Light, Thriving (& Surviving) Creative Kit,
Social Media Forgiveness, Court Jesters & Love
Photo Credit: Johnny Palmer
Light
Our days are finding the darkness being slowly overcome by the light stretching control and taking over. This Easter week finds a similar resonance. I think of the stories and images of those who are serving and caring for others on the front-line in many different sectors of society and it makes me think of Jesus washing feet, serving others, on Maundy Thursday. I think of those who are trying to deal with pain and fear and loss around loved ones from a distance and it makes me think of Jesus on Good Friday. I think of those who are looking for hope and life and light in the midst of darkness and it makes me think of Jesus on Easter Day. There are so many stories of light in our city of Bristol today. There are other stories, we know just as well. But my heart is filled with thankfulness for the countless people continuing to send beams of light across our city and beyond.
Thriving (& Surviving) Creative Kit
I am sure we will have in our own ways, shaped by our situations, ways of getting through what we are going through. For some of us there are choices and opportunities and privileges which others simply do not have. Also what matters to one person does not matter to another person. So I can only speak from my story and I am often humbled by how little I deserve what I have and, like others, try and give to others from what we have received. I have found that I needed to create a little package that helps me (lee) process and journey through this world in which we currently find ourselves. So in my creative kit I have:
Music
The National (everything), Nick Cave (basically everything), Nina Simone (everything I can get my hands on), Jawbreaker (only ‘24-Hour Revenge Therapy), Housefires & Strahan (morning & evening worship), Rachmaninov (pretty much everything), Mega City Four (‘terribly sorry Bob’)
Art
Ecce Opus (or anything by Tom Price), The Hidden Art of Tat
Book
Hermann Hesse (the glass bead game), Writing ‘A Small Man’s Journey’
Poetry
Mary Oliver, Lauris Edmond
TV
Really not a good place for me to comment on this as if I did you may contact me to offer support and help!
Social Media Forgiveness
I thought after almost three years off my social media accounts that when I returned to engage I would find a more grown-up version of the world I chose to leave. Now (let me add a couple of footnotes to what I am saying) I am more than happy to re-engage as these exceptional circumstances have called for it as we find ways to keep our church communities connected, supported and still engaging with faith both online and offline. And, obviously, in particular (now more than ever) the importance of family and friends using different platforms to stay in relationship is very significant and I thank God for the many creative ways this is possible. I also have learnt so much from the imaginative, loving and caring approaches to using social media - fantastic. It is for many people a life-line and I am pleased that it can help and all of this is very good.
This is not where I need regular forgiveness.
Where I find my heart getting a little twisted and thinking thoughts that would be best not to share is when social media is used in a way, it appears to me and I could be wrong (no judgement), that is people just being provocative for no apparent reason (maybe they are bored), people being so self-obsessed with their own life (is that not what you are doing here Lee? you seem to be talking a lot about yourself and just shared a list of what you are into - bit self-focussed, eh!), people being really nasty about people they do not know and appearing to lose some of their humanity in the process (maybe they are just struggling to cope), people who appear to post something with no obvious research of what they are saying (I have been there and who has the time to do research). Anyway, maybe I have just been happening across a particular group of people who have been put there to make me say sorry to God and them for thinking in not so helpful ways. As a result, I am trying to approach it with the same grace that I would do if the person was in the room with me. Others who struggle with similar things shared this idea with me. I hope to need less social media forgiveness in the days to come, we will see!
Court Jesters
Okay a few facts about laughter, which I imagine you may already know: it can relax your whole body and muscles for up to 45 minutes afterwards, boosts the immune system, releases endorphins, increases blood flow around the heart, burns calories and is enjoyable. Now I am sure most of those are true. It goes without saying but I will say it - obviously there is much going on where laughter should be in a far distant galaxy and for some people it is just not possible to laugh right now. I do not want to disrespect either of those truths. All I know is that I have found it easier and a help at time to have those court jesters in my life that send me an appropriate video, image, song, poem, game - whatever - that helps me to laugh and smile. I really hope that you have similar people in your life right now that can give you brief light moments in the midst of this sacred-serious-situation.
Love
The Easter story is one that has love weaved through every moment, sometimes obvious and sometimes hidden, and I am in awe of how God is love and each of you is loved by God. There is still pain and struggle, grief and loss, fear and anxiety within our communities and, for some, love & God may feel as distant as family & friends but I pray that in anyway possible (and impossible) Jesus may walk through the walls of peoples homes and lives are help them, love them, hold them, if needed save them and whisper words to their hearts ‘I am here with you. Do not be afraid. I will not let you go. I love you.’
Turn swiftly, with all your heart, to God and be embraced. It is in Christ where community can be found,
where disconnected parts exiled from each other can collide back together both beyond and within time and space.
‘We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
Though we are many, we are one body, because we all share in one bread.’