Hi folks, I hope you are doing? This week we are meeting in the Quarry pub on the Broadway, it would be lovely to see you if you are able.
This next week, I have another birthday… Ugh! It’s in that spirit that I offer the following pondering.
It seems to me that we are often faced with a sense of helplessness, we look at the state of the world and we are bemused by what we see, we can’t seem to grasp why people do what they do, we may look at family and friends and wonder why on earth did they do that… and then we look at ourselves… and well, yes, we certainly feel helpless at our lack of ability to make the right decisions.
We are about to embark into the Christian festival of Holy Week, and again we see this sense of helplessness, we read the stories and time and time again we see humanities failure.
The human spirit tries to counter some of this by using various coping mechanisms, prayer, violence, routine – and still we are powerless to keep the accidents from happening, life is still complicated, the earth continues to be in despair at our utter helplessness.
We are haunted by the consequences of our choices. We so wish that we could have chosen more wisely and had more courage. We wish we had risked a bit more, we wish we had loved a little more deeply, or shown some kindness, we ponder on what it would have been like if we had chosen words more carefully. We have all had those thoughts that “I should’ve”, which leads us to a deep sense of self loathing, and poisons our souls that little bit more… and we wish that we could find ‘reconciliation between oneself and all one’s pain and error’ as James Baldwin suggests.
We see all of this in the accounts of Holy Week as well as our day to day living. I suspect you are feeling totally flawed now!
So what stops us from being better… or as George Saunders writes,
“What is stopping me from stepping outside my habitual crap? My mind, my limited mind… The story of life is the story of the same basic mind readdressing the same problems in the same already discredited ways.”
He also suggests that there is a possible route out of this mire… He says:
‘Don’t be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen’.
As I get older, I think I have become more confused about most things in life, it’s not so black and white, and you know what… that’s ok… I am happily content at being confused!
I also love this idea of ‘staying open’. And I realise that when I try to practice it, I don’t always get it right, but I think it is a very powerful process to try, particularly in the times we are living in. Even as we journey again through the Holy Week narrative why not be open to new possibilities and understandings about the story.
Some questions
What movie comes to mind about a hopeless situation? What was the outcome?
What has age done to change the way you view things?
What parts of the Holy Week story do you find the most difficult?
How do you feel about confusion?
What stories of being open come to mind?
How can being more open help us in our daily lives?
What does being open mean for your spirituality?
Peace Rob
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.
