Monday 8 August 2016

Looking for Home



Evening meditation time in our dining room.



Months since I posted anything. 
 Months during which we didn't
actually make a progress around many churches
to find a new spiritual family,
as we had thought we would during Lent.

We could have made our home at either of the two we did visit,
 but seemed to have settled on the one nearest to us,
 and furthest away 
from the tradition those who thought they knew us
 would have expected. 

 For me the "bells and smells" felt like a coming home at last,
 and the sense of reverence,  and time
 to absorb the healing scripture enfolded in the liturgy
 were just what I yearned for. 
 I am not sure hubby feels quite the same,
though I know he appreciates the depth of it as much as I do,
 and we both love the people.

We have not been able to be as involved as we might like,
 mostly due to my continuing illness,
which began way back at the end of April,
and shows no signs of shoving off just yet. 
 It  began as a heavy chest cold and has progressed from there to breathlessness, temperature, general weakness,
antibiotics, and now, being on my third course of steroids,
 it has definitely outstayed it's welcome. 
 So no church for the last few weeks and odd absences before that. 

 In one way this is no hardship for me,
as I see the day to day presence
 of the indwelling Spirit as the mainstay,
 not a weekly appearance at a building,
but in another there is the need to be gathered
with a family of faith somehow.
  So, I guess what I am saying is
 there is still a sense of homelessness
and I am not sure how it will be resolved. 
 Set against my keen sense of flux in the Churches'
(meaning church universal),
situation in the world
 I find this exciting,
 as all liminal places are.


I am reminded of Jesus saying to Philip,
Have I been so long with you, and (yet) you have not come to know Me, Philip? 

There always seems such a depth of promise, as well as regret in those words don't you think?
  So much more to learn, to know, and to live...

Blessings

P.S.  Lest the photo at the top of the post seems a bit "holy" or out of touch, it really is an example of how spirituality is at the heart or "home" of our lives, as it was taken just as I finished my time of quiet and left the room to watch a live television performance of Mrs Brown's Boys, the humour of which can only be described as "earthy". 
 We need the sublime and the ridiculous for wholeness don't we?