Cultured

 

Hello everyone. I hope that you are well. We are fine. thanks to all of you who sent good wishes about the writing Blog. Bless you. It seemed to go ok. No one pointed at me and shouted "IMPOSTER" anyway. So onward and upwards. 

We had no heat on in church this morning. Fortunately, this was not a test of our commitment because I would have failed miserably. I was so cold, I could not tell you a blessed thing the preacher said. HOH had come to church in a mimsy-whimsy jacket and was sitting on his hands for warmth by the end of it. Serves him right. I always dress for an unforeseen ice age until the end of May at the earliest. It could be worse. The young people have gone away on a retreat to an outdoor camping sort of place called Heatree (or tea tree as this morning's speaker would have it.) What does it say about my wonky spirituality when the only thing I can remember the speaker saying is something that made me snigger? Anyway - I bet it was colder in our Main Hall than it was for the youth on Dartmoor.

HOH and I had a spontaneous day out yesterday. We went to London for the day. It's not as scary as it sounds. The train goes at 8.15 and we had about six hours there so we had time to do a gallery and a bit of shopping. (Window shopping actually. I didn't buy a single thing - except for a disgusting MacDonalds. We only ate there because I couldn't find a toilet anywhere else. We don't usually eat there because of their choices around who they gave funds to for the Presidential election. The toilet was like an episode of The Wire. I'm not what you would call an intrepid traveller. Not like those people you see online who say things like "I got off the plane, jumped onto the first bus I saw and it only cost the equivalent of 37p to get into the centre of downtown Bucharest." Shall I tell you something shameful? I do save to go First Class if I can. With all the train delays - you at least get a free bag of crisps and a cup of tea while you are waiting to hear the latest excuse. We were delayed going and coming back and you can bet your bibby that I will be claiming the compensation. The delay on the return was because someone was taken ill as he got on the train. Apparently, he hadn't actually made it onto the train so I couldn't really see why we couldn't set off. I mean, obviously, I was happy to roll him away from the side of the carriage. I'm not a barbarian. 

The main part of the day was a visit to The National Gallery. I'm obviously not an expert - I genuinely know nothing about art but I am constantly surprised by the things that I learn and the things that I think about. This time I saw "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" and was so moved by her little hand reaching out because she couldn't work out where the block was. (I do know that it was painted 300 years after the event and also that some people say that she was very keen to usurp Mary to be Queen meant that she wasn't quite the innocent she seemed but she was a teenager!) We were executing children because they didn't fit into our schemes and they were collateral damage and I wonder if anything has changed much. 

Also, I loved "The Rest on the Flight into Egypt" by Gentileschi. (Sorry - it won't download. I had to link it). I love it because it's beautiful but also because I don't often think about the flight into Egypt. There was The Nativity and all the woo-woos and the Hallelujahs etc. but then they are running for their lives with a baby and I don't suppose that life seemed as packed to the drawstrings with angel wings and miracles as it had been. I especially love this picture because of how knackered Joseph is. A few months ago he was a carpenter with a young fiancee - probably looking forward to a lovely wedding and marital hanky-panky. Sometimes, they say on Pottery Throw Down that they have been on a journey. No mate. THIS is a journey. This chap has been on a literal and spiritual journey. Big time.

I love how when we read stories about Biblical characters all the humanity is still there. There are very few superheroes. It's just people. Living lives. Falling short. Doing better than they thought. With God loving them and being God. And that's so good for me and my insecurities. It really is. Have a great week.