{"id":935,"date":"2006-04-17T07:03:28","date_gmt":"2006-04-17T07:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dml360.wordpress.com\/2006\/04\/17\/17-april-2006\/"},"modified":"2006-04-17T07:03:28","modified_gmt":"2006-04-17T07:03:28","slug":"17-april-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/?p=935","title":{"rendered":"17 April 2006"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today is my father’s birthday. He and my mum are pictured above on their honeymoon, I believe, in or near Strathyre in Scotland. Dot and I also honeymooned there, and last year we visited the village for the first time in many years and believe we identified the cottage!<\/p>\n

The other day I noticed something odd on my father’s grave. I had always believed he was born in 1912, but his tombstone has him dying on 13 March, 1956 aged 42.\u00a0 If the birth date I believed is in fact correct, he must have been 43 and nearly 44 when he died. Clearly more research is needed.<\/p>\n

An excellent Easter at church, with three really good events: an “ambient wonder” Maundy Thursday evening, with interactive opportunities; a Good Friday event at St Luke’s concentrating on the persecuted church; and an Easter Sunday Communion at St Augustine’s which I organised, expoecting a very small congregation. We had about 30 (big for us), and it all went well, even the strawberried, sparkling wine and Dot’s delicious simnal cake afterwards.
\nUsed some songs and poems of mine, including<\/p>\n

EASTER SKY<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/b>I<\/span>s this a crucifixion or a resurrection sky?
\nIs it the sky he was pinned to like a butterfly
\nskin running with blood
\nclouds stained sunset-red?
\nOr is it the ash-black, volcano-scarred sky
\nthat lets no life through?
\nDarkness at <\/span>noon<\/span>, blank
\nas a worn-down tombstone,
\nwords weathered away?
\nIs it the lightning-bright sky
\ntorn apart by splinters of broken law,
\nchannels for tingling spirit?
\nOr is it the arching white glory of an aching Easter dawn,
\ntransfiguring, clean sheet, reborn?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>A<\/span>nd if a man walks down the valley and asks
\nthe way to heaven,
\ndoes he look up?
\nDoes he stumble as stones roll away?
\nIs there a lamb in the garden,
\nor someone praying beneath a tree?
\nA woman may meet an angel
\nout of the blue:
\nbread and wine may be set on rock,
\nwaiting for fire.
\nAlmost anything could happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

B<\/span>ut keep watching the sky.
\nSoon the stars will sing together
\nand you may catch a glimpse of the shining, shekinah walls
\nof the city of <\/span>God<\/span>, though not
\nas you imagined them.
\nThe sky always surprises you.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is my father’s birthday. He and my mum are pictured above on their honeymoon, I believe, in or near Strathyre in Scotland. Dot and I also honeymooned there, and last year we visited the village for the first time in many years and believe we identified the cottage! The other day I noticed something … Continue reading 17 April 2006<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog360.back2sq1.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}