To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

To every thing there is a season.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,1.

Posted in Bible, Devotional, Faith, God

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Michael and I spent some time in Rome this month.

A chance to visit once again this beautiful, historical and romantic city.

I’ve put together some photos here of some of the stunning scenes we came across, and below, a few thoughts about what it was like there, of what we saw, of things that went wrong, of hearing a story of a woman at the confessional, and a few beautiful quotes of Michelangelo about his work. I hope you enjoy this too, if you get to read it …

And just to mention that on the feedback of my brother, I’ve set the speed slightly faster with these photos, and also, brought the couple of photos of Michael and me forward in the line-up so you get to see us a bit earlier :) (thanks Markus! :) ox)

I hope you enjoy the photos, and they give a sense of the beauty and history of this ancient city.

Birgit xo

***

Rome, September 2011

So much of being here points you in the direction of God and of faith, bringing together a lot of what I love – this spirituality, the art and sculpture, so beautiful; the classical history, the food and the wine, and the intense Italian sun!

The sun has to be mentioned, this constant, often overpowering, but truly lovely part of being here. Every morning, I pull back the curtains and open the shutters, and every morning the sky is the same – hard blue, and intense bright sun. Stunning. The end of summer, but over 30 degrees every day – even into the night! And I wonder about June and July, wow. Soaking in the last of this beautiful summer here, before the darker months of winter in London.

The Vatican, this city within a city, is the highlight for me. This sovereign-city state, an enclave within high stone walls. The smallest country in the world. I so love it here. St Peter’s especially. It’s quite overwhelming in this place. For a lot of reasons. The sheer scale of it, to begin with. You walk in, and you look up, and it’s as if you’re reduced to nothing in the wake of these domes and this ceiling embossed with gold that reach so high above, and go on and on. From that moment, you get a sense of the designers of this basilica aspiring to heaven itself, and a sense of what they were saying about the magnitude and the awesomeness and the majesty of God, and in light of this majesty, our own relative insignificance.

St Peter’s for a second time, Sunday morning. There’s a bit of a story of how this came to be, but the short version involves losing some very beautiful photos of inside the Vatican, after of an afternoon of everything going wrong with camera batteries and iPhones, I hate thinking about it. But in spite of losing these pictures, these things really have a way of working out. I keep thinking of God and His providence in our days with little things like this, and how He promises to turn all things around for our good (Rom.8:28), because I ended up being there again, and St Peter’s on a Sunday morning is even more beautiful than I could have imagined! Different Masses taking place in different chapels inside the basilica (there are 11 chapels within, and 45 altars!) and so the whole place filled with the fragrance of incense, the echo of hymns being sung in far-away corners, the whole experience was very evocative and beautiful and heightened by all of this, so in the end, I was really thankful at how this all worked out!

The presence of the clergy, the priests and bishops and nuns, was obviously greater too that morning. There was a chapel in one part of the basilica with confessional boxes all around it. Confessionals with priests who spoke Italian, and with those who spoke English too. I was standing there taking photos and there was a woman from North Carolina beside me speaking very loudly to her friends with her, about her experience of confessing to the priest. It was really kind of touching in a way to hear her speak of her conversation with him. That she had intended to confess about being selfish, and that she wanted to be closer to God, and that as the conversation unfolded, the priest asked her about her life, and where she was from, and they spoke of her broken marriage, and how she was living with a man now. The thing was that the priest seemed to be both deeply compassionate and yet uncompromising of the areas of her life that went against God’s will. He was pretty direct about some of her choices by the sound of it, and said, “I can bless you, and pray for you, but I cannot offer you absolution at this time because you are not living in accordance with God’s Law. If you would like to know how to live according to God’s Law I can tell you …” and far from this offending her, or hurting her, she seemed relieved, elated actually. “How priceless was that advice?” she said to her friends, “How good was the direction?! And he’s right, you know.” And then her friend wanted to confess too. “Just say you’re selfish,” she was saying to this friend, “go on,” she said, “it has helped me so much!”

