| A few thoughts
Cacophony. That was the word that Brigit Plass used to describe this last week in the Plass’s now weekly podcast. I thought she nailed it with that word. “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” I hadn’t really ‘noticed’ the underlying unease I have been feeling, but in speaking that one word I thought ‘yes, that’s it!’ It is as if the volume control has been turned up several notches, and there seems to be a lot of ‘clanging cymbals’ around. Perhaps the sudden explosion of many shouty voices all attempting to be heard above the cacophony is a natural response to the whiff of freedom? What is most disturbing is that it seems to be playing out on the world stage as well national at a time when we still have a global pandemic to deal with.
For us? I am reminded of Jesus in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, of the anxiety of hardened fishermen in the face of the storm, of their shaking awake of Jesus and words of fear yelled into the darkness, and of another word. “Quiet, be still!” The reading then says ‘then the wind died down and it was completely calm.’ In these tumultuous times it is hard for us to not be overly anxious, and indeed not to become part of the problem by raising the noise levels. But what is our calling in these stormy days? A couple of things come to mind – firstly, to seek for that place of peace within ourselves, to hear Jesus speaking over us and within us “Quiet, be still!” And secondly, maybe to seek to join him in speaking that word of stillness, of peace, to a world that is in uproar. Please see below a beautiful lyric from Paul Field that speaks to this.
Colin
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