Late Summer 2025

VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS

Late Summer 2025

Wise men and women are always learning,

always listening for fresh insights.

Proverbs 18:15

Greetings,

Learning … listening for fresh insights …loving new pencil sets!

Even if our school days – or uni. days – are long past, this time of year is evocative. Back-to-school hopes and fears never totally fade. Treat yourself to some remembering. Say a prayer for the student who struggled, ring a cherished classmate, forgive the teacher who gave you an “F”, celebrate those “A’s”!

Education has been one of my greatest blessings (mostly).

Having wanted to be a nurse since I was four years old, I applied to 5 out of the 7 London teaching hospitals. (The remainder were too posh for me.) My first day at the Royal Free counts as one of the happiest in my life. I was actually addressed as Nurse Bennett! And was chosen to help the Chaplain with morning prayers. God was already working on my next career.

When it came to theological training, I was equally diligent about finding the right place to study. My favourite was BU but they required the GRE’s and I knew I couldn’t pass a graduate-level maths test, so I settled for Harvard. Yes, Harvard is for people who can’t get into BU – so let’s protect it!

God, I guess, had a lot to do with where I ended up. I had the privilege of studying with the G.O.A.T. Baptist preacher – Peter Gomes. I also had the pleasure of meeting students from all cultures and faith traditions. Multi-faith and multicultural connections are brilliant reminders of God’s love for all and presence within all.

Weston Jesuit School of Theology came next. (I loved Cambridge and searched out a way of lingering.) My first day was September 11th, 2001. The School President, Bob Manning (Father Robert Manning, SJ, but he hated titles!), wheeled a little TV into the lobby and students and faculty gathered round to watch the horror unfold. At noon, we all met for worship. I was grateful to be among pray-ers.

When classes resumed, one of my first assignments was to go for a walk and see what I noticed. Every person from that course still remembers where they walked and what they noticed! Noticing trains our ears and eyes to observe like God does – with appreciation, and concern, and love.

Learning – whether it’s how to notice, how to negotiate, or how to knit – is the way we become. The way we best fulfil our Creator’s hopes for us. God didn’t simply install a chip and send us off on our own. He longs for us to learn and grow, to dream and develop, to think new thoughts – including about God.

In a class or in church, curling up with a book, or connecting to the internet, discover new and wonderful stuff about our world and its amazing Creator! With God beside us, every day is a “school day”.

And remember, she never gives out “F’s”!

Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete … so also you must be complete.i

Matthew 5:48 C.E.B.

May this special time of year encourage and inspire you.

Deepest Blessings,

Brenda

---

i Teleioi (Gk.) self- actualized, perfectly oneself

Early Summer 2025

VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS

Early Summer 2025

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”

John14:2 NRSV

Greetings,

And Happy Summer!

I’ve just treated myself to a new summer read: “Dwell”, by Simon Armitage.

This beautifully illustrated book of poems imagines the variety of homes and habitats our animal and insect kin enjoy. It is a call to care for Creation, a reminder that our Heavenly Parent’s “dwelling places” are not just for humans.

God is always prompting us to love more widely and this week she upped her messaging. (1 reminder = a prompt, 2 = a Godincidence!)

A gardening suggestion and a generous cheque inspired a fresh Bee-attitude.

Up on Fulton Heights, “Jim’s Market” is a popular people café. Their top seller is something called a “Bee Boy”. Love the name!

We real bees have our own eatery just behind Jim’s. We share Creatures Always Royally Received (C.A.R.R. for short) with other insects, various rodent species, and every bird you can think of from tiny hummers to huge turkeys. Not all diners are well behaved – some actually eat other guests!

But, in the main, we’re a peaceful, helpful crowd.

Unfortunately, the human Queen Bee decided that Safe Dining for All Species is secondary to Super Fun for a Few Species. (Are dogs a separate species or merely humans with fur? Just asking!)

Anyway, some of our most popular buffet tables have been uprooted or torn down. They have been replaced with loud balls and even louder JCBs!

C.A.R.R. is not a happy place right now.

We pollinators, in particular, have been hard hit. And, as you know, we have been struggling to make ends meet for a while now. Some of us have been lucky enough to pick up treats in the patch of land right opposite Jim’s. There are two scrumptious lavender bushes that my family and I enjoy of a summer evening.

I decided to speak to the land’s owner about more pollinator plantings. It turns out S/he is none other than our own Monarch-of-all-Creation. And their Royalness is on it!

They contacted the local butterfly yoga teacher who immediately sent some money for supplies. A Royal request was also sent to a nearby minister. He mainly works with human students but considers us bees to be smart enough to be included in his remit. He has commenced the fix-up of “our” space and is sharing his dietary know-how. (Food services are already part of his ministry.)

God is wonderful isn’t he?

The Most Marvellous Monarch of all Time!

The Empress of Queen Bees!

Their Royalness is sorting out a new diner for us.

All will be well!

Yours Honeyly,

Bea Apis

Thank you, Bee Warden and Butterfly Whisperer

WE ARE ALL GRATEFUL!

May the summer bring us all sweet blessings,

Brenda

May 2025

VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS               

May 2025

“God will settle arguments between nations. They will pound their swords and their spears into rakes and shovels; they will never make war or attack one another.”

Isaiah 2:4 CEV

Greetings,

This past week, I’ve been watching commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day. They were moving and inspiring, reminding me of my mum’s anti-war sentiments. “I don’t want war, I know what war is like,” she would tell belligerents on the telly!

Words to the wise! Words echoed throughout Europe recently.

In his May 8th speech, King Charles III reminded us of Churchill’s dictum, “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.” The King then called on individuals and nations to “rededicate ourselves … to renewing global commitments to restoring just peace.” 

Easter Sunday, Pope Francis’ final message to the world also focused on peace and justice. He said,

“What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of our world! How much violence we see, often even within families, directed at women and children! How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!

On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!”

Pope Francis will be sorely missed. But men and women of goodwill will be heartened by his successor’s premier address. Pope Leo XIV greeted faithers and well-wishers thus:

“Peace be with you!... God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward…. so we can all be one people always in peace.”[i]

From the prophets of Ancient Israel to Jesus, Charles III to Leo XIV, God’s pleas for peace resound. God’s cries for justice echo down through the ages and across all faiths and cultures.

“Do you know what I want?    I want justice—oceans of it.I want fairness—rivers of it.    That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”

Amos 5: 24 The Message

It’s on us now!

Deepest Blessings,

Brenda

---

i All quotations from BBC News website