Coracle news
Lent reflections: Movements and moments of the soul
Posted Thursday 03 March 2011
Meteor Kiel, 1902, Hans Breuer
Turning our sails towards grace
Lent may be regarded as a sacrament, a means of grace. It’s a period where we may be especially attentive to movements and moments of the soul. We walk with Jesus as he accompanies his disciples through a maze of intrigue and wonder, into the deepest of dark tunnels and emergence into a bright and glorious new landscape. Jesus carefully and responsibly introduces his followers to the journey of faith and action. His journey is typical, archetypal and the experience of it must become theirs - personal participation in their own journey of the soul. And so it is with us. We watch and listen to the Gospel accounts and to our own hearts, turning them towards the grace that is offered us.
Movements of the soul
There are moments when our heads are turned and our pulses race. Something is happening or about to happen - ‘the soul has slipped forth’. There are also movements, mapped out on a grander scale, stretched out over a longer period where our soul is in transition. Walter Bruggemann describes a journey in terms of orientation/disorientation/new orientation: seasons of satisfied wellbeing, of anguished dismantling, then of joy. Sue Monk Kidd describes the passage of stillness into darkness and out into emergence. Others talk of the false self and the true self, ‘to die and so to grow’. Jesus knows what it is to be truly human, to be free and to be authentic and is intent in getting us there as he was with his disciples. There is somewhere to go and it has to be God who takes us there.
Different voices and readings from John
There will be different voices, different contributions through Lent. Some will directly emerge from the gospel readings - we will journey with Jesus and his disciples through the book of John. Other voices will result from reflection on circumstance and musing during the period of Lent. If you wish to read through John as a family say there will be the thread of readings from John throughout. Follow the reflections on the Home page or the E-Reflections tab. To get daily email alerts go to the Contact Us section and request to be added to the emailing list.