The genius of Michelangelo was another thing that really made an impact. So much of his work is not only in St Peter’s, but also obviously, the Vatican Museum culminating in the paintings of the Sistine Chapel itself. His brilliance, his dedication, and how prolific he was, almost seem beyond words. Four years to paint this incredible ceiling, alone. In fresco, with all the challenges he would have faced with this method, and in real physical discomfort all of that time, standing and tilting his head upwards, painting overhead! There is this picture I took of a little stick diagram I came across that I liked, showing what this must have been like for him in terms of posture, being bent backwards! Four years of this! Incredible. And from this, we have the iconic painting in the centre of the ceiling depicting Genesis, of the hand of God reaching out and giving life to Adam … And the Pietà, displayed behind glass in St Peter’s, after a previous attack upon it, this exquisite and tender sculpture of Mary holding the body of her crucified Son, in her arms. Michelangelo’s first sculpture, completed at the age of 24!! It’s astounding. How he captured the expressions, the limpness in Christ’s body, the detail of His sinew, the folds of the linen of Mary’s robes – from a slab of marble! And this is what he is quoted as saying about it,

“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

How beautiful, is that?

That he has eyes to see the beauty in it from the beginning. That it is his life’s work to set that beauty free, in a way that we can see too. That kind of vision, that kind of ability, that kind of commission, is without question, God-given to my mind. And this seems to be reflected in Michelangelo’s own view of his work in another quote I came across of his,

“Many believe – and I believe – that I have been designated for this work by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him.”

That’s the end of my journal extracts for Rome, but also to mention …

In the photos, you’ll also see images of the Colosseum echoing of its awful history as crowds filled the tiered stands to be entertained by gladiators fighting to the death, or prisoners being set upon and mauled by wild animals brought over from Africa, several at a time, and where Christians too, were tortured and martyred. There are photos of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, the Spanish Steps by night, and the wonderful Trevi Fountain, of Neptune, the god of the sea in Roman mythology, pulled by sea-horses and guided by mythological sea-creature, tritons. And then there are general images, impressions as we walked around the city, the narrow, cobbled alleys, lined with little shops and trattoria, and other parts of the city too, how you so often just stumble across the ancient remains of a forum, or a temple! There’s some of pasta and wine too :), and also a lot of evening scenes, as the city and the restaurants and the atmosphere, really came alive at night.

Thanks for reading through to the very end, I hope this has given more of insight into some of what you see in the photos, and that these give a sense of beautiful Rome, and you enjoy them,

Birgit ox

Posted in Photos and Slideshows, Travel

I’ve just back from some time in Italy! In Rome.

It really was a wonderful time, and a very beautiful city.

I’m so looking forward to bringing together some of the photos of the stunning scenes of Rome and the Vatican – the exquisite art and sculpture, and the beyond-words beautiful St Peter’s Basilica, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, pasta, wine, sunshine and great scenes from the evenings when the city would really come to life!

I’ll be working on this, and posting these very soon, so if you’re interested, do come back and have a look :)

Birgit xo

Posted in Photos and Slideshows, Travel

In case we needed the encouragement today, with love, B ox

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, God

Photo slideshow made with Smilebox

I’ve just got back from a few days in Sweden!

Michael and I were there a few years ago in the winter, and I fell in love with Stockholm, and always wanted to go back. It was so nice this time to see it in the sun, it’s such a beautiful city, I would live there in a heart-beat.

I’ve put together some photos here of our time there, and this is just to give a bit of background to some of the pictures you’ll see, and why I personally love this place so much!

It’s a city on the water. A city of islands. From the harbour you look back to the Old Town, Gamla Stan, and on the hilltop, is the Palace and the spire of St Gertrude, and the façades of these really magnificent buildings of the 1200s. They echo of a time when Sweden was a world power, and the founder of the city, Birger Jarl (the masculine version of my name!) had these residences built so that they would be the first impression that dignitaries travelling up the Baltic and into the harbour, would have. Something quite interesting for me is that I found out that Sweden’s territory was so extensive at this time that it also owned what is now, northern Germany, which is where my father is from, and where my brother and I were born, and is also how I get a Swedish name! It’s part of what I love travelling to northern Europe and seeing all the connections with my family on this side, especially in the little things – like the types of food at the breakfast! Black bread, and rye bread, and cheeses and hard-boiled egg. Even the style in which it’s served, the style of decoration on the crockery, such little things, it’s funny, but it reminded me very much of Dad, and of all that Mum fostered at home, even when we were back in New Zealand. There are photos of these things in the slideshow here! :)

