Start-Stop : Head in the clouds, feet in the water

Urizen, from Europe, A Prophecy by William Blake, 1794

Start:Stop at St Stephen Walbrook offers busy commuters in the City of London the chance to start their day by stopping to pray and reflect for ten minutes. This is my reflection for Tuesday 10th March 2020. Good morning and welcome to Start:Stop. Our readings and prayers will last around ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates - please don’t be disturbed if others do the same!

Through Lent we are exploring the creation story in Genesis using the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book “Saying Yes to Life.” Our short reading this morning describes the second day of creation, when God separates the waters to create the sea and sky:-

Bible Reading : Genesis 1.6-1.8

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Reflection 

I the lord of sea and sky

I have heard my people cry

All who dwell in dark and sin

My hand will save.

So begins the hymn “Here I Am, Lord” written by a Jesuit Priest, Dan Schutte, just three days before it was due to be sung at an ordination service; the last minute rush a result of his being struck down with the ‘flu. 'Here I am, Lord' has the unusual accolade of being consistently cited amongst the top ten most loved hymns whilst simultaneously listed amongst the top ten most despised! Same words, same music, at the same time both good and bad.

This is not unlike the way scripture treats water, the subject of today’s bible reading and the theme for this week in the Church of England’s Live Lent campaign. As Ruth Valerio reminds us in Saying Yes to Life (the 2020 Lent Book), ancient texts such as the Baal Cycle, as well as the books of the Old Testament, suggest that from the earliest times water was seen not only as being essential for life, but also as having a shadow side - a source of disorder, danger and chaos (as the thousands of people recently affected by flooding in the UK will attest). Same substance - seen as both good and bad.

In the New Testament, baptism combines both the light and shadow side of water; we are symbolically drowned in the waters of chaos and resurrected to a new life in Christ. In doing so, the sacrament expresses the life of wholeness to which we aspire to live as followers of Jesus.

Recognising that this wholeness is made up of two parts is a useful discipline at all times, but perhaps especially in the season of Lent. Turning away from sin and being faithful to Christ (as we were reminded to do on Ash Wednesday) means we need to be able to recognise what sin is. Just as the hymn 'Here I am, Lord' - or the imagery of water in the bible, can be seen as one substance which is simultaneously both light and shade, John A. Sanford, a priest and psychoanalyst, suggests that it is vital that Christians learn to recognise our shadow-side as part of our journey of discipleship - because we are all a mixture of light and shade. As Jesus said in answer to the rich man "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." To hide from our shadow side and focus only on the 'light', John Sanford explains, is not only to deny reality, but also exposes us to harm: 

"There are few more dangerous people in the world [he writes] than those who set out to do good. This is because in exceeding our natural capacity for goodness, we accumulate darkness in the unconscious.”

For most of us, our shadow side will be dark; a repository for repressed anger and vindictiveness. It is important that we do turn to face this part of ourselves and forget to turn back to the light; this can be catastrophic - as the story of Jekyll and Hyde shows. But neither should we consider that our shadow side is absolutely bad or evil; because it may also contain elements of our personality that we have chosen or been conditioned to repress; what John Sanford calls our 'un-lived' lives, which may only find expression in our dreams or fantasies; 

"We especially need the energies of our unlived lives [he explains] when we reach our middle years, for at that time the energies that we have been using for a long time are beginning to run out.”

So consciously engaging with our shadow side, through prayer, meditation, confession and perhaps through counselling or spiritual direction, can help us to grow - by recognising and acknowledging the existence of our shadow we can better understand the source of all light and turn to it - saying Yes to Life in the fullest sense. 

God separated the waters to create two new domains; the sky and the sea - to care for the whole we need to recognise and seek to understand both. If we keep our head in the bright clouds in the sky, we will never see the shadowy waters below. Growing in wholeness involves such a change in perspective - getting a broader view of the whole of ourselves. This means not only recognising and repenting for the individual transgressions of which we are conscious but also recognising those of our unconscious; such as cultural bias towards difference; a stain with which each of us must be dyed in one way or another. In the case of our environment, Ruth Valerio explains that this broader perspective means not just turning off the tap when we brush our teeth but looking at the impact of our whole life; including the virtual water embedded in the clothes we wear (9,500 litres in one pair of jeans) and in the food we eat (1,000 litres in each quarter-pounder). 

As Christians, this broader perspective extends beyond time, as we look forward to the life to come, when our whole-selves, both light and shade, will be united with God; who created all, and saw that it was good. As the hymn - love it or hate it - reminds us:

I the lord of sea and sky

I have heard my people cry

All who dwell in dark and sin

My hand will save.

A few moments of silence before we pray.

Prayers 

In our prayers, the response to Lord of life is; heal us and make us whole.

Lord of life,

Heal us and make us whole.

Lord, who separated the waters into the sea and skies,

We thank you for the gift of life and the diversity of your creation.

Hold close to you all those whose lives are affected by water poverty and those who suffer as a result of flooding. 

Help us to see the full impact of our lives on the earth - not only through our own conscious transgressions but through unconscious choices we make. 

Lord of life,

Heal us and make us whole.

Creator God,

You made the whole world and saw that it was good,

Through your Spirit may we be renewed daily in our faith - each morning seeing anew your goodness in and around us.

Reach out to all who suffer, including those who feel they are drowning in the anxieties and troubles of life. We pray especially for the work of the Samaritans and all who support the mental and spiritual wellbeing of others. 

Lord of life,

Heal us and make us whole. 

God our Saviour, whose Son Jesus Christ is to us the Water of Life,

Help us, by your grace, to return each day to the wholeness of our baptismal waters;

To remember our promise to reject sin and be faithful to Christ.

May we learn to recognise the shadows in our own lives and use these to help to turn to you, the source of all truth and light. 

Lord of life,

Heal us and make us whole.

Blessing

And may the blessing of God the Creator, 

Christ the Redeemer 

and the Spirit, the Sustainer of all 

be with us, and with all life on earth, 

now and always.

Amen

Thank you for joining us for Start:Stop today. Start:Stop will be here every working day during Holy Week - Monday 6th until Thursday 9th April, join us then if you can as we follow Jesus’s last days on earth through the Gospel of John.

Links

Here I am Lord – Little known story behind great Catholic hit (America Magazine)
BOOK REVIEW - Evil - The Shadow Side of Reality by John A. Sanford
BOOK REVIEW - Falling Upward by Richard Rohr