{"id":3575,"date":"2020-10-09T13:33:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T02:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=3575"},"modified":"2020-10-09T13:34:45","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T02:34:45","slug":"friday-email-09-10-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=3575","title":{"rendered":"Friday Email 09-10-2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Faith Pals,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Or should I call you ‘pilgrims?’<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I have been reading about ancient cartographers-mapmakers-for some research I am doing. I love these medieval maps peppered with pictures of dragons, basilisks, griffins and sea monsters.\u00a0 Many of these strange animals were depicted as a warning to travelers.\u00a0 We might think these maps had the warning ‘here be dragons’ but that only happened on two globes- the rest of the time dragons were depicted in pictures.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Some of these map makers were monks or priests-trying to make sense of God’s world.\u00a0 Adam and Eve and the Garden of Paradise were of uttermost importance on these maps, before more scientific discoveries influenced geography a little differently.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Maps.\u00a0 Got me thinking about ‘faith maps.’\u00a0 Some of us have read Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress <\/i>(I did many years ago).\u00a0 In the story Christian makes his way towards the Celestial City.\u00a0 Over the years book covers have depicted the map in different ways, the most common being the path as a spiral-his outward journey going inwards, to the Celestial City.\u00a0 That echoes our spiritual formation too, doesn’t it-we talk about going ‘inwards’ or ‘the inner journey’ towards God. ‘<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What about the book itself?\u00a0 T<\/i>he Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is To Come<\/i> (1678) is a Christian allegory, and one of the most significant work of religious\/theological fiction in English literature.\u00a0 It has been translated in more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.\u00a0 It is also cited as the fist novel to written in English.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bunyan began his work while in prison (imprisoned for holding church services outside the jurisdiction of the Church of England).\u00a0 He was jailed on a number of occasions, and it was thought he began the work during his long period of confinement-1660-1672.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The book is about the journey from the ‘City of Destruction’ (this world) to the Celestial City (Heaven).\u00a0 The main character, Christian, is helped and hindered along the way.\u00a0 Some of the characters include Evangelist, Obstinate, Pliable, Help, Mr Worldly Wiseman, Goodwill, The Interpreter (the Holy Spirit), Discretion, Charity, Hypocrisy, and Wanton.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Places include the Slough of Despair, Wicket Gate (the entry point of the straight and narrow way to the Celestial City), Valley of Humiliation, House Beautiful, and the River of the Water of Life. There is also the Valley of the Shadow of Death. As he enters the fearful Valley of the Shadow of Death one evening, amid the gloom and terror, he hears the word of the 23rd Psalm, spoken by his friend Faithful: ‘Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.’ When he leaves the valley, the sun rises on a new day, a new beginning. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This book has influenced many, including C.S Lewis, who wrote a book called The Pilgrim’s Regress<\/i>, about his own journey from a religious childhood to a non-religious adulthood and then his rediscovery of God.\u00a0 The book has influenced many: from Charles Dickens, to William Thackeray,\u00a0 from Mark Twain to Alcott’s Little Women<\/i>, from John Steinbeck to Enid Blyton (her book The Land of Far Beyond<\/i> (1942) is a children’s version of The Pilgrim’s Progress<\/i>), plus radio plays, musicals and video games.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

How would you draw your faith journey?\u00a0 Would it be linear, in a straight line?\u00a0 What would you plot on it?\u00a0 Learning about Jesus from the stories your grandmother told you when you were young, sitting on her lap?\u00a0 Attending Sunday School?\u00a0 Experiences or crises that shook your faith, such as a death of a child, loss of employment, divorce, illness (so these may appear as piles of rocks on your path,\u00a0 or a pit, or take you off the path for awhile).\u00a0 Then the experiences that nourished you-birth of a child, marriage, a special holiday, the church family, baptism…how would you draw these?\u00a0 As a fountain of water on-route, as a flowering bush?\u00a0 So how would you draw your faith map?\u00a0 Or how would you picture it in your mind?\u00a0 Then bring all these experiences to God, these blessings that have molded and shaped you.\u00a0 What characters would you name and thank? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

This is a copy of one of the maps of The Pilgrim’s Progress<\/i>.\u00a0 Some editions had it as a fold out map at the back of the book.\u00a0 Here is another one, the circular movement of which I spoke earlier:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Well, that seems to be enough!\u00a0\u00a0 I will close with the only hymn Bunyan wrote.\u00a0 In some versions (I notice this on Songs of Praise<\/i>), Hobgoblin nor foul fiend’,\u00a0 has been sanitised, removed!\u00a0 I am glad our hymn book, Together In Song<\/i>, kept them in!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1 Who would\u00a0 true valour see,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

let them come hither;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

those here will constant be,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

come wind, come weather.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There’s no discouragement<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

shall make them once relent<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

each from a vowed intent<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

to be a pilgrim.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

2 Those who beset them round<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

with dismal stories<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

cannot the brave confound:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

their strength the more is.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No lion can them fright,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

they’ll with a giant fight,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

but each will have a right<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

to be a pilgrim.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

3 Hobgoblin nor foul fiend<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

can daunt their spirit:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

they know they at the end<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

shall life inherit.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Then fancies fly away;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

they’ll scorn what people say,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

and each work night and day<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

to be a pilgrim.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(John Bunyan)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

