Divine Embrace

This piece has now been filmed by the Church of England Birmingham and can be found on YouTube here

Have you ever had that lonely feeling?

Like you don’t fit in,

Like everyone around you gets it, but you just … don’t.

Like they’ve got something you haven’t,

Like they are something you’re not.

That feeling when you’re on the outside looking in.

Like walking out of a shop with nothing but a bag of shame because your card got declined, again.

Like standing alone in a room full of familiar faces, but no one really knows you, perhaps no one really cares.

Like when marriage feels like a battle ground and all around are in wedded bliss.

Like when your country was destroyed by war, and home is all the things you miss.

Like the single life that gets you down, because sometimes you just need a hand to hold.

Like the secret habit that makes you feel ashamed but try as you might you just can’t kick it.

Like walking through an anti-natal waiting room when you’ve just been told “I’m so sorry but I’m afraid we can’t find a heartbeat”.

That deep ache of separation, of disconnection, of isolation.

Of feeling lost,

You just don’t fit,

You don’t belong,

You’re a failure,

You’re just not … enough.

Those moments when you find yourself shouting into celestial silence

Are you there? do you care? Are you listening? Am I forgotten?

Please don’t forget me…

We all have our own shadows, our own pain, our own lonely,

But sometimes in those moments God turns up unexpectedly.

One of those moments came for me, in a little girl, a member of my family.

On a difficult day, at the end of a difficult week,

My head full of my own private pain, dark and grey.

She walked in and immediately caught my eye.

She beamed her beautiful smile and her 8 years old legs began running as fast as they could towards me.

I opened my arms wide and as she bounced into them,

and as I span around and around and around,

I was struck again by just how much I love her.

Her mere existence in the world, her mere presence in my life brings me joy.

No matter what she does or doesn’t do she is immensely valuable to me just because she is.

And in that moment we were not 2 but 3,

A moment of divine embrace,

that helped me see myself differently.

If I could love her that much, then how much more must our creator love her, love me!

This vast, wide and deep love extends to all humanity,

A love that created us for each other that we might not be isolated or lonely.

And yet so often, time and time again,

Separation rears its ugly head.

But that was never the way it was meant to be

Not them and us – just ‘We’

So part of what it means to really follow Christ,

Is to live a life of radical inclusion

that helps our fractured humanity reunite.

Easier said than done, you might say.

And you’d be right,

And what does it look like anyway?

I wonder if the place to begin,

Is to start by asking,

How much can I risk today?

How much courage can I muster up?  to extend a hand, a smile, even just a look.

How awkward am I willing to feel?  to make a connection, something real.

To offer an honest inquiring question and create space for meaningful conversation.

Can I listen, not to fix or to respond, but to really try and understand?

Can I cultivate a state of mind that sees others generously?

Can I befriend someone who is not like me?

Can I love without us needing to agree?

Can I love without needing to be right?

Can I share my own pain, if only a little?

If we did, imagine what we might ignite.

Because there is a sacred power in human connection.

A fullness of life found with one another.

Those moments of real human to human encounter, God inhabits and weaves us together.

In those moments we find ourselves in Divine Embrace.

This was written as a spoken word piece, for the Good Friday event – 12 Hours, at Gas St Church. It is a reflection on the theme of Reunion, inspired by Jesus final words on the cross,  “Father into your hands i commit my spirit” (Luke 23: 46) which is known as the ‘word of reunion’, the reuniting of father and son. 

In writing it i was trying to bring together the imagery of physical embrace, with reflections on loneliness, human connection and the part we all play in reuniting our increasingly disconnected society. As well as exploring something of sacred nature of human connection and God’s presence within our deep encounters with one another. 

Photo from pixabay