Category: Uncategorized
A seed becomes a sapling
Last night’s Harvest Supper brought the Convivium events for 2018 to a successful close. What a year it has been! It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was sitting in the bath tub reflecting on a collection of essays by Wendell Barry. I… Continue Reading “A seed becomes a sapling”
The Final Lap
Well, after five months of preparation, the big day is almost upon us. Friday we’ll set up gazebos, staging, get out the chairs and tables, test equipment and everything else needed to have the Cathedral ready for the festival. And then on Saturday it… Continue Reading “The Final Lap”
Locality
The fifth installment of guest essays on the Convivium Principles is by Fr Will Brown, rector of the Church of the Holy Cross, Dallas, TX. His regular contributions to Covenant and the Living Church, often bring together theology and ecology. You drive through Atlanta (or, for that matter, Dallas or… Continue Reading “Locality”
Sustainability
The fourth installment of guest essays on the Convivium Principles is by The Revd Dr Zachary Guiliano, an associate editor of The Living Church and a deacon of the Church of England serving as assistant curate at St. Bene’t’s Church, Cambridge. In the opening chapters of Genesis, we read of… Continue Reading “Sustainability”
Memory
The third installment of guest essays on the Convivium Principles is by Dr Hannah Matis, assistant professor of church history at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. For the Christian, the eucharistic feast is always an act of memory: called to “do this in remembrance of… Continue Reading “Memory”
Hospitality
The second installment of guest essays on the Convivium Principles is by The Revd Clint Wilson, associate rector for Christian Faith and formation at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Let’s play a game. When you hear the word ‘hospitality,’ what pops into your mind?… Continue Reading “Hospitality”
Delight
The first installment of guest essays on the Convivium Principles is by The Revd Dr Jordan Hillebert, Tutor in Theology / Residential Tutor at St Padarn’s Institute in Cardiff. There are some things which are to be enjoyed, some which are to be used…… Continue Reading “Delight”
Repenting of Plastic
Recently, my Facebook page and Twitter account have been full of stories about plastic. It seems that plastic is everywhere…literally. One study determined that the mind-boggling 5 trillion particles of mircroplastics across the globe is likely an extremely conservative estimate. We already knew about… Continue Reading “Repenting of Plastic”
The Lily of Humanity
There’s an old tradition within Christianity of relating Easter to all of nature. Perhaps the most famous example of this is found in the 6th-century Easter Hymn, ‘Hail thee festival day’: Lo, the fair beauty of the earth, from the death of the winter… Continue Reading “The Lily of Humanity”
Gathering Scattered Grain: a Reflection on Bread for Maundy Thursday
My family has recently taken to making bread. The impetus for this was less artisanal than our desire to enjoy loaves of bread without the plastic bags they invariably come in. For a couple of months now we’ve been working hard to reduce our… Continue Reading “Gathering Scattered Grain: a Reflection on Bread for Maundy Thursday”
Weekly Podcast
- Episode 14 - Inhabiting Paradoxes May 8, 2020In the final episode of Paradoxes in an Ancient Landscape, Mark considers what it means to inhabit paradoxes. Introducing the Welsh ideas of hiraeth (longing) and tangnefedd (peace), he identifies living within the paradoxes of our faith with the Sabbath rest where our hearts can settle and we discover our true home. --- Send in a voice message: https://podc […]
- Episode 13 - A Nuptial Faith May 6, 2020The paradoxes encountered on Cadair Idris offer a timely lesson about a central feature of the Christian faith: that God created seemingly opposing things--heaven and earth, sun and moon, land and water, man and woman--to share in a kind of nuptial unity. Paradoxes compel us to understanding difference in terms not of opposition but of marriage joined togeth […]
- Episode 12 - The Eucharist May 1, 2020As Mark returns home from Cadair Idris, he considers how all the wonders he had seen consisted of the most commonplace materials: water, earth, air, and fire. Natural wonders always consist of ordinary things and costs the earth nothing, unlike our own attempts a creating marvels. This episode concludes with a reflection on the Eucharist in which the wonder […]
- Episode 11 - The Commonplace April 29, 2020As Mark heads down Cadair Idris and back to civilization, he reflects on the ordinary and the commonplace. Despite our thirst for wonders and extraordinary experiences, it's actually in the everyday and commonplace that we grow and flourish. Christ's own life as an ordinary craftsman teaches us to be content with our commonplace lives and to embrac […]
- Episode 10 - Wonder April 24, 2020Mark finally makes it to the summit of Cadair Idris and takes in the amazing views all around them. Reflecting on the nature of wonder, he argues that our world needs to rediscover a "sense of wonder" in order to escape loneliness and our incessant need to tinker with creation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ma […]
- Episode 9 - Baptism April 22, 2020Mark uses the Norman font at Brecon Cathedral to discuss how the paradox of silence and words are resolved in baptism and how they have been related to the Incarnation of Christ. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 8 - Words April 17, 2020Cadair Idris is a mountain of myths and legends: the chair of the giant Idris Gawr and the hunting grounds of Gwyn ap Nudd's hounds. Mark considers how words inscribed into landscapes become explosive, shaping us in fundamental ways. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 7 – Silence April 15, 2020What’s more silent than a mountain on a still night? Mark ponders the silence he experienced as he sat by his tent in Cwm Cau on Cadair Idris and what it tells us about our own inner silence and the silence we know as God. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 6 - The Incarnation April 10, 2020Reflecting on the juxtaposition of thick-history situated within changeless landscapes, Mark discusses what the paradox of eternity and time tell us about Jesus Christ. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
- Episode 5 - History April 8, 2020Mark recounts his walk from the Dysynni Valley where the layers of history stretching back to the Bronze Age hold important lessons about place, thick-time, and our care for the earth. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mark-clavier/message
Convivium 