Most of time was spent walking through the stone streets in the Old Town, and in the gorgeous cafes with their overflow into the village squares. We also spent a lot of time out on the water – one of the names Stockholm is known as is the "Venice of the north" because the city is made of an archipelago of fourteen islands, and within the city, canals and waterways and 55 bridges! We crossed the archipelago by speed boat, and it was fantastic! Travelling that fast felt like hovering across the surface of the water, and in the parts where the waves came up, the bow would come crashing down on the other side like we were hitting concrete! It was great, and the scenery of the islands was lovely – isolated and untouched and green. There are photos of the islands here too, the better ones were when we were allowed out on the balcony area in the stern part, but as we picked up speed we all had to go in under a covered area, and so these photos are behind Perspex unfortunately.

The food was a highlight too. I was quite keen to try the meats typical of this part of the world, reindeer or moose or venison, and I ended up going with the venison, mostly because it was served with lingon berries, and these are exquisite! Even just the colour of them – this purple cerise-y colour – it’s so beautiful, I had to get a photo of these too as part of the beautiful presentation of the meal. One of my favourite novelists is Swedish, and in one of her books she wrote about the berries of Sweden, including lingon, so finally being able to try these was great, that kind of thing is always a highlight for me ;)

This meal was at a restaurant we came across in Gamla Stan right under the clock tower and the spires of the Cathedral. It had a kind of disused area beneath the main restaurant, with a cellar of wine, and tables draped with white linen and candles, the whole room enclosed with stonewalls, almost like dining in a cave. A dinner down there would be amazing with that atmosphere, and the whole romance of it. I’d love it! I took photos of this too, but it was really dimly lit so the photos are more atmospheric than anything, but there are a few that give more of a sense of it, with the bottles of wine and the stone walls and the old staircase leading the way back up.

There are quite a mix of photos here – others inside the Cathedral, and of sculptures around the city, some of them were so exquisite – the postures and expressions, so lovely, also the façades of the Royal Palace, and some of the buildings we passed by. You’ll also see the exterior of the City Hall, where the Nobel Prize ceremony is hosted, and photos down by the harbour as we walked around to Fotografiska, the incredible Swedish Museum of Photography – some really amazing art there, I so loved it! There’s an exhibition of Mapplethorpe’s work on at the moment, which I had seen in Wellington years and years ago, but found interesting to see again – and also this fantastic exhibition, Northern Women in Chanel, Scandinavian and Baltic models in Chanel pieces, in these often quite elemental settings – so good!

And lastly, I just have to say too that the stereotype about very tall, very blonde Scandinavians is very, very true – for both women and men, it really is an impression you take away from this part of the world, love it!

So, a few impressions of a beautiful weekend, in beautiful Sweden, and I really hope you enjoy them!

Birgit xo

Posted in Photos and Slideshows, Travel

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, God, Jesus

"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood …” Jesus, John 15:5-8.

Deadwood.

How I know the feeling of it, this brittleness of spirit. Where fullness in You has seeped away, Your nearness, Your voice, the joy of You, something of yesterday.

And I could speak to You of a hundred reasons why, but You know already, before a word is even on my lips.

The pace of my days. The weariness of my body. A heart captured by something else.

You are the Vine, and You speak of this union with You as our life-blood.

And so it is I discover, as the heart becomes arid, and the spirit faints.

Without You, there is poverty, and only the meagre crumbs of an evening spent, to offer up for today’s fill. And it is not enough. Apart from You, we can do nothing.

But Your covenant with us is an everlasting covenant.

Your love reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness to the skies.

Your Spirit, a gentle breeze in my world once more.

And then it falls. 

Grace, like the rain.

Grace, like the rain.

The soil of heart, softens.

What was parched and arid, turns a leaf that is green.

Life, once more.

You speak of this union with You Lord, as intimate, organic. The place from which our lives spring, and flourish in a thousand colours for You. The place we find our pulse, our strength and our vitality. The place of harvest.

Jesus, may Your Spirit of grace rain on our hearts. May we hold fast to You, our Vine. And In You, may our lives flourish, the harvest, rich.

Photos and Prose by Birgit Whelan © Copyright 2011

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, God, Jesus