Wilderness

The Judean wilderness January 2019 - a traditional idea of wilderness?

Wilderness

Wilderness is wide.

Bare rocks are there –

No place to hide,

Exposed to all the elements

From every side.

Wilderness holds fear

Of dangers seen, unseen,

From far and near,

Threatening sounds and shadows

Are everywhere.

Wilderness can bloom,

Creative power is there.

Trees and plants find room,

Signs that life will flourish,

Death be overcome.

Wendy Ross-Barker

It seems like forever ago now but on Monday evenings we hold (held) something called Evening Stillness. A short introduction, then a reflection to help us frame our thoughts, and then around 20 minutes of silence. I love it. Thinking along a Lenten theme, I chose this poem for the 9th March. It has been sitting on my desk ever since and I keep returning to it.

It seems to be such a metaphor for where we are now.

We find ourselves in a strange new world where we are all staying at home. It might feel barren, wide with nowhere to hide. We feel exposed and vulnerable - like being in a desert.
It's a threatening place. One of the things I love to do is Godly Play and there are a number of the stories of God's people that take place in the desert. One of the lines in the stories about the desert is that you don't go there unless you have to. Like self-isolation and social distancing perhaps...

But God sometimes spoke very clearly to God's people when they were in thh desert. Think of Abraham entertaining the strangers in the desert, or the wilderness wanderings of Moses and his gang. So it can also be a place of creativity, and there are many signs that death will be overcome.

 I don't know about you but I have been enormously cheered by some of the silly videos and photos that people have been posting of their antics in isolation or quarantine.

There's this song by Sam Chaplin (apologies for the resulting earmworm)

Or this video of an amazing machine at home.

And then there's the beautiful stuff like this video of a Guildford choir singing wonderful harmonies whilst apart.

My current wilderness

 My wilderness looks a little like this photo at the moment - it's beautiful Spring, with lots of signs of new life in nature. Separated perhaps. But there is creativity and new life around. I hope you can share in some of that, and find peace and joy too.