finally readmitted to the royal club, lying side by side in the royal burial ground at Frogmore on the grounds of Windsor Castle. ***
“Warming by the Fire on a Cool Spring Day” Phone Photo DS
The idea of decommissioning a Bible comes back to me as I review my Bible reading habits after the pandemic. Some Bibles are yellow dog-eared small print paperbacks. As I go through them gathering meaning and practising worship and gratitude, I wonder which is the better way to let these old Bibles go?
I think of shredding as a form of creating a holy fire that totally consumes the fuel. As I do a search on fuel I come across the term ‘Fire Triangle’. These are the three things that are needed for a fire to burn: oxygen, heat, fuel. So these symbolize my part as the offering of the Bible back to God, God’s part in receiving the shredding and the actual pages of the Bible themselves as the offering.
The other way, the one recommended for contemporary de-commissioning/de-consecrating of Bibles, would be to put them into the recycling. I ponder this. If I deconstruct the Bible into sheaves of pages and place them lovingly into the yellow re-cycling bag, the Bible is not totally destroyed. Someone may find these pages and perchance read snippets of Scripture and be saved. I think of how Saint Augustine heard the words, take up and read, initiating his salvation. In this way, the Bible continues its mission by the Spirit.
In the end, I decide to offer one Bible for being consumed by the shredder as an act of low key worship. The other Bible I place on the altar of the yellow recycling bag for possible continuation of the Great Commission. At the beginning of this quest, I did not consider it possible to get rid of a Bible. Over the years I had many in my collection. Some were too written on and fragile to give away. It did not seem right to put them in a bag with refuse or touch the machine which would be their destruction.
I consider now, that it is the intention, the heart, that denotes either respect or is demeaning to an object. It is prayer, as a two-way conversation that gives the book meaning. As the book changes form, the conversation will continue. As well, I need more space for writing my comments between the lines of the verses in newer Bibles of different versions. God knows the history of my growth in comments in older Bibles, the corrections and the affirmations that were given to me there. I review them as I shred them to see how God spoke to me in the past. The speaking is always there. May the Spirit help with the listening. I find myself reading. Is this my new, temporary practice of reading the Bible? God speaks again as my eye goes to the underlined passages.
In theory, both methods are okay. In practice, I find today, that the shredding feels more meditative. I also accidentally come across these verses from Leviticus 22, under the heading ‘Acceptable Sacrifices’ as I shred:
The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons and everyone else the rules for offering sacrifices. He said: The animals that are to be completely burned on the altar must have nothing wrong with them . . . whether the sacrifice is part of a promise or something you do voluntarily. . . When you offer a sacrifice to give thanks to me you must do it in a way that is acceptable.
In one way, the book is not important; it is the words of the book. Or actually it is the Person of the book; the Word of God who lives and speaks and acts on our behalf when we call, and sometimes before we call.
ShellseekerReflections 