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

April 2025

“I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit.

I’ll say it again: Stay with God.”

Psalm 27: 13-14 TMSG

Greetings,

It’s the Vernal Equinox! Eastertide is upon us.

The season of burgeoning life, brightening light, & bolder hopes is here!

At church, we have been contemplating light and life and hope in the context of God’s kingdom: the peaceable and just realm that Jesus lived and died for. The kin-dom of wellbeing for all Creation that Paul promised.i

Wholeness, holiness, and wellbeing have been “Love’s redeeming work”ii from the beginning of all things. And will be until the Kindom is sorted. But, at certain times and in certain places, Love goes into overdrive. At the cosmos’ creation, for example.

And whenever conflict or callous disregard threaten ANY of God’s beloved. Holy Week and Easter rank among Love’s top output periods.

What a week! An anti-Empire parade on the Sunday. A Monday marked by a demonstration against oppressive religious structures. Thursday was bittersweet for Jesus – and for Love. Freedom was celebrated, food was shared, goodbyes and good advice were exchanged. Only to end in horror: evidence-less charges, excruciating torture, and execution by the cruellest method available. Jesus died. Love took a brutal beating.

But then came Sunday: it was BRILLIANT! Jesus was released from death and reunited with his friends. Love was revived! Hope was reborn!

But what happened on the Saturday?

Neither heaven nor the tomb have shared their secrets of that day. (Jesus did not go down into hell. Hell is a heart condition, not a cosmologic quarter. “Down” is Australia and New Zealand – lovely places!)

The more important question is, what was Saturday like for Jesus’ followers?

How did they pass the 30 or so hours from Jesus’ last breath to Earth’s whole new inspiration? What can they teach us about coping with grief and despair?

Jesus’ relatives and friends, pupils and colleagues came together. They gathered in solidarity to weep, and laugh, and pray. Men and women, brave or fearful, hope-filled or hopeless, held onto one another. They clung to memories of Jesus and to his message. The Kingdom stayed fully in focus.

The caring, committed Jesus community created the space for resurrection to happen. Their love helped make Love’s redeeming work a reality.

Sunday is coming!

Renewal and revival will occur!

But, right now, it’s still Saturday – and much work remains to be done.

WE CAN DO IT!

WE WILL HELP ACOMPLISH THE KINGDOM!

LOVE IS ALREADY RISING!

Wishing you a Holy Week and Easter filled with God’s richest blessings,

Brenda

---

i Isaiah 11: 1-9; Luke 4: 16-21; Romans 8:19-22

ii Charles Wesley, “Christ the Lord Risen Is Today”, 1739