I've a double offering this time round, to make up for the absence of anything last week: the first A Modern Mrs Darcy features as guest writer on Adam McHugh's Introverted Church with her Christmas snapshot My second blogger, Franciscan Ted Witham tells us about living with chronic pain. No extracts here; I'll leave you to read their reflections for yourself.
Why did I choose these particular blogs? Well, I guess you could say they chose me, tying in as they do with this strand of prayer I wrote about at the beginning of Advent which has come about from my experiences on retreat. More recently, I've blogged about a sense of 'spiritual discombobulation', even rather facetiously spoken about feeling out of sync with the whole thing. Which last isn't strictly true when I pause to look at it.
What's been going on can be better described in terms of an artist choosing colours. Last Advent for me was a swirl of gold, rich jewel-like shades, strong, set against a deep, dark yet ultimately rich darkness. "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it." This year the colours are far more thinly spread, there, but often only faintly etched against an altogether more stark, chill shade of blackness. The darkness is more fragile, brittle. It seems to chime in with a growing awareness of the world's pain: of a never-ending procession of hurting folk that I keep encountering. So many people who are ill or who've lost loved ones at this time of year. In amongst my tertiary circle alone for instance, or in church - we've had several sudden, unexpected deaths, and a number of folk who've lost parents in the last couple of days or weeks.
So to our bloggers - waiting, hoping and, aware of the impermanance yet preciousness of this world. Pointing to what it's ultimately all about; a stark contrast to the ever-increasing razmatazz comercially as the world careers its way towards the final countdown to Christmas. Thank you for helping clarify matters for me.
