The anguish of Gethsemane#2...
Here's what I said...
I look around at people that we provide family for, those rejected that we try to bring in from the margins. I don’t know anguish of having my benefits suddenly stopped. I don’t know anguish of filling forms that make no sense. I don’t know anguish of fearing every knock at the door could be social workers coming to section me. What do I know about anguish?
I look at the Old age pensioners collecting pensions from a post office renowned for drug users waiting outside to follow them like encircling vultures. What do I know of the anguish of school children sucked gang culture or the torment nowhere to live but within a car I bought for £10?
What do I know about anguish?
I look at Christ and how can I get close to understanding? What do I know of being rejected by family, let down by friends? How can I identify with being asked to do something that represents the last thing on earth I would want to do - but know that there is no other way?
But - I do know anguish. I discovered anguish when I became a parent; I discovered anguish when they told us to consider terminating our first born because of suspected a chromosome disorder;I discovered anguish when that first baby - born without a chromosone disorder - had to have a 5 hour operation before she was a day old; I discovered anguish when asking our children to do something that causes them distress, seeing fear in their eyes while in the dentist's chair. I know the multiplied anguish of seeing your child in the pain of their own anguish – and having to sit back and let distress run its own journey. Seeing the pain – and having everything inside scream 'let me do it'.
Can you see The Father’s anguish...?
What anguish do you see, feel, identify with? What anguish are you going to take away to make sense of the final anguish?"
What do I know about anguish?
"What do I know about anguish?I look around at people that we provide family for, those rejected that we try to bring in from the margins. I don’t know anguish of having my benefits suddenly stopped. I don’t know anguish of filling forms that make no sense. I don’t know anguish of fearing every knock at the door could be social workers coming to section me. What do I know about anguish?
I look at the Old age pensioners collecting pensions from a post office renowned for drug users waiting outside to follow them like encircling vultures. What do I know of the anguish of school children sucked gang culture or the torment nowhere to live but within a car I bought for £10?
What would I know about the anguish of being a capable married woman officer not valued for who she is as an individual.
What do I know of the anguish of being in a foreign country trying get enough money to live on, pay my fees and send home to my children that I haven't seen for 18 months? What do I know of the anguish of being non-white and never knowing what kind of response I will get from strangers? What would I know about the anguish of being a capable married woman officer not valued for who she is as an individual. I don’t have to live with the fear of being outsourced or to choose between who’s to be made redundant and whose not.What do I know about anguish?
I look at Christ and how can I get close to understanding? What do I know of being rejected by family, let down by friends? How can I identify with being asked to do something that represents the last thing on earth I would want to do - but know that there is no other way?
Maybe we discover anguish in those lost moments of intimacy because you couldn’t keep your eyes open
Maybe Christ's isn't the only Gethsemane anguish? Maybe it’s possible to see our own anguish. Maybe the story takes on a deeper meaning as we identify our own betrayal of Jesus. Maybe the story takes on a deeper meaning as we identify actions in our life that represent the kiss, that represent us not keeping with Jesus in the simplest of tasks. Maybe we discover anguish in those lost moments of intimacy because you couldn’t keep your eyes open, lost focus of Jesus and became pre-occupied with yourself and your own ideas.I discovered anguish when asking our children to do something that causes them distress, seeing fear in their eyes while in the dentist's chair.
But - I do know anguish. I discovered anguish when I became a parent; I discovered anguish when they told us to consider terminating our first born because of suspected a chromosome disorder;I discovered anguish when that first baby - born without a chromosone disorder - had to have a 5 hour operation before she was a day old; I discovered anguish when asking our children to do something that causes them distress, seeing fear in their eyes while in the dentist's chair. I know the multiplied anguish of seeing your child in the pain of their own anguish – and having to sit back and let distress run its own journey. Seeing the pain – and having everything inside scream 'let me do it'.
Can you see The Father’s anguish...?
What anguish do you see, feel, identify with? What anguish are you going to take away to make sense of the final anguish?"
Comments