Locally there is fear and uncertainty as economic pressure squeezes at our own frail emotions and physically, mentally and spiritually we are stretched almost to breaking point.
Sometimes when faced with a crisis our immediate default response is to ask two impossible questions: ‘Why?’ and ‘when?’ This will often only cause the crisis to deepen as the questions do not have an obvious answer. We don’t know why this tragedy has struck us and we have no idea when the pain will end.
There are two difficult questions that can be asked that might cause us to wrestle our way forward to an answer and they are, ‘How?’ and ‘what?’ The crisis is very real; but how do I react in the midst of this struggle? I do not understand much of the mess that is dragging me down; but as I examine and re-evaluate where I am right now, what avenues and options are open to me? These are hard but potentially constructive questions that can provide hope.
I wonder how the carpenter Joseph managed when faced with the crisis that Mary dropped on him many years ago? She announces that she is going to have a baby and that Joseph, her fiancé, is not the father; indeed, she is still a virgin. ‘So, who is the father?’ ‘Well, funny you should ask. It’s God actually.’
We read that Joseph was a righteous man and in the midst of this rather unique crisis he could have made things very unpleasant for Mary. How he reacted was vital and I am sure that he took a lot of deep breaths and counted to ten several times before he was able to come up with an answer to what he needed to do.
Perhaps it was in the slowing down and taking time to ask the how and what questions, that Joseph found an answer beyond himself? He had decided to ‘dismiss her quietly’; much the kindest option in those days. Could it be that in Joseph’s human offering of grace, he found himself in a place where he was open to hearing from God and finding a grace option far beyond his ability to offer?
‘Her husband Joseph, being as righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’ Matthew 1:19,20
Sometimes in the midst of crisis we are brought low, to a place that has stripped away our defences. If we put aside the why and when questions, that are often unanswerable, and focus for a time on the how and what; then maybe the place of defeat, great pain, hopelessness and helplessness can become a sacred place where the Spirit of God might meet with us?
Blessings - John
