by CCW | 13 December 2017 14:56
Of the reading and marking of papers and exams there is no end, with apologies to Ecclesiastes. For students, too, it may seem that there has been no end to the preparing and writing of exams! But it has, at last, all come to an end.
But what kind of an end? My hope and prayer is that it is also “the beginning of wisdom” for us all. With the end of term we enter into the Christmas Break and while that can be a busy and frantic time, I hope that there will be some quiet times of reflection that are so necessary for the soul and for our life together, for our families and friends. Those quiet times of reflection allow for all of the busyness of the term to take root in us and grow into wisdom and understanding.
“When all things were in quiet silence, then thy Almighty Word leapt down from heaven, from thy royal throne.” It is a beautiful image that speaks to our busy and noisy world as well as to the mystery of Christmas. Taken from The Wisdom of Solomon, the passage has been understood in relation to the idea of the Word made flesh, the Incarnation of God. It is very much about the nature of God’s engagement with our humanity. A leaping down of God’s Word into our hearts and minds.
We live in apocalyptic times. Against the fears and worries of the secular forms of the apocalypse, the sense of the catastrophic ending of all things, there is the power of God’s Word coming to us in the darkness of Advent. It is the counter and the challenge to our fears and worries. How? By awakening us to “the beginning of wisdom” which the religious traditions identify as “the fear of the Lord,” meaning our awareness of the awe and wonder of God. In that idea is found the real worth and dignity of our humanity.
Contrary to the impulses and assumptions of our frantic and distracted world, the real worth and dignity of our humanity is found in contemplation, in a thinking that is not merely instrumental and practical but reflective. It is about our being and not simply our doing. A powerful idea, especially in the awareness of all of the problems about our doings. Sometimes we need to “be still and know that I am God,” as the Psalmist puts it.
The leaping down of thy Almighty Word, to use Wisdom’s image, reminds us that contemplation is not about the busyness of our own thinking but about our thinking upon what comes to us. In the Christian understanding that is the mystery of Christmas. The Babe of Bethlehem is God’s almighty Word and Son in whom we find peace and joy.
Such concepts belong to the world’s religious traditions in their truth and essence. To reclaim those concepts for our hearts and minds is the counter to our fearful uncertainties. Peace and joy to all!
(Rev’d) David Curry
Chaplain, English & ToK teacher
Chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy
Source URL: https://christchurchwindsor.ca/2017/12/13/kes-chapel-reflection-week-of-10-december/
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