Coracle Trust E-Reflections
Pursued by symbols
Tuesday 8 June 2010
He called a little child and had him stand among them.
And he said: ‘I tell you the truth,
unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’
Music: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106: I. Sonatina in E flat major
Image: Son of God (baptism)
Symbols as carriers for faith
For young children Bible stories, of symbols, family rituals and faith practices help create images that powerfully carry and instruct faith. These images and symbols resemble oceans having both shallows for the young to wade in and great depths to sink deeply into. We then question these forms only later to return to them, no longer dismissing them as merely childish. The gentle impulse to explore more sensual prayer practices such as meditating on icons and imaginatively contemplating the gospel stories may emerge, and can now be freely embraced as a liberating experience.*
As we grow through life it is entirely appropriate to expect to find that both what we believe and how we pray will also grow and develop along the way. David Runcorn.
Critical images of God
We learn that the images of God that are painted in us at infancy are critical and seminal. Each are formative, the good and true. Gaps or abuses too are carried forward and may then reappear in later life for healing and restoration. The infant’s exploration and felt experiences of the questions ‘What’s God like?’ and ‘How does God work?’ in the world and in my life are often both very pragmatic and mystical. Maybe we still ask those same questions? Faith that analyses cause and effect, manoeuvres through contracts and promises can give way to the re-emergence of story and image and a knowing surrender.
* Midlife-directions - Playing and praying, sources of new dynamism, Anne Brennan, Janice Brewi
