Coracle Trust E-Reflections
Holy Week: Is God there? Is faith real?
Saturday 23 April 2011
no soul is rested Til it is emptied of all things That are made. When, for love of Him, It is empty, The soul can receive His deep rest. For he is our very rest, Julian of Norwich prayer's dynamic action, that scoops out channels like water on stone. For the asking, Denise Levertov
Mise au tombeau Auch 4, Vissel
Question: Is God there? Is faith real?
Again Jesus reaches out his pierced hand to draw us across yet another frontier, across absence, darkness and silence. A frightening trio of words. Ones that we run from perhaps. We may react by drawing our hands up to cover our faces, warding them off. Yet these three words hover just under the surface as scarcely acknowledged misgivings. They take us directly to our difficulties with impotence and omnipotence, lostness and emptiness. My mind turns to a book I read decades ago, 'God is There and He is not Silent'. I ponder the title. I say 'Yes' to it but find its inverse resonates more. This seems more beguiling and pertinent: God is not there, God is silent. It clearly matches Jesus's followers' experience on this day - left, bereft in silence, enveloped by darkness. I'm sure this matches our own experiences on specific occasions and in various seasons of our lives.
Hollowed out, emptied
Jesus lies dead and forlorn, lifeless and inert – in my private world, in our neighbourhood? Unless a seed falls and dies in darkness there can be no life, an essential experience, one to value, even welcome. As Jesus emptied himself so are we hollowed out – stretched, opened up, made ready. Andrew Hook
