The Thinking Goes On...

The Golden Crucifixion: 1993: Norman Adams

I was talking to Erna the other day on the phone and we were sharing some of our reflections on church life and she rounded off the conversation with these words: the thinking goes on.

I think that’s true, not just despite Lockdown but even, maybe, because of it.  We have all had a lot to think about!

Some of my thinking seems to be done best as I journey with an author through a book.  It’s often in that fusion of their words and my thoughts that I arrive at some conclusions which nourish and sustain.

That happened recently in reading Seeing God in Art. It’s author, Bishop Richard Harries says this about forgiveness as he pondered the message behind a painting of the crucifixion: it is not so much about wiping the slate clean as continuing to hold someone in relationship even though that person has hurt you.

I think that’s a powerful and practical idea.  When I hold the door open in a relationship – that is a way of offering down to earth forgiveness.

Of course, it is tough and complex.

I became aware of that, once again, over the VE75 weekend whilst listening to an edition of BBC Radio 4’s The Reunion with Sue MacGregor.  She had brought together a number of retired soldiers who had been interned during the war and had helped to build the Siam-Burma railway (The Death Railway).  Some could forgive their captors and others couldn’t. 

Looking at art, reading poetry, singing a line of a hymn, watching a sunset – all of these can help us ‘frame’ our faith.  Bishop Harries did that as he looked at the painting The Golden Crucifixion by Norman Adams, and spoke of forgiveness as continuing to hold someone in relationship. 

I’m grateful for that reflection because forgiveness can be a concept difficult to define and an action hard to practise.

May you, today, know God’s blessing and joy in all you do.

Ian