Showing posts with label sun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sun. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2025

August


This was its promise, held to faithfully: 
The early morning sun came in this way 
Until the angle of its saffron beam
Between the curtains and the sofa lay, 

 And with its ochre* heat it spread across 
The village houses, and the nearby wood, 
Upon my bed and on my dampened pillow 
And to the corner where the bookcase stood. 

Then I recalled the reason why my pillow 
Had been so dampened by those tears that fell-
I'd dreamt I saw you coming one by one 
Across the wood to wish me your farewell. 
Marie Byars photography, Phoenix Arizona, Peoria Arizona, sunset
You came in ones and twos, a straggling crowd; 
Then suddenly someone mentioned a word: 
It was the sixth of August, by Old Style**, 
And the Transfiguration of Our Lord***. 

For from Mount Tabor*** usually this day 
There comes a light without a flame to shine
And autumn draws all eyes upon itself 
As clear and unmistaken as a sign.****

But you came forward through the tiny, stripped, 
The pauperly and trembling alder grove, 
Into the graveyard's coppice, russet-red*****
Which, like stamped gingerbread, lay there and glowed. 

 And with the silence of those high treetops 
Was neighbour only the imposing sky 
And in the echoed crowing of the cocks 
The distances and distances rang by: 

There in the churchyard underneath the trees, 
Like some surveyor from the government 
Death gazed on my pale face to estimate 
How large a grave would suit my measurement

All those who stood there could distinctly hear
A quiet voice emerge from where I lay: 
The voice was mine, my past; prophetic words 
That sounded now, unsullied by decay:

'Farewell, wonder of azure and of gold,
Surrounding the Transfiguration's power: 
Assuage now with a woman's last caress 
The bitterness of my predestined hour! 

'Farewell timeless expanse of passing years!
Farewell, woman who flung your challenge steeled 
Against the abyss of humiliations: 
For it is I who am your battlefield! 

'Farewell, you span of open wings outspread, 
The voluntary obstinacy of flight, 
O figure of the world revealed in speech, 
Creative genius, wonder-working might!'
--Boris Pasternak [author of Dr. Zhivago], 1890-1960

*ochre--  deep orange-y brown
**adjusted calendar:  Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar in 1582.  Due to the way leap days had been inserted, there had been "seasonal creep."  About 11 days were taken out of the calendar, readjusting dates, and leap days were no longer inserted in years that are divisible by 100 (i.e. 1700), unless they are also divisible by 400 (i.e. 2000).  
   Protestant-dominated countries were slower to adopt the calendar. Great Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian Calendar in September of 1752.  You may have heard that Washington's birthday 'moved'?
   Eastern Orthodox countries were even slower to adopt the new calendar, which most did for purely civic, non-church purposes. Within Orthodox churches, the 'old calendar' is often still used.
***Feast of Transfiguration/Mt. Tabor.  Eastern Orthodox churches celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration on the 6th of August.  Lutherans used to use this date, also. Transfiguration is the event where Jesus shone forth brightly on a mountaintop.  Many Christian traditions suggested this was Mt. Tabor.
      Roman Catholics set the date as the last Sunday before Lent. This is when Lutherans now celebrate it. This makes sense, as the event was one of the final ones before Jesus travelled to Jerusalem to give His life for the world.
****August giving way to autumn.  Not really a factor where I currently live but it is in many places.
*****russet red coppice--  russet is a dark-brown color with reddish or even orange tinges; a coppice is an area where trees have been cut down to stumps, often to encourage the growth of other plants or trees

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Awake My Heart with Gladness

                                                             
Awake, my heart, with gladness, 
See what today is done; 
Now, after gloom and sadness
Comes forth the glorious Sun. 
My Savior there was laid 
Where our bed must be made 
When to the realms of light 
Our spirit wings its flight. 
The foe in triumph shouted 
When Christ lay in the tomb
But, lo, he now is routed, 
His boast is turned to gloom. 
For Christ again is free; 
In glorious victory He 
Who is strong to save 
Has triumphed o'er the grave. 
This is a sight that gladdens; 
What peace it doth impart! 
Now nothing ever saddens 
The joy within my heart. 
No gloom shall ever shake, 
No foe shall ever take, 
The hope which God's own Son 
In love for me hath won. 

