During this past year, much of the news we have received is about chaos, violence and struggle.
And … there have been images of quiet city centres and motorways; of people enjoying a spacious walk.
It has been a time of contrasts. A sacred song from the Hebrew bible mirrors those and, along with a poem by D.H. Lawrence, gives us food for thought.
Take some time to read the song of Psalm 46. If you can, read it slowly and repeat it more than once.
It is a Psalm of great contrasts.
“Nations are in uproar,
Kingdoms fall”
“Be still and Know
that I Am God”
For some of us, the main impact of pandemic has been a slowed-down pace of life. For others, it has been marked with intensity and struggle. Perhaps you have known both - in a curious blend of experiences.
If you wish, reflect on this psalm in the light of your own experience this year - of both the “uproar” and the “stillness”.
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The writer D.H. Lawrence is perhaps best known for the ‘uproar’ side of our contrast; for almost savage critiques of the modern world and shocking novels. He was also a lover of nature and a mystic. We leave you with some lines below from his poem, Pax, written when he was dying of tuberculosis. It gives a wonderful picture of stillness in what must have been painful times - the human creature “like a cat asleep on a chair”. You can find it in full here.
(You may like to listen to a version of Elgar’s Nimrod variation while you read it, in its serenity and its passion.)
All that matters is to be at one with the living God
To be a creature in the house of the God of life.
Like a cat asleep on a chair
At peace, in peace [ …]
Feeling the presence of the living God […]
As of the master sitting at the board
In his own and greater being,
In the house of life.
Why not spend some time in quiet and stillness today or this week - allowing yourself “to be a creature in the house of the God of life”.