10th August 2020

I wonder if you happened to see the remarkable footage on The One Show last week which showed young fledglings about to leave their nest in the hollow of a tree.

They sat on the edge of the hole of the tree, I could sense them plucking up courage to try out their wings and fly off into the world beyond, which they eventually did.

It reminded me of one of our favourite meditations which we read each month on the 29th day from the liturgy of the Northumbria Community:

‘Come to the edge,’ He said. They said, ‘We are afraid.’

‘Come to the edge,’ He said. They came.

He pushed them and… they flew.

There are times on our Christian pathway when we know we are being urged by the Holy Spirit to take a step which we feel uncomfortable and a little afraid of doing. That is when we are on the edge, should we venture forth into new opportunities, or will we fail? This could be something very simple such as talking to a stranger, or more difficult, managing to say sorry to someone we have hurt or upset and harder still, to speak of Christ’s love to another. The challenge for all of us is to be a blessing to those who we encounter during our daily lives in whatever way is appropriate.

As we walk this precipitous pathway between risk and freedom which we travel in these changed times, the words from Isaiah 40 can give us the courage we need:

Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Elizabeth Webb