Not all it’s cracked up to be

 

Resilience

Is not all it’s cracked up to be

It’s not a panacea for all that life throws at us

It’s not all that we need to survive a pandemic

And certainly not all that we need to be effective as clergy

Resilience

has instead,

become a term of abuse

held out by those who prey on the lost

or the weary

the disheartened 

or discouraged 

to lure them into 

continually going back for more

Building up our resilience

involves condoning

or at least tolerating injustice

acquiescing to

survival of the fittest

or bolshiest

or loudest

Resilience

A trait I will happily eschew

in favour of

respect

regard

Risking vulnerability

rather than reaching for 

Resilience.

Approaching Lent

 

A friend posted last year that it seemed we’d endured the Lentiest Lent we’d ever Lented! Most of us back then did not envisage still being in the grip of pandemic 12 months later. With the roll out of vaccines and the R number dropping, there are signs of hope. But once again, our observation of Lent will be different as will our celebration of Easter.

You’ll find a series of daily readings and reflections for lent here

Through a woman’s eyes

 

Luke 2:36-38

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Anna saw

Through her aged eyes she saw

The one who would redeem

Having waited, in hope, for a lifetime

She saw

She praised

She proclaimed

Sharing the hope and the promise

Through the eyes of a woman

The light of the world was revealed 

Thanks be to God