Hardest Day of the Year
Today is beautiful, after endless days of clouds and rain, clear, sunny, not quite so hot, yes, the pollen is flying about, but all in all, not such a bad day.
And yet, the hardest day of the year, the church year.
Our Gospel reading for today, from The Lectionary:
John 13:36-38
36 Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterwards.’ 37Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ 38Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.
In my walk as a Christian, I am struck at how often his disciples, those who walked with Jesus, lived with Jesus, believed in Jesus and served Jesus with all their hearts – how often they misunderstood Jesus. He often had to correct their idea of what he was trying to tell them about life, about the kingdom of heaven. Peter, one of his earliest disciples, one who loves Jesus utterly, is about to deny his Lord and Master three times.
On Good Friday, we are all Peter.
Misery
There is no dignity in going around with red-rimmed, weepy eyes, tissue in hand to wipe my running nose, sneezing. It is pure misery, but I am not sick, there are things I need to do. Whatever is in the air is making me miserable.
Maple, Oak and Cedar/Juniper . . . I am surrounded by oak trees . . .
Le Carre’ and Mission Song
I really liked Mission Song; I liked it so much that I kept reading it even when I needed to be doing other things. Vintage LeCarre’ was all grim and grey, large bureaucracies countering the evil Russian Empire. One of his points was that if we aren’t careful what tactics and strategies we use, we become the very evil we are fighting.
More recent LeCarre’ – The Mission Song, The Constant Gardener, The Tailor of Panama . . . continues to follow the bureaucracy of spying, and the machinations of world power. Who will control the resources? Who can we put in power? He has captured that it is no longer only national powers, but also international corporations which may be the players in the international game of thrones.
The Mission Song has a lovable main character, son of a priest to the Congo and an African woman, raised in the mission, speaking many languages and dialects, picked up as a child in contact with shifting groups and nationalities. When we meet him, he is married – badly – to a rich and powerful English woman, and working as a translator. Suddenly, his life takes a big turn, he is whisked off on a week-end mission, and life never returns to ‘normal’ again.
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