I have really struggled to respond to the Covid19 Pandemic in a constructive way because it has carried on for so long, and so my old strategies for coping, like waiting till it passes, have not been very successful. Also there has been the "second" and "third" waves that seemed to emerge just as it seemed that some things could get back to "normal"! It feels like one setback after another, and so it became difficult to "hope" that we could indeed live beyond Covid19.
However lately upon reflection I have begun to realize that perhaps the basic premise upon which I have based my hope, i.e. the return to some form of "normal" in any of the spheres of life, is what has kept me from being able to discern the invitation in the Pandemic. (please note that I am not suggesting for a moment that 'God sent the Pandemic to teach us some lessons')
I have read the many clergy coaching sites that have suggested the various changes that the Church is being invited to in the pandemic and though I agree with most of these, and especially the point that we should never again go back to believing that what happens on a Sunday, and in the Church building, is the most important indicator of "Church health" as opposed to what happens during the week in our places of work and play and where we exercise our choices and decisions and our vote, yet still I think that we as the Church are missing the main point of invitation in all of this. And certainly for us as the Church the foundational learning upon which all else is based. And this point is not new, in fact it emerges from the ancient contemplative tradition, and has been beautifully articulated for us, and with such clarity by among others, Henri Nouwen when he suggests that it is an invitation for us to rediscover 'Solitude' as a foundational spiritual discipline that sets us on a path to able to hear the invitation to transformation in a clear new way, this among all the other voices that clamour for our attention in the chaos. So I share this quote again in the hope that it will strike some chords for some of us.
"Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain the victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Jesus himself entered into this furnace. There He was tempted with the three compulsions of the world: to be relevant ("turn stones into loaves"), to be spectacular ("throw yourself down"), and and to be powerful ("I will give you all these Kingdoms"). There He affirmed God as the only source of His identity. ("You must worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone.") Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great encounter - the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the living God who offers Himself as the substance of the new self ....... Solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather it is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new is born, the place where the emergence of the new man and woman occurs."
Perhaps, this Pandemic contains the invitation to the Church to return to this basic discipline, to Solitude and Silence and Prayer, so that we can find our voice, our heart, in the midst of all the chaos, and to begin to live from that place again. And as this is the very purpose of this site's existence, and we have been strangely silent during this time of Pandemic, I would offer you the details for contact if you would like to do something about responding.
We are beginning to plan for certain activities again, but probably in a new format, together with some retreats and quiet periods for those who can't get away for extended period of retreat.
If you would like to know more, or would like to share what works for you, then please get in touch.
David Newton - newtond@telkomsa.net or revdavenewton@gmail.com
0725855241 (c)
