By Elizabeth Roper
This Christmas time my reflection is on the many crises in the world and the opportunity we are given to enact our spiritual callings and apply their ways of being to how we respond to crises.
My personal callings grew from a lifetime exploring places, tales and traditions in my native West Country. While plunging deep into the stories of Glastonbury as a teenager I spent much time experiencing the energetic ‘hug’ of Chalice Well and Glastonbury Tor. Here I discovered the writings of Wellesley Tudor Pole – spiritual writer and supporter of the Chalice Well Trust. One line stayed with me and I tucked it away to be released in its full glory later on. ‘Love is God’.
Long story short: girl spends years exploring her spirituality; becomes pagan, then Buddhist and then – in the depths of a health crises feels a deeper presence; a shaft of pure love and light surrounding her in her hospital room and she returns to the Methodist congregation of her childhood because it feels like nothing else except the Christ she had come to expect.
Fast forward to today and my reflection for you is not an unrehearsed one – it is the truth at the heart of the Christian faith that I recognise; that a life lived through a lens of love is all we have in the face of darkness.
We are afraid to turn on the news. A new crisis is manifesting in the shape of the unknown virus variant; millions in the Western world are on the brink of true poverty; millions around the world are without a home as they flee climate related disaster or the horrific result of human conflict.
What can we do in the face of such unending despair?
We can embody the courage of Jesus Christ is what we can do. We can flip the tables and step out of our comfort zones. We can be warriors for justice from our comfy armchairs and from the strength at the depths of our souls.
Fr. Richard Rohr, the contemplative and progressive Christian teacher who founded the Centre for Action and Contemplation reminds us, that to live in ‘sin’ is to live in suffering. In choosing to live close to God and close to the life that Jesus embodied, we step out of sin. Sin may not be an evil thing – but just a thing that distracts us from God – shopping; too much entertainment; too much human chaos. The time we spend with God is the time we spend contemplating our love for the world. Recently I was reminded of this by considering the love I feel for my pets. The little paws of my cat and small scaly legs of my tortoise strike me as so expressive of God’s love. I am reminded in the dark of the December night in this Northern Hemisphere that indeed: God is Love and Love is God.
Let’s dig deep this Christmas and put ourselves out there. Let’s be warriors – albeit armchair ones – but let’s speak out publicly of our disgust at how our fellow humans are having to live. There is transformation in dealing with these issues head on. As Fr. Richard says: “ “Great love and great suffering bring us back to God, and I believe this is how Jesus himself walked humanity back to God. It is not just a path of resurrection rewards but a path that now includes death and woundedness.”
Campaign; email; fundraise, give if you can. Petition, speak out on social media. Read, read, read – understand the situations we are surrounded with – look at all viewpoints – challenge your assumptions. Put your life in context; because their suffering is our suffering. May YOUR gift to the world this Christmas be the light of your own love and the power of seeking justice and truth. For me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.