A Chink of Light

 

Two weeks ago we sat up in ‘The Gods’ at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House to watch the ballet Romeo and Juliet and it was a lovely occasion.

One little incident struck me just before the performance began.  As the houselights went down it became apparent that those famous enormous red curtains on the Opera House stage were not quite closed.  Through a gap that must have been no more than an inch, a chink of light shone through from the brightly lit set behind.  It felt a bit like an ‘Advent’ moment of the light piercing the darkness and giving us all hope.

I had a similar sense on Sunday after the COTHA united service at St John’s.  The clergy were waiting outside to greet folk but no one came because everyone wanted to stay indoor and listen to the beautiful music being played – it often happens!!  Well in the ‘lull’ we looked over and saw a large clump of snowdrops in full bloom standing proud in St John’s gardens.  It was a welcome sight, and one I seem to regularly see around the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity!

We are eager for signs of hope as we begin to emerge from winter and as we approach the second anniversary of the Pandemic.  And, I say this very quietly, such signs do seem to be coming, for which we are immensely grateful.

Wherever, and whenever the light shines, we give thanks to God.

Attention Spans

 

My children, apparently, belong to Generation Z.  That is, they were born between the mid 90’s and early 2010’s.  I, on the other hand, am a Baby Boomer!

The other evening my youngest son told us that the average attention span of his cohort, sometimes also known as the Tiktok Generation is 50 seconds.  So, when using their Smart Phones or other Social Media devices, the article or sales pitch has to grab their attention pretty fast before they inevitably move on.

I’m not sure where that leaves the twenty-minute, three-point sermon in church?!  It’s hard to see how complex issues, the sort that make up everyday life, can really be grasped in such a short time frame.

I was having coffee this week with a ministerial colleague who told me of plans for his upcoming Sabbatical.  He and his wife are hoping to do the Camino de Santiago, a walking pilgrimage through France and Spain called the Way of St James, ending up in the cathedral at Compostela.  This isn’t going to be quick!  Indeed, they have given themselves 40 days.  It’s an intentional pilgrimage and everyday will bring fresh surprises as they travel alongside fellow pilgrims sharing walking time, meals and hostel accommodation together.  Their prayer is that into this measured and ‘slow’ experience they will discover new things about God and themselves. 

We are almost through the season of Epiphany when, among other things we recall the biblical story of the visit of the Wise Men.  It’s surely significant to note their journey was also a long one, taking probably up to five months to travel 500 miles.  Yet they kept going and didn’t give up.

All generations, not just the Z one but also Baby Boomers like me, need to realise that life is a marathon and not a sprint in which some of the lessons that take the longest time to learn turn out to be the most important.

Sabbatical Sunday visit to Farm Street Roman Catholic Church, London

 This week's blog is found at the other website View From The Pew - chronicling the visits I'm making to other church during my 'Sabbatical'.

Last week we visited Farm Street Roman Catholic Church in London, red the blog here.

Epiphany

 

I always hate the Family Boxing Day Quiz when religious questions come around, because I’m expected to know the answers and frequently don’t!

This year my mother-in-law’s quiz asked the name of the second king.  Of course, I got it wrong!

Actually, I grew up in a church where we never sang We three kings, because we were constantly told it was more biblical to refer to them as Wise Men.  That said, there was always three of them and that is equally unbiblical as that number relates to their gifts alone.

It’s only been in later life I’ve discovered the tradition that calls them Melchior, Balthazar and Caspar.

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany when we remember their story.  This visit to the Christ child ‘internationalises’ Christmas.

These days I care very little about whether or not we reference them as either kings or magi.  For as with all biblical myth stories the historicity is never the important part but the theology behind the narrative.

Epiphany theology is about being open to truth, sincerely searching for it and being led to unexpected wisdom.

Giving the kings/wise men names is a way for us to bring the story to life and ‘inhabit’ it for ourselves.

Part of the Ignatian tradition for people going through Months or Weeks of Guided Prayer, is to be given a piece of scripture every day and spend time putting yourself in the story and listening out for what Jesus might have said to you as he feeds 5,000 or calmed the storm on Lake Galilee.

I remember when I was asked to do this at an Ignatian Retreat and it was presented as something new.  At that point I realised it had, actually, been part of my life since Sunday School days.  For every Sunday at 3.00pm, we would gather to listen to the ‘Stories of Jesus, to live in these and become part of them.  I’ll always be grateful to my Sunday School teachers who introduced me to these stories.

And now, in my seventh decade, just as it started in my first two, my story is grounded in THE Story, and I can think of no better foundation upon which to build in this New Year of 2022.

May yours be a Blessed Epiphany.