Now hell, its prince, the devil 
Of all their powers are shorn; 
Now I am safe from evil
And sin I laugh to scorn. 
Grim Death with all his might 
Cannot my soul affright; 
He is a powerless form, 
Howe'er he rave and storm. 

The world against me rageth 
Its fury I disdain; 
Though bitter war it wageth 
Its work is all in vain. 
My heart from care is free, 
No trouble troubles me. 
Misfortune now is play 
And night is bright as day

Now I will cling forever 
To Christ, my Savior true; 
My Lord will leave me never, 
Whate'er He passeth through. 
He rends Death's iron chain
He breaks through sin and pain, 
He shatters hell's dark thrall, 
I follow Him through all. 

To halls of heavenly splendor 
With Him I penetrate; 
And trouble ne'er may hinder 
Nor make me hesitate. 
Let tempests rage at will
My Savior shields me still; 
He grants abiding peace 
And bids all tumult cease. 

He brings me to the portal 
That leads to bliss untold, 
Whereon this rhyme immortal 
Is found in script of gold: 
"Who there My cross hath shared* 
Finds here a crown prepared; 
Who there with Me hath died 
Shall here be glorified." 
--Paul Gerhardt 1648 ("Auf, auf, mein Herz, mit Freuden"); translated John Kelly, 1867

*Matthew 16:24-26 & Revelation 2:10

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

For All the Saints


All Saints Day is November 1st.  It is a day to remember those who have departed the world before us and are in Christ's presence forever.  

My favorite departed saint to remember is my maternal grandmother, whose photos you will find scattered throughout.  In Lutheran thinking (following how the Bible uses the term), all Christians are "saints" because Christ has made us holy by saving us. We don't live it out perfectly (sadly, we often don't live it out well at all), but Christ is the Perfect One, the Holy One who makes us that way in God's eyes. 

For all the saints 
Who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith 
Before the world confessed;
Thy name, O Jesus, 
Be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

















Thou wast their Rock, 
Their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain 
In the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, 
Their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia
!

O blest communion, 
Fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, 
They in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, 
For all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!


But then there breaks 
A still more glorious day:
The saints triumphant 
Rise in bright array;
The King of Glory 
Passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!


From earth's wide bounds, 
From ocean's farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl 
Streams in the countless host,
in praise of Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost.
Alleluia, Alleluia!  --William Walsham How, 1864

W.W. How was born in 1823 in England and died in 1897 in Ireland.  He was an Anglican priest who rose to be a bishop.  



Monday, May 1, 2023

Waterfall

      These photos are from a hike into Zapata Falls in south central Colorado last year.  The waterfalls are in the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ") Range within the Rocky Mountains.  (For more on our trip there, see the post from October, 2020.)

      Some fresh translations from Psalm 42 add to the reflections.

Zapata Falls Colorado, Rocky Mountains, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Marie Byars photography
















7) Deep calls unto deep
At the noise of Your waterfalls; 
And all your waves and billows
Over me have passed.
8) In the daytime will Yahweh command His lovingkindness,
And in the night will his song be with me--
   a prayer to the God of my life...
11) Why, O my soul, are you cast down,
And why are you disquieted within me? 
Have hope in God,
For yet shall I praise Him,
The salvation of my expression [literally 'face']
And my God.    --Sons of Korah  




Notice how the falls spill from rocks high above.  Hikers are not allowed in that area.





    For fans of the Chronicles of Narnia, which are Christian allegories, waterfalls are in many stories.  C.S. Lewis' upbringing in parts of Ireland contributed to his depictions of Narnia.  I like occasionally mentioning Narnia in this blog because Lewis does such an amazing job describing the landscape.  It is part of the great joy of going to Narnia. The Hollywood productions (as Hollywood will do) focus so much on the great breathtaking near escapes that the amount of time just absorbing natural wonders is lost.
     Lewis does mentions a number of waterfalls throughout The Chronicles of Narnia. The most well-known is in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where the Beavers take the Pevensie children along the ravine below a waterfall in order to avoid being caught by the White Witch.  She traveled by sled and couldn't follow them down the narrow space. 
    The Great Waterfall is at the furthest western limit of Narnia.  Falling over spectacular cliffs into Cauldron Pool, it becomes the source of the Great River. 
    In the last book. The Last Battle, the trickster ape, Shift, lives near these falls.  He finds a lion skin in Cauldron Pool and tricks his foolish donkey friend, Puzzle, into wearing it and pretending to be Aslan, the Great Lion (the metaphor for Jesus).  This great hoax brings down Narnia.  

