These months of 2020 have brought about many unexpected and some unwelcomed changes in our lives such as; the way we work, the way we celebrate, the way we grieve, the way we begin and end relationships, the way we experience home life and school, the way we worship, the way we view the world, even the way we have come to see ourselves.
As we live with change we find ourselves in the middle of transition. Times of transition call us to the inner process of letting go of certainty and entering into the unknown. Walter Bruggeman speaks of three stages:
Orientation-everything makes sense
Disorientation-doesn’t make sense
Reorientation-God lifts us to a new place
There are a range of feelings that accompany this in between time of disorientation. Feelings such as fear, loss, loneliness, anxiety, desolation, grief, betrayal, anger and beginning feelings of delight, creativity and newness. It is like being in mid air. It may feel chaotic. We are not where we were, life is unfamiliar and may not make sense. We are not where we will be and cannot yet imagine our future way of life.
You might ask yourself:
What are the changes most felt in my life at this particular time?
With whom can I entrust my experience?
What are the range of feelings I am experiencing?
With whom can I share my feelings and be accepted and not judged?
As we wait together to be lifted to a new place, we are called to cultivate a tender heart, holding compassion for ourselves and for those with whom we share life. We are invited to listen deeply to our inner life and to one another, supporting the mixed and many expressions of feelings. In the words of Henry James, “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”
Let us bless one another:
To all that is chaotic in you,
let there come silence.
Let there be a calming of the clamoring,
a stilling of the voices
that have laid their claim on you,
that have made their home in you,
that go with you even to the holy places
but will not let you rest,
will not let you hear your life
with wholeness
or feel the grace
that fashioned you.
Let what distracts you cease.
Let what divides you cease.
Let there come an end
to what diminishes
and demeans,
and let depart
all that keeps you in its cage.
Let there be an opening into the quiet
that lies beneath the chaos,
where you find the peace
you did not think possible
and see what shimmers within the storm.
“Blessing in Chaos” from
Richardson, Jan. The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief. Wanton Gospeller Press. Kindle Edition.