Perspective

One of the temptations when you're in pain is to focus on it. Well, to be honest, it's a natural reaction. Our dog Jess, when she gets a stone or a thorn lodged in her foot, lies there licking it like mad. What's interesting about humans is that not only do we do that, but when things are all roses in the garden we're also tempted to become self-absorbed.

A good feature of New Wine this year were the opportunities to change our perspectives. Bishop Zac was particularly effective in achieving this. He identified four idols in 1st World faith: religion, security, sacralization (making sacred) of youth, and "me". He wasn't censorious about it; he was just describing ourselves from a 3rd World perspective. It certainly made me sit up! Then there was Baroness Cox talking about places like Burma and North Korea, Major General Porter talking about faith in the armed forces, Vincent Munyosi on church-planting in Uganda. One began to see the church in a world-wide perspective.

I love George Herbert's poetry. "The Elixir" from which there are quotations at the top of this blog is perhaps his best-known poem as it is often sung as a hymn (worship song). It is about practising the presence of God, seeing God in all things, even the most menial tasks and, I'd add, the most painful and restricted situations. The person who looks at a window ("looks on glass", which wasn't as clear as today), he says, has a choice, either to look at its surface ("on it may stay his eye") or to look through it and see the sky, or heaven ("the heaven espy"). We can choose to lick our wounds in our own confined safe world or to take the risk of looking up and seeing God's beauty. It's not that God isn't with us. He is. It's more an invitation to raise our eyes and recognise him there - and that means looking through the material to the real. Easier said than done, I know, and I guess Herbert did too as he prayed for a fresh pouring out of the Spirit in "Whitsunday":
Lord, though we change, thou art the same;
The same sweet God of love and light:
Restore this day, for thy great name,
Unto his ancient and miraculous right. 
Good call!