    At the end of Narnia, as the move into ever greater, more beautiful eternal Narnias, Aslan's dearest go UP the great waterfall, in a way they never could have done in their previous lives.  (Imagine climbing those!)  I could not find any artist renditions of the beloved going up the Narnian falls, so I will leave you with these final Zapata Falls photos.  My husband took these.  If you look close, you can see me in blue shirt with the giant straw hat, which I refer to as my "ugly potato farmer's hat."  (This is not to imply that potato farmers are ugly, only that my hat is.)  It has warded off skin cancer, though!  And then he took one of me closer up, getting the photos you saw above.  What a day it would have been if we COULD have ascended the falls!






Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Winter in All Our Lives


[winter 2022-23 has been very wet and snowy or rainy throughout much of the US]

There is a winter in all of our lives,

a chill and darkness that makes us yearn
for days that have gone
or put our hope in days yet to be.
Father God, you created seasons for a purpose.

Spring is full of expectation
buds
breaking
frosts abating and an awakening
of creation before the first days of summer.
Now the
sun gives warmth
and comfort to our lives
reviving aching joints
bringing colour, new life
and crops to fruiting.

Autumn gives nature space
to lean back, relax and enjoy the fruits of its labour
mellow colours in sky and landscape
as the earth prepares to rest.
Then winter, cold and bare as nature takes stock
rests, unwinds, sleeps until the time is right.

An endless cycle
and yet a perfect model.
We need a
winter in our lives
a time of rest, a time to stand still
a time to reacquaint ourselves
with the faith in which we live.
It is only then that we can draw strength
from the one in whom we are rooted
take time to grow and rise through the
darkness
into the warm glow of your springtime
to blossom and flourish
bring colour and vitality into this world
your garden.
Thank you Father
for the seasons of our lives.

- Author Unknown







Sunday, January 1, 2023

Songs of Thankfulness & Praise

 
Happy New Year!  This is being posted in recognition of the upcoming Festival of Epiphany, the coming of the Wise Men, on January 6th.  Epiphany is a full season, and this hymn has many verses to reflect this.  I am only posting some more pertinent to the Wise Men and to things in nature.

Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to Thee we raise:
Manifested by the star
To the sages from afar.
Branch of royal David's stem  
In Thy birth at Bethlehem:
Anthems be to Thee addressed, 
God in man made manifest.

Sun and moon shall darkened be,
Stars shall fall, the heav'ns shall flee;
Christ will then like lightning shine:
All will see His glorious sign.
All will then the trumpet hear,
All will see the Judge appear;
Thou by all wilt be confessed, 
God in man made manifest.

Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord,
Present in They holy Word--
Grace to imitate Thee now
And be pure, as pure art Thou,
That we might become like Thee
At Thy great epiphany
And may praise Thee, ever blest,
God in man made manifest.
--Christopher Wordsworth, 1862








Friday, April 1, 2022

An Easter Carol

               
                Spring bursts to-day,
For Christ is risen and all the earth's at play.
nature rejoicing, colored pencil art, Dollar Tree coloring book

                Flash forth, thou Sun,The rain is over and gone, its work is done.                Winter is past,Sweet Spring is come at last, is come at last.


                Bud, Fig and Vine,Bud, Olive, fat with fruit and oil and wine*.                Break forth this mornIn roses, thou but yesterday a Thorn**.                Uplift thy head,pure white Lily through the Winter dead.                Beside your damsLeap and rejoice, you merry-making Lambs.                All Herds and FlocksRejoice, all Beasts of thickets and of rocks.                Sing, Creatures, sing,Angels and Men and Birds and everything.                All notes of DovesFill all our world: this is the time of loves.    

                                                 -Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)

  

*Habakkuk chapter 3
**Compares the flowerless rose, all thorns "just yesterday", to the contrast between Good Friday, when the Lord died, to the blossom of His resurrection on Easter.