LOCAL NEWS
46
JUNE 2023
SPIRITUAL WELLBEING
Rev Paul Strudwick
After more than 150 recorded services for online worship, with sermons from various places around Menorca, only a couple of locations have been repeated. The island almost always manages to look photogenic!
RESURRECTION, RENEWAL AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LETTING GO Welcome back, Roqueta. It seems appropriate that I heard the news that you were to arise again during the season of Easter, an extended time of pondering what resurrection means. The last words that I wrote for Roqueta, a year ago, were: ‘… by letting go of what needs to die, by focusing on the deeper and enduring needs of our world, by thinking of the longer term rather than instant gratification, and by seeking the common good rather than our own selfcentred desires, we can in fact defy the darkness and open cracks through which the light may shine.’ ‘Cracks through which the light may shine,’ was an allusion to one of Leonard Cohen’s songs, Anthem: ‘There is a crack, a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in,’ suggesting that our imperfections and vulnerability present opportunities for something greater than ourselves to be revealed. But the culture in which we live tries to deny imperfection and is largely dismissive of vulnerability. As a result, we create an environment in which it is fashionable to feign infallibility through bluster and deception, creating facades that inevitably collapse in the face of reality when we live in a world in which it is very difficult to keep secrets. On Easter Sunday this year, in the context of resurrection, I found myself unwittingly returning to the theme of letting things go to speak (partly) about seeds, germination, and new life that can only spring forth when something is allowed to die. At one point, just before things started to spiral downhill for Jesus, he reminded his disciples that, ‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ Seeds respirate ever so slightly if they are alive. A dead seed cannot germinate and grow. Jesus knew this. He knew about agriculture like everyone else in his community, simply because in first century Palestine people lived in closer proximity to the agriculture that provided them with sustenance. Jesus was also a master of metaphor and parables, so an idea that sticks out to us as odd is often the doorway into deeper understanding.
What is it about a seed that dies for it to bear fruit? What is a seed? Basically, it is living potential. And so, to bear fruit, the seed must cease to be a seed. It must spend the energy reserves it has been saving, give up all its protective coatings, and become an incredibly vulnerable sprout. Of course, seeds are designed for security. Their respiration is so slow that they can protect life in incredibly adverse conditions, sometimes for many years. But there’s a twist in this: many seeds never germinate because the life within cannot overcome the protective coating. If we love being a seed, if our lives are about comfort, security and protecting what has been given to us, then we will miss the opportunity to germinate. What God plans to do in us and through us often goes a lot further than our own goals and dreams. Which means that we need to be open for discernment and willing to be changed. Those of us who choose to try to follow a Christian life find ourselves challenged to give all that we are or might be, to use the gifts of ourselves, our time, our resources, our very life to a purpose greater than ourselves or our immediate family circle; to release tribal instincts, so prevalent in modern society, and seek the common good. The seed that cannot germinate because its protective shell is too hard fails to fulfil its God-given potential. That goes for us too. We are not good at softening our protective shells and embracing vulnerability and openness, nor at letting go, at letting something die so that new life can arise. Let’s face it, vulnerability is disdained as weakness in the world around us, which is both sad and unrealistic, because as flawed, fallible human beings, acknowledging our imperfections in vulnerability gives us opportunities to grow. There’s a song by Mumford and Sons, called ‘Roll Away My Stone,’ that seems to be pertinent to all of this. The lyrics include these words:
Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine; And together we can see what we will find. Don’t leave me alone at this time. For I am afraid of what I will discover inside …
D O N ’ T M I S S A N E D I T I O N , S U B S C R I B E T O D AY ! V I S I T: R O Q U E TA M A G A Z I N E . N E T
