The Glory that is Blue

Good day to all you Cornerstone People on this glorious summer morning when the world is ready for praise, when the world is God’s reflection. In the words of Psalm 19 – The heavens tell out the glory of God, the skies proclaim his handiwork. One day speaks to another, night to night imparts knowledge and this without speech or language or the sound of any voice.
O God, we rise within your glory – the wonder that is today, the light, the cloudless sky, the noisy birds, the rustling green and all that shouts to us of beauty. Thank you for the velvet softness of night and its following day. We arrive at morning, awestruck with wonder at the glory of summer. Help us be worthy participants in a wonderful Milton Keynes today.

Amen

The pure colour blue isn’t common in nature; most blue flowers tend towards purple where the blue is full of red. The Himalayan poppy is a clear blue but not suitable for our Milton Keynes clay soil. In the feast of colour that comes in mid-summer, the delphinium claims the star position across the northern hemisphere. It flowers in all shades of blue and vies with the summer sky in its display of God’s glory. As I drink in their beauty I am calmed, contemplating God’s goodness that so much glory can be contained and displayed in my tiny garden. From a few seeds given to me by my grandmother half a century ago I have planted and renewed over the years to have the great pleasure of a true blue in July. You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power because you created all things: by your will they were created and have their being. (Revelation 4: 11)

O God, thank you for the beauty of summer here in Milton Keynes. Thank you for the people who planned and planted, nurtured and pruned for the benefit of generations they would never meet. Help us treasure this great legacy for our grandchildren and their children to enjoy. Help us support the efforts of COP 26, meeting in the autumn, to address the climate crisis threatening your glory and all our safety. Give us open hearts and willing hands to give of ourselves for the salvation of our living world.

Amen

Next Monday, in England, the government has decreed its withdrawal from regulation of civil society in relation to Covid-19. Responsibility will rest with individuals to consider the safe life of everyone nearby. What will this new life look like? Will it declare the glory of God through care for our whole community’s welfare?

O God, help us protect the vulnerable in our neighbourhoods. Help us teach kindness and concern through word and example as we venture into a different kind of normal. Strengthen the fearful, comfort those who still cannot venture out of their safe space in home or garden. Give pause to everyone that each action is taken with responsibility and the knowledge that my ability to fling wide my arms is limited by the proximity of my neighbour’s nose. Help us stay safe this coming cautious Monday..

Amen

Our friend Joy has completed her life and passed over into the next one. We give thanks for her life of faith, her indomitable spirit and her infectious laughter. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first had vanished. I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, beautifully dressed like a bride ready to meet her husband. I heard a voice from the throne say ‘God is now dwelling with humanity. He will live among them and they will be his people . There shall be an end to death and to mourning and to crying and to pain, for the old order has passed away.’ (Revelation 21: 1–4)

Let us enjoy this Friday in the beautiful blue of the delphinium, in the glorious colour and light that is a Milton Keynes Summer.