The one time famous Methodist preacher, W E Sangster, once advised someone who was struggling with ill health, family problems and money worries, to “take time to enjoy the Sabbath moments of the soul.” Now I have to be honest, if I was crumbling under the weight of so many difficulties, I’m not sure I’d even recognise “a Sabbath moment of the soul”!
But Sangster was a wise pastor, a man who experienced fragile health himself, and wrote some of his books to supplement a very low stipend. He knew the depths of depression and the long climb upwards. So his advice is worth hearing. Ever since I read that advice in the biography written by his son, I’ve tried to do what this experienced spiritual guide advised.
Last Tuesday I stood at my study window watching five geese in line, heading for Loch Skene. For the first time ever, I noticed they took turns gliding for a few wing beats, pulled along by the others. Like a well-oiled machine, they each took a few moments respite, then resumed the hard work. They were out of sight in thirty seconds, but my inner grin lasted longer!
The Sabbath moments of the soul are those brief glimpses we all have of unexpected wonder, unlooked for surprise, being ambushed by beauty. “Consider the lilies…” “Look at the birds of the air…” “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills…” Sangster taught me to look for joy, to pay attention to what’s going on, to hold life carefully as the precious gift it is, to notice when God is nudging us awake to blessing.
Even when life turns darker, and we know the deeper valleys where the sun is hard to see behind looming horizons, God is there, and blessing is to be found. Not the answers to all that we need or want; and not easy ways out of hard places. But those small signals of hope, those touches of goodness and unlooked for moments when kindness, comfort or laughter come as gifts.
The life of faith isn’t a life immune to the hard knocks of life. We all bear the consequences of our humanity. We experience suffering and illness in ourselves and those we love, and there are bereavements and losses. We have times of mental ill-health, or difficult work or family circumstances. And then, this past year and more, we have lived with the grinding realities of a pandemic. Covid 19 has so disrupted our lives with restrictions, losses and anxieties, that it has been hard at times to keep going, stay hopeful and do much more than pass time, till life gets better.
Recovery from the pandemic will take a long time, and will mean large scale investments of energy, money, skills, new knowledge and commitment to the common good. But at the individual level, as we live through these next months, take time to enjoy the Sabbath moments of the soul. Live in the moment God gives you. And perhaps like the five geese, we will enable each other to take a rest and be carried for a while. Look for joy, pay attention to what’s going on, hold life carefully as the precious gift it is, notice when God is nudging you awake to blessing.
Who knows what church will look like in another year, and where we will have reached on our shared journey? But in our travelling together, be sure of this. God is with us. And in the thick mixture of our lives, if we look daringly and trustfully, there are clues to God’s presence. Often those clues will come in the unexpected moment, as for example, when five geese fly past, heading home. Let us learn together to live gratefully, and enjoy the Sabbath moments of the soul.
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