You have probably heard this tale before, but it makes a good introduction to my theme this week.
Picture this: a major flood – not difficult to envisage following the wet winter that we have had – the waters are rising and there is a man sitting on the roof of his house – he is spotted and a helicopter arrives to rescue him and he say no, I don’t need you, God will save me. The waters continue to rise – another helicopter arrives with the same result – no – God will save me. The waters rise still further, and a boat comes by offering to rescue him. He still says no, God will save him. The boat goes away. The waters rise still further. The man drowns. On passing through the Pearly Gates, the man says to God: why did you not save me? God replies – I sent you two helicopters and a boat – what more did you want?
This very elementary thought indicates that God works through human agency – it is people who can work on behalf of God who can achieve so much. In the present coronavirus crisis we are all so aware of the enormous work done by the staff of our hospitals and especially of the intensive care facilities in those hospitals – and it could be said that God is working through all of these individuals endeavouring to save as many lives as possible. These medical practitioners are called heroes and there is a special time on every Thursday evening when the public is encouraged to thank them using whatever means of making a noise are to hand. As these medics are working under conditions of danger from the very contagious and dangerous virus, I agree that we can justifiably call them heroes.
However, a doctor writing in the week’s Church Times challenges this view, finding it strange that doctors are held up as heroes. She or he acknowledges the sentiment and is very grateful, but she feels guilty – because as she says, she is very well paid, a stable salary with even the local business community providing her with free food. But she then highlights those that are really suffering – children of low paid parents no longer receiving their main meal of a day in school, but in particular, she mentions, amongst others, the parents perhaps struggling to home school in flats or houses that are too small, not knowing whether or not they will have a job to return to when this is all over. She concludes her article by writing that ‘the heroes are those who unceremoniously get on with the unglamorous, day-to-day staying at home with no applause or accolade.’
I have some sympathy with the thoughts expressed by this doctor – everything she argues clearly has substance but is she and are we all misusing the word hero? Traditionally the hero was one who exhibits extraordinary bravery, or someone admired or venerated for their achievements and noble qualities. Using this definition, the doctors, nurses and paramedics are heroes inasmuch as they face a known danger from this virus every time they go to work. But the struggling mother has no option but to stay locked down in their rather small flat or house; their long-suffering current life of discomfort should be acknowledged as victims of the virus maybe, or more correctly victims of a very unequal and divided nation. But many have decided not to be victims; over the past three weeks we have seen many examples of people in tower blocks or other, close knit, communities producing entertainment of one form or another. We have witnessed the opera singing in Italy, the keep fit enthusiasts in this country all inspiring others to lift themselves out of despair.
I would argue that these inspirational people are not heroes but what they are doing is using their God-given talents to the very best of their ability to entertain, to motivate, to encourage others out of what could be a slough of despond.
Those of you who have endured more than one or two of my sermons will be familiar with my mantra that we have all have God-given talents and that it is our duty to identify those talents and then use them to the utmost of our ability. This is what all those working in our hospitals and care homes are doing, but so also are those whose skill happens for example to be driving an HGV – so essential to getting vital supplies to the supermarkets. So, to answer the question posed at the beginning of this reflection God is to be found within us – within the doctor, the nurses, the farmers, the schoolteacher, the dancer, and the musician.
God is to be found in a life which practises the presence of God.
It is also our duty to be compassionate and to try to order society so that there does not have to be this huge disconnect between the haves and the have nots which lies at the heart of the Church Times article by the doctor I quoted above, but I will have to leave the development of that argument for another time because I would like to end with a quote from an unpublished essay written by Marcus Small:
And because we can fathom the mysteries of the Universe, and because we can be compassionate and loving we are provoked to use such knowledge to make this world better for all created things. Maybe God is not so much ‘out there’ as ‘in here’ in our very capacities to know, to care and to love. Maybe God is ‘process’ and not static being.
“Take heed, dear friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts. Trust them as the leadings of God whose Light shows us our darkness and brings us to new life.” (From Quaker Faith & Practice.)
In the end what is important is not what we believe, but how we live, and whether or not we choose to rise above ignorance and indifference, to practice the presence of enquiry, compassion and love, and thereby perhaps be practising the presence of God.
Dr David Greenwood. April 2020
Brislington Community News 