Chris
McDonnell, UKchristymac733@gmail.com
Chris
McDonnell, UK
christymac733@gmail.com
Previous articles by Chris Comments welcome here
November
28, 2018
A
drifter passing by
The great Tapestry of Christ in Glory has hung in Coventry's re-built cathedral since the building was consecrated in 1962. It stands adjacent to the ruin of the medieval cathedral destroyed in the blitz of 1940. It is claimed to be the world’s largest tapestry. It is certainly a striking feature hung on the wall behind the high altar.
Tapestry as an art form has told many stories, possibly one of the most famous being the conquest of England by the Normans in the 11th Century, displayed through the needlecraft of the Bayeux tapestry. A promise of a loan to the UK in 2022 of this great piece of art has been made by France; where it will be exhibited has yet to be determined.
The story-telling aspect of tapestries, meticulously stitched by hand a thread at a time has often been a model of our own lives, put together one piece at a time.
In 1971, the American singer Carole King gave us the musical treasure of her collection entitled ‘Tapestry’. The title track opens with these words.
"My
life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting
vision of the ever changing view
A wondrous woven
magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to
feel and see, impossible to hold,"
Our journey, however long or short, is comprised of a multitude of fragments carefully threaded on a broad, expansive canvas. Their varied colours and richness tell a unique story, our story, with its many ups and downs.
Along the way we meet people, sometimes in passing, at others for longer periods of time. King goes on to sing that ‘there came a man of fortune, a drifter passing by’. We are hesitant, moving often with uncertainty, making what we can of the circumstance of the moment. She concludes her song with a final verse. "…Though I didn't know him well. In times of deepest darkness, I've seen him dressed in black, now my tapestry's unraveling, he's come to take me back, he's come to take me back"
We are part of a tapestry that shapes our background and experience. The pattern of Christian experience is certainly a tapestry of change, a story of beauty and anguish, of marvelous artistic skill and the damage of broken threads.
Each year, in miniature, the Liturgy of the Hours takes us through a sequence of events that tell the story of our Redemption, with all its bumps and hiccups. Through the words of the Old Testament, the magnificence of the Psalter and the Gospel narratives we are taken thread by thread through a story.
Now the Liturgical year has come to its end with the feast of Christ the King so beautifully expressed in Sutherland’s master piece. And with an end comes a beginning, the mysterious weeks of Advent, the story of Preparation and of Coming. On a grey, overcast morning in late November, I wrote these few lines over a cup of coffee.
Words do not call a sharper tune,
the sky is grey and overcast, the air is chill.
Voices echo in the surrounding space.
Late November will soon be here and gone,
herald of Advent days and urgent ways of journey.
Each time, setting out from one place
to another, walk the lonely path.
Stable-shelter for the night
till time of delivery, arrival of life's fragment
amid strife and argument of bedded beasts.
Strip away the gloss and glitz
of countless years realise face to face
this Child’s testament of tears.
The tapestry that is woven round the feast of Nativity is indeed full of gloss and glitz, starting well before the liturgical year is over and Advent has begun. It is a story of gifts and presents, food and prospective party time, the buying and selling of the market place, the very epitome of the consumer society. Yet a recent UN report speaks of poverty in our country, by any standard, one of the richest in the world.
Returning to the starting point and Carole King. Her song remains a strong thread for me for many reasons. I like it as a song, its evocative story line and gentle tune reflects the creative pattern of our days and ways. I like it too for a personal memory. The final Assembly I took before retirement from teaching was given added significance by a good friend singing ‘Tapestry’, just Mo’s voice, her guitar and an attentive hall of adults and children. It summed up the story of the many threads that had been woven together over the years to create a broader picture. Mistakes and achievements, good times and times that were not so good, all came together in one colourful tapestry. May we share with each other the blessings of this Advent as we prepare yet again for the Coming of the Christ Child.
END