The Eagle has landed

This afternoon...I had to go do a job estimate, a few miles north of where I live, in the village of Cropredy ....and while I was there I thought...after all these years I had never seen the famous Eagle Brass Lectern in the church.....

Cropredy Bridge on the River Cherwell was the site of a major battle in 1644 during the English civil war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cropredy_Bridge

King Charles 1st engaged the Parliamentarian army led by Sir William Waller. The battle was a stalemate; the Parliamentarian side suffered heavy casualties but ultimately prevented the King's forces from crossing the bridge.

Prior to the battle, some of the church valuables were hidden in the River Cherwell; these included the brass eagle lectern, which was not recovered for fifty years, during which time it was damaged.

So I was keen to see this beauty from the deep after all these years too... and it is indeed beautiful, stood serenely in the silent church 366 years on.

...............and I looked at the Bible open on it.... and it was set at the Book of Ecclesiastes........ and while I'm not big on doctrine... the Big Book at its best is sometimes good at universal philosophy.......

and so as our present Parliamentary forces battles stalemate to take the crown ( breaking news...New PM.....its David Cameron ) I give you our jolly reading for Today;

Ecclesiastes 1 : verses 1 ~ 11

1 The words of the Teacher,a son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.

Sir D ( all you need is Love ) of Oxfordshire.