Reflections from the Chair - November

10th November 2020

It feels fragile and tenuous at the moment, and yet I believe that for all that this is new and scary, we do none the less live in precedented times.  There have been pandemics and plagues, wars and disasters; and it was fragile and scary, to put it mildly, on the cross. 

As I run through the leaf-mold on the ground it’s very hard to know when the ground below the leaves is firm, when I’ll find myself squelching into six inches of mud, when I’ll end up paddling in a foot of water.  I had one of those uncertain runs at dawn yesterday.  With the results of the US election still uncertain, and over-full of adrenaline and anxiety, I ran through the woods and remembered Phillipians 2.15.  In the midst of a fragile and broken world, we are still called to shine like stars.  To be faithful, to be gentle, to take one step at a time.

I wrote and recorded this thought in the chapel of Great Wood Camp, an outdoor education centre on the Quantock Hills, where we have an amazing chaplain.  We are currently closed, and yet our chaplain continues serving across the schools in the area, as do so many chaplains doing so much.  Helping to meet physical, educational and spiritual needs, listening, caring, praying, shining like stars in the midst of a broken and fragile world.

Whether the ground feels firm under our feet, whether we are sinking into the mud, or the water is rising around us, we keep taking one step at a time, we keep praying, keep serving, keep asking for help, we can’t do this alone, and we will continue to shine as stars in the world.

A recording of this complete with sound effects from leaves, wind and a stream, is available here: https://bit.ly/RFTNov-Youtube