Comunn na Clarsaich - meur Dhun Eideann

I went to a lovely concert yesterday in the Queen's Hall given by Na Clarsairean (The Harpers in case you haven't guessed!). 'Harps of Gold' was a Christmas concert with nearly 60 harpists, 2 cellos, 4 fiddles a mandolin and flautist- and Northumbrian pipes joined in once! The harps where decorated with gold tinsel so there was a real gold sparkle in the lights!
We also had a large choir! The Caritas choir from George Watson's College was made up of about 140 children from Primary classes 5, 6 and 7 and they too were super. We had a varied programme of song and harp, some solos and carols- we were allowed to join in and I had not expected to be so moved. We sang about the harps of gold

'but with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong.
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

And I thought of Zimbabwe and Congo and so many suffering people

NB The title? The Clarsach Society - Edinburgh Branch

Journey to the Banquet

This was the theme for our Church quiet day meditations last Saturday.Anne had prepared 4 meditations and we had about 40 minutes silence after each one -lunch included! In fact food was the topic of the day!

Food Anne told us 'is at the heart of our human culture, part of all our lives; it is crucial to our everyday material lives as to our everyday spiritual lives- matter matters to God. The ways we eat- the food we eat, when, with whom, the etiquette of eating, the tables we gather around- all these reveal much about our material, social and spiritual culture. Our food reflects our relationships with the earth, with each other and with God. '--And food' she continued 'is central to the Gospels, to scripture as a whole. The way of discipleship described in the gospel stories is one in which table fellowship and food are revealed as places of graced encounter-at Cana, at Emmaus, at the lochside. At the heart of the Paschal mystery is a supper; at the heart of the resurrection joy is a picnic. At the heart of Eternity will be a Banquet.'

We went on to think about our fast food culture, eating 'omn the hoof', ready meals, convenience foods -sad that food may be thought inconvenient. Food as commodity, to be bought and consumed without much thought about where it comes from, who grew it, made it, packaged it and how it reaches us-

And we thought about Gods hospitality at a different pace and here we were asked to consider George Herbert's poem Love 111

Love bade me welcome; yet my sould drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

I cannot look on Thee.

Love took my hand and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.

This was just our first meditation but seems more than enough for this post! Maybe I'll get into the rest sometime.