Reflection
‘Where are all the anglers?’ I had wondered earlier in the year.
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Angling was one of the first sports to have restrictions lifted after the great Cov19 shut-down, but the banks of the Thames remained bare. What had I not realised? It was still closed season for coarse fishing!
There was no doubting when Day #1 of the season arrived. The first fisherman back on station was there at first light. Then there were two of them, soon a dozen, finally a whole school of anglers. (If that’s the right collective noun for them.)
In Julian’s parable, which works on two levels, the servant is both
- Jesus, running to meet us
- and: humankind eager to do right then, later in the tale, slipping up
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When the prodigal son came home,
his father saw him coming a long way off,
and ran to meet him.
Luke 15:20
A servant standing respectfully before his lord, ready to do his bidding – the lord looks at him most kindly, with high regard. and quietly sends him on mission to a particular location. The servant doesn’t just go, he runs full tilt in eagerness to get things done his lord’s way.
(Julian of Norwich, ‘A Revelation of Love’ Chapter 51)
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Prayer
God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray. You always give us far more than we ask for.
You give more than we deserve – yet always you leave your door open to us through Jesus. You give us all we need, and charge it all to His account!
Pour down on us the abundance of your healing love.
Amen
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Action
How quickly do we normally walk? Fast pace > warmer muscles, more blood flow to the brain, mood lifted. Plus getting to wherever you were going, sooner. OTOH, if it doesn’t matter much when you arrive, a leisurely pace may aid observation and reflection. Sometimes it is good to speed up, if we can, and get just slightly out of breath. Other times, it can be good to slow right down.
A reflection from Jennifer Brooker ObJN, who has been a frequent visitor of Sarum College. She has a degree in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford and master’s degree in theology awarded by Durham University.
