Church Cove, Gunwalloe

I’ve seen a lot of beauty as I’ve travelled round the world

Coasts and lakes and mountains with majesty unfurled.

I’ve seen the Rocky Mountains from the Rocky Mountaineer

Going up forever and the air so crisp and clear.

I’ve canoed on the Bow River with its water, brilliant blue

And hiked among the Sperrins and the Mourne Mountains too.

I’ve cruised along the Fjiords where the water’s smooth as glass

And travelled on the prairies where there’s nought to see but grass.

I’ve been to Interlaken and walked to Wilderswil

Where Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger stand so majestic still.

I’ve seen the sights of ancient Greece while cruising round the Med

And geysers up in Iceland shooting way above my head.

I’ve loved the lake of Achensee in the Tyrolean heights

And the sultry stillness of some Carribean nights.

Through the canal of Suez with mile on mile of sand

Or way up north in Cumbria, with its lakes so grand.

I’ve seen the souk in Aden and the squalor in Bombay

The temples in Sri Lanka and glaciers cold and grey.

The breakers on the Vendee coast, the cliffs in Brittany.

In Chelsea, close to Melbourne, lightning storms across the sea.

Niagra’s quite colossal falls, and Vermont’s autumn glow

And Vancouver’s Burchard Gardens where all flowers seem to grow

I’ve walked on Guernsey’s rose red rocks and seen the sights on Crete

And Venice in a gondola I felt was rather neat.

My mind is filled with memories of the places I have been

They fill my mind with pictures of the sights that I have seen.

But over all the others my soul is most at peace

In a little cove in Cornwall where my tensions can release.

By a village called Gunwalloe with a church beside the beach

And crumbling cliffs around the sand where breakers push to reach.

The sound of seagulls mewling and the crash of breaking surf

And the sight of golfers playing on some luscious seaside turf.

I sit and sigh contentedly beneath the churchyard wall

And as for any worries, I can forget them all.

Of all the sights around the world I’ve been privileged to see

Church Cove, in Gunwalloe is the only place for me!

Pharisees

Pharisees

Christ was always scathing when he dealt with Pharisees

Though they had the equal of theology degrees.

They spent their time in study of what their bible said

And you can bet they always prayed before they went to bed.

Of course their understanding was based on nothing less

Than the word of Moses, so they didn’t have to guess.

All the rules for pleasing God were written down by him,

Even if the half of them were really rather grim.

They had been taught adherence was the way to get along

So when our saviour disagreed they knew He must be wrong!

They could quote the Torah to back their point of view

And were forever spouting forth to show how much they knew!

They took entrenched positions and knew that they were right

There were no other points of view. It was black or white.

They persecuted others with whom they disagreed

In their very pious view, just as god decreed!

No wonder that our Saviour attacked them when he could

Hoping that his message might be understood.

I wonder how He might have felt if he had, had to see

The way his church, though built on love, dealt with heresy?

Was this not another case of the pious and the proud

Making sure their point of view was the only one allowed?

Would our Lord just stand and watch a persecution wave

Engulfing quite a number of the ones he came to save?

At least within our modern world there are no inquisitions

But still the pious and the proud will take entrenched positions.

They will not see that anyone should take another view

And to hound them for their misbelief is what they’d like to do!

If Christ were here to witness his attitude might be

That he’d just encountered another Pharisee!