[Magdalen] listgive opened

[Lesley de Voil]

I *am* glad you reacted positively to Michael, Susan, for I recognise
that his peculiar take on things (whether mundane or spiritual) does
not always travel well. When you said that your parcel took five days
to arrive, I immediately thought of my favourite Australian Christmas
poem "Five Days Old." It's by the rather neglected poet Francis Webb.
Somewhere I do have it in the Penguin Book of Christmas Verse but
today I can only find part of it on the web. He has just received in
his arms the five-day old son of a friend, and later penned these
words:

Christmas is in the air
You are given into my hands
Out of the quietest, loneliest lands.
My trembling is all my prayer.
To blown straw was given
All the fullness of Heaven.

The tiny, not the immense,
Will teach our groping eyes. . .

Francis, rather like Michael, found it difficult to exist in society.
(I tend to think that it it is the truly sane who find society too
much to bear.)

I am still in the throes of preparing a family dinner for Boxing Day
evening in an hour or so.Since i had three services to play for over
Christmas Eve, Christmas Midnight and Christmas morning, it's my
preference to have a quiet Christmas afternoon and evening. My
granddaughter will be coming straight from the airport - she has been
visiting her father in Cairns for a month, so it will be nice to catch
up.
Best wishes
Lesley de Voil


On 12/26/14, Susan Hutchinson <shutchinsonca at gmail.com> wrote:
> As noted previously, a parcel from Lesley Voil arrived chez moi last
> Saturday. Safely delivered by Canada Post. I opened it this morning to
> discover a lovely little book called "When I Talk to You" by Michael Leunig,
> an Australian writer and cartoonist. The subtitle on the jacket says, "a
> cartoonist talks to God". It looks like my kind of spirituality, Lesley!
> Included in the parcel was a wonderful fold up reusable shopping bag
> promoting Queensland. Good call!
>
> So far Christmas has been lovely, spent with extended family, on a great
> Vancouver day -- sunny, 7C (44F). We are following family tradition and
> eating things we shouldn't while playing board games. The big dinner was
> last night, so today is relaxed and pressure free.
>
> Happy Christmas to all and may you have much love and many blessings
> always,
>
> Susan
>
> The Rev. Susan Hutchinson
> 604-319-7148
> shutchinsonca at gmail.com
>
>