Dear members of St Catherine’s in Stuttgart and in the diaspora
As the working / school year resumes –
if I haven’t already seen you this year – may I wish you every blessing in this year –
in the expected places and in the surprises also.
‘Bear one another’s burdens’ galatians 6.2
Here is a new word – Anure
Anure – ‘to accustom, to accept something undesirable’ ; ‘hardened by frequent exposure, especially to something bad’ ; ‘to accustom to hardship, difficulty, pain ; to toughen or harden, habituate’
Imagine the Women of Afghanistan, the Hungry in Yemen, the Fearful in parts of Asia, the Tortured and Imprisoned in Iran and Russia, the Enslaved workers in Quatar…..
And although there is no public platform appropriate for me to do that – I shall continue to rage in the name of both my humanity and my faith. I shall rage in my soul and my heart and my mind and my prayers. I will never accept that any person made in the image of God regardless of any qualifiers should be reduced and live reduced lives in these ways.
Imagine that if we could bear to recall, bear to remember, bear to retain, bear to think and feel what it might be like; if we could bear to live with a little more unfettered ‘sympathetic imagination’, well consider how different the world could be.
Our Scriptures are full of words like recall and remember and hold/retain (usually on behalf of future generations)
So you will perhaps have given time to saying a farewell of sorts to 2022
Farewell to a pandemic which unleashed horrors across our globe
Farewell to particulars that are personal to you and those close to you
You may perhaps have given time and also prayer to what this new year might bring
And it is exactly these reflections that led me to the Opening Verse because in Kingdom living when I serve someone else I am best served, when I bless someone else I too am blessed.
May that be true as we each of us lift our eyes and our ears and our faces –
to see and hear and notice
the needs of others and to offer what we can, do what we can, be what we can
and allow the God of our Holy Scriptures to do the rest.
New Year Blessings
to you and those you hold in your hearts and in your prayers
Kara
