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Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.

Good morning.
When the world spins crazy and the weight of existence all but overwhelms, it can be hard to know where to turn for solace.
All through my life, I have come across the writings of individual people who have been a source of light and encouragement when I have felt overwhelmed. Very often, their views have been at odds with the prevailing mood of the times.

I think of Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose song, the Magnificat, speaks of the toppling of tyrants and raising up the downtrodden. Hildegard of Bingen, whose spiritual awareness spoke of an inner light, a mystical reality seen with the heart more than the eye. Julian of Norwich, whose life long reflection led her to affirm that the Lord’s meaning is love. And Maya Angelou, who carried the marks of life upon her beautiful face, a victim of abuse and racism but she wrote ‘And still, I rise’. When I think about these inspirational people, so many are women. Carrying a vision of an alternative to the world we inhabit, full of small men with oversized ambition.

And then I think of Jesus who renounced power and status as he wrestled in these 40 days in the desert that people who follow him mark during Lent. He embodies what the world has always desperately needed: gentle nurturing, values that run counter to ego and hubris, the power of powerlessness.

Great Love, we live under the weight of a world daily made more dangerous by the excess of power and ego. As people of the Spirit, we seek the courage to stand for those alternative values embodied by so many women, gentleness as the answer to anger, healing as the answer to hurt and an openness to the light of the Spirit that always burns in defiance of the dark. Amen.