News: Shirley Edwards is slowly improving.\u00a0 I told her that she was in our thoughts and prayers.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Now to close with this very special youtube clip:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/moBvLFbFdJ4?rel=0&autoplay=1<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you Margaret Knott.\u00a0 This is truly beautiful.\u00a0 The photography, the words of wisdom.\u00a0 Truly moving.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And a prompt for after watching the clip: what questions would YOU ask God in an interview?\u00a0 You don’t need to wait to interview God because we can pray, right now, and put those questions to our Loving God.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Blessings and love<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Barbara<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nVirus-free. www.avg.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello Faith Pals, Or should I call you ‘pilgrims?’ I have been reading about ancient cartographers-mapmakers-for some research I am doing. I love these medieval maps peppered with pictures of dragons, basilisks, griffins and sea monsters.\u00a0 Many of these strange animals were depicted as a warning to travelers.\u00a0 We might think these maps had the warning ‘here be dragons’ but that only happened on two globes- the rest of the time dragons were depicted in pictures. Some of these map makers were monks or priests-trying to make sense of God’s world.\u00a0 Adam and Eve and the Garden of Paradise were of uttermost importance on these maps, before more scientific discoveries influenced geography a little differently. Maps.\u00a0 Got me thinking about ‘faith maps.’\u00a0 Some of us have read Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (I did many years ago).\u00a0 In the story Christian makes his way towards the Celestial City.\u00a0 Over the years book covers have depicted the map in different ways, the most common being the path as a spiral-his outward journey going inwards, to the Celestial City.\u00a0 That echoes our spiritual formation too, doesn’t it-we talk about going ‘inwards’ or ‘the inner journey’ towards God. ‘ What about the book itself?\u00a0 The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is To Come (1678) is a Christian allegory, and one of the most significant work of religious\/theological fiction in English literature.\u00a0 It has been translated in more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.\u00a0 It is also cited as the fist novel to written in English. Bunyan began his work while in prison (imprisoned for holding church services outside the jurisdiction of the Church of England).\u00a0 He was jailed on a number of occasions, and it was thought he began the work during his long period of confinement-1660-1672. The book is about the journey from the ‘City of Destruction’ (this world) to the Celestial City (Heaven).\u00a0 The main character, Christian, is helped and hindered along the way.\u00a0 Some of the characters include Evangelist, Obstinate, Pliable, Help, Mr Worldly Wiseman, Goodwill, The Interpreter (the Holy Spirit), Discretion, Charity, Hypocrisy, and Wanton. Places include the Slough of Despair, Wicket Gate (the entry point of the straight and narrow way to the Celestial City), Valley of Humiliation, House Beautiful, and the River of the Water of Life. There is also the Valley of the Shadow of Death. As he enters the fearful Valley of the Shadow of Death one evening, amid the gloom and terror, he hears the word of the 23rd Psalm, spoken by his friend Faithful: ‘Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.’ When he leaves the valley, the sun rises on a new day, a new beginning. This book has influenced many, including C.S Lewis, who wrote a book called The Pilgrim’s Regress, about his own journey from a religious childhood to a non-religious adulthood and then his rediscovery of God.\u00a0 The book has influenced many: from Charles Dickens, to William Thackeray,\u00a0 from Mark Twain to Alcott’s Little Women, from John Steinbeck to Enid Blyton (her book The Land of Far Beyond (1942) is a children’s version of The Pilgrim’s Progress), plus radio plays, musicals and video games. How would you draw your faith journey?\u00a0 Would it be linear, in a straight line?\u00a0 What would you plot on it?\u00a0 Learning about Jesus from the stories your grandmother told you when you were young, sitting on her lap?\u00a0 Attending Sunday School?\u00a0 Experiences or crises that shook your faith, such as a death of a child, loss of employment, divorce, illness (so these may appear as piles of rocks on your path,\u00a0 or a pit, or take you off the path for awhile).\u00a0 Then the experiences that nourished you-birth of a child, marriage, a special holiday, the church family, baptism…how would you draw these?\u00a0 As a fountain of water on-route, as a flowering bush?\u00a0 So how would you draw your faith map?\u00a0 Or how would you picture it in your mind?\u00a0 Then bring all these experiences to God, these blessings that have molded and shaped you.\u00a0 What characters would you name and thank? This is a copy of one of the maps of The Pilgrim’s Progress.\u00a0 Some editions had it as a fold out map at the back of the book.\u00a0 Here is another one, the circular movement of which I spoke earlier: Well, that seems to be enough!\u00a0\u00a0 I will close with the only hymn Bunyan wrote.\u00a0 In some versions (I notice this on Songs of Praise), Hobgoblin nor foul fiend’,\u00a0 has been sanitised, removed!\u00a0 I am glad our hymn book, Together In Song, kept them in! 1 Who would\u00a0 true valour see, let them come hither; those here will constant be, come wind, come weather. There’s no discouragement shall make them once relent each from a vowed intent to be a pilgrim. 2 Those who beset them round with dismal stories cannot the brave confound: their strength the more is. No lion can them fright, they’ll with a giant fight, but each will have a right to be a pilgrim. 3 Hobgoblin nor foul fiend can daunt their spirit: they know they at the end shall life inherit. Then fancies fly away; they’ll scorn what people say, and each work night and day to be a pilgrim. (John Bunyan) News: Shirley Edwards is slowly improving.\u00a0 I told her that she was in our thoughts and prayers. Now to close with this very special youtube clip: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/moBvLFbFdJ4?rel=0&autoplay=1 Thank you Margaret Knott.\u00a0 This is truly beautiful.\u00a0 The photography, the words of wisdom.\u00a0 Truly moving. And a prompt for after watching the clip: what questions would YOU ask God in an interview?\u00a0 You don’t need to wait to interview God because we can pray, right now, and put those questions to our Loving God. Blessings and love Barbara Virus-free. www.avg.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Other Posts<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Hello Faith Pals, Or should I call you ‘pilgrims?’ I have been reading about ancient cartographers-mapmakers-for some research I am doing. I love these medieval maps peppered with pictures of dragons, basilisks, griffins and sea monsters.\u00a0 Many of these strange animals were depicted as a warning to travelers.\u00a0 We might think these maps had the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3575"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3577,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions\/3577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}