All is Process

When you have won a gold medal what do you do next?  Go for the next one.  Set a goal.  Make a resolution.  Keep going, even in retirement.  Like a retired teacher friend of mine, who, having just finished a cruise, immediately plans and books the next.  Society encourages us to strive, to keep going, to achieve.  To keep moving.

Yes, movement is intrinsic to life.  The Spring growth around us reminds us of that.  But what kind of movement?  The frenetic striving for success, the chasing after things, which can be so exhausting and ultimately unsatisfying?  Or something different?

Keith Kozloff, a photo journalist and essayist, was hiking in the Canadian Rockies.   The mountains were majestic.  Yet, what he found himself attracted to were the clouds, their ever changing shape and movement.  He began to see life like that.  Shifting and impermanent.

Poet Richard Skinner goes a step further:

“Do not think of a static God:

there is no static God;

only action and reaction,

activity and response,

movement and relationship,

the ceaseless flow

between you and me,

the interplay in which

all cohere….

…Do not think of God beyond

or God within

but God between;

for in the going between

is the movement of relationship,

and in that movement

there is God.”

(from Colliding With God – Wild Goose publications)

Chris Dawson

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We Are One

What unites us and what divides us?  Questions that have come to me from several directions over the past week.  Last Thursday’s elections started things off, followed by a visit to the North East, a couple of Radio programmes and a monthly Herefordshire community newsletter.

One of the radio discussions was about what makes the English distinctly English.  Not an easy one to answer.  We could say a shared language.  Though with variations and distinct accents.  A shared culture, perhaps, or the British Values that schools are required to teach.

While human beings and their needs stay the same, circumstances evolve.  In 1087, when the Commissioners gathering information for the Domesday Book visited the English county of Herefordshire, they had to use interpreters because the local people spoke Welsh.  

The Church of England too has its variations, shifts and changes.  For example, the Abbeydore Deanery is deeply rural, lying west of Hereford and running up to the Welsh border.  It has 33 parishes, each with a church in use, 6 clergy and a population of 12,000 people.  In contrast, the Stockport Deanery has 9 churches and is distinctly urban and post industrial.  But, in essence, both Deaneries are the same.

Both are a part of something bigger.  Something that unites.  Not just a Diocese and an Archdiocese and a worldwide church, but a community of love that believes, as Paul put it to the Galations: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Chris Dawson

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Prophets and Evangelists

One of my recent pleasures has been listening to a radio dramatisation of Arnold Bennett’s novels.  Born in Hanley in 1865, the background to his novels are the five towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent.  He weaves beautifully together the lives of those making money, the poverty and the grim conditions of the pottery industry. 

The local industrialists – always men, of course – are also the local politicians and some are elders in the Methodist church.  They run the town and, from their viewpoint everyone has their station. 

You can sense movement and change are not only possible but coming.  Bennett introduces us to some strong, independent and capable women.  One of them appears  when the Primitive Methodists ‘hit town’.  Not only a threat to the Wesleyans, but to the fabric of society. 

What really upsets people, especially the men, is that their main spokesperson is a woman – and she preaches.  Out loud in the open air, for everyone to hear.  Drawing people to their cause.  She is saying that Jesus’ teaching is about justice, fairness and equality.  It’s about looking after each person as if they matter.  Mysteriously their wooden chapel gets burnt down.

Chris Dawson

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Sainthood and Holiness

Canonisation isn’t something that happens to ordinary folk like you and me.  To become an official saint you have to go through lots of steps.  Firstly you have to be dead and other steps include having a miracle attributed to you.  So, how about becoming an unofficial saint?

Well, not so “unofficial”, it seems.  Many times in his letters Paul refers to the members of the Christian churches as “saints”.  Romans is an example: “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints,” he says in the opening lines.  Towards the end he says he’s going to Spain, but first, “I am going to Jerusalem with aid for the saints.”

As Christians it seems we are called to be saints.  Someone “holy”, perhaps – another word that we might not be too keen to apply to ourselves.  Perhaps because we have a vision of  a “holy Joe”, on the street, Bible in hand, shouting salvation to all the passers by.

In English the word “holy” is related to three other words: wholeness, health and healing.  So you could say that becoming a saint and growing in holiness is a healing journey.  A journey we can undertake every day.

Chris Dawson

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Will We Ever Learn?

I listened to a programme about the singer song-writer Joni Mitchell.  Joni was a folk singer, who came from Canada to America to find success.  The folk scene was very much alive in America, as it was here, during the 50s, 60s and early 70s. 

As I listened, I found myself humming, “Where have all the flowers gone?  Long time passing,”  lines I knew were from a folk song of that era – but which one? And then the lines, “When will you ever learn?  When will you ever learn?”  Not one of Joni Mitchell’s, as it turned out,  but an anti-war song by Pete Seeger.  Ironically, inspired by a Ukrainian folk song.

Anti war songs are no longer top of the charts – as far as I know.  Yet there is plenty of war about.  Either side justifying their actions.  Or, as the poet Seamus Heaney put it:

All throwing shapes, every one of them

Convinced he’s in the right, all of them glad

To repeat themselves and their every last mistake,

No matter what.

