The bright field

I've taken the title of this blip from a favourite poem by R.S.Thomas, the field in question being a lovely bit of land in Glen Massan, in a loop of the river, where earlier we'd seen a young sheepdog being put through his paces with a small flock of sheep, weaving about in obedience to a complex pattern of whistling from the shepherd. After all the rain and gloom of the winter, this, the second day of sunshine, was intoxicating. Ironic, that, in the light of the news that the pubs are to shut from now on ...

Immediately after this walk, I was home to attend a virtual service of Evening Prayer - a sort of rehearsal for a Sunday service. Using the same app as last evening's meeting - zoom.us - it was convincingly successful, with the psalm set for the day hitting with the same force as it might had I been in a pew in church. Just look at this and tell me there's nothing new under the sun - from Psalm 38:

My heart is pounding, my strength has failed me, 
  and the brightness of my eyes has gone from me.


My friends and companions draw back from my affliction;
  my neighbours stand afar off.

And we thought social distancing was a recent concept?