(Philoctetes – The Cure of Troy)

Jesus wept over Jerusalem, because they couldn’t see what was happening:  “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19: 41-42).  No doubt he is weeping over Gaza, Haiti, Sudan, Ukraine…..

Chris Dawson

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Never the Twain Shall Meet

Don’t mix religion and politics.  Don’t talk politics or religion at the dinner table.  It will only cause a row. 

A little while back, MPs from the governing party objected to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s stance on the Rwanda Bill.  Though he is a member of the Upper House of Parliament, they saw his criticism as meddling in an area outside of his territory.

The Church of England has a part to play in the workings of the state.  It’s the Established Church.  Bishops sit in the House of Lords.  But does that mean it mustn’t rock the boat?

I sometimes wonder what those who object to bishops and priests speaking out, know about the heart of Christianity.  It’s easy to separate the Church, in all its guises – the wonderful architecture, the beautiful singing, the pomp and ceremony – from Jesus, the Jewish, radical rabbi.  From Jesus the revolutionary.  From Jesus’ teaching and example. 

Not to mention his clashes with the religious and political establishments.

Politics is about power and influence and relationships.  A perspective that says, “Everyone is of equal value” and “Love your neighbour as yourself,” might just be a force for good.

Chris Dawson

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Enlightenment

To begin, a very Zen story:

“Give me the best flower that you have,” said the man to the florist.

“Every flower here is the best,” replied the florist.

At these words, the man became enlightened.

It’s a delight and a surprise to turn the corner and see the daffodils, primroses and anemones beneath the trees in Bell’s Paddock.  Before them there were snowdrops and crocuses. All signs of Spring.  But which of them do you like best?

What about Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day?   Like the Spring flowers, they return each year in the liturgical round.  Each year a reminder of life and death.  But which is better?  Which do you prefer?

What would it be like to have “no preference”, just to be open to and to appreciate what each offers?  I think that is the path to enlightenment.  Enlightenment may surprise us  more than once and at any time – a new insight, a greater understanding, a deeper recognition.  It is a process, and, as T. S. Eliot says in Little Gidding:

“… the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

Chris Dawson

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Trust and Betrayal

“Your Amazon Prime subscription needs renewing,” said the automated telephone message.  We don’t have Amazon Prime and never have.  “This is the fraud department at your bank.  Two payments have been made from your account…” Which bank is that? 

Someone trying to deceive and take advantage.  Relying on our trust.  Playing on our fears and insecurities and hiding behind their anonymity.  

When we lived in small communities we knew our neighbour.  We knew who to trust.  Connection and cohesion were essential for survival.  Shared values and expectations too. Of course it wasn’t perfect.  There were always those who pushed the boundaries and some stepped outside the community, or were pushed.

Stepping outside the community and breaking trust can happen in a moment, or it can be planned over time.  It can be in response to feeling hurt and rejected, an attempt to gain love and recognition, for personal gain, or even revenge.  Fear too, can play a part.  

We see it all in Holy Week, in Jesus’ tight knit community of disciples and the fickleness of the crowd.  In Pilate’s vacillations Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial.  Yes, these events were on a scale that had world shattering consequences. 

As did Jesus’ response: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Chris Dawson

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Appearance and Reality

The holy season of Ramadan has just begun for followers of Islam.  For Christians the  season of Lent is nearing its end as we build up to Holy Week.  Both Ramadan and Lent are best known as seasons of denial, for fasting and giving something up. 

Giving something up alters our rhythm and that offers us an opportunity.  An opportunity to do and see things differently.  Spiritually and practically.  To see the world and ourselves differently.  To examine our relationship with ourselves, with other people and with God. 

“It’s a bit late saying all this now, isn’t it?  Lent is nearly over and I don’t do Ramadan!”

One of the images of Lent that I carry is of the desert, of Lent being a dry time, with a kind of emptiness.  A desert full of scrub and nothing really alive – or so it seems.  Beneath the dry earth, awaiting the rain, are seeds and when that rain comes those seeds respond instantly and the desert blooms.

We can choose a period of Lent at anytime, or one may be thrust upon us.  We may find ourselves in a desert that seems dry and empty.  But when the rain comes, it blooms with new understanding.  A time of denial becomes a place of discovery.

Chris Dawson

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Offering Service

“How did we do?”, the survey asks.  Well, he came to the door, handed me the parcel, took a photo.  I said, “thank you”.  He smiled and hurried off down the path to deliver the rest of his 132 parcels.

I was in New York for my godson’s wedding.  It was all very new and exciting and a little disorienting.  I climbed out of the yellow taxi, bag in hand, paid the fare, added a bit for a tip and strode towards the hotel entrance.  Immediately a bell boy grabbed my bag.  I didn’t need his help, but I was expected to accept it and, of course, most important, to tip him. 

I noticed in small print, at the bottom of the Mothering Sunday menu, a note which said that a discretionary 10% service charge would be added to the bill.  I would have preferred to express my thanks for by asking for 10% to be added to the bill.

Some people doing something as part of their paid work look as though they are serving you under sufferance.  You are a means to an end.  Others do it efficiently, but without any sense of connection.  No smile, no passing comment.  And sometimes there is someone who serves you with a relaxed kindness, with grace.  For that moment, they focus on you.  They give you their attention.  Attention is love.  And that is true service.

Chris Dawson

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