I suppose that one of the most intriguing paradoxes of our time is the sense of self, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. We definitely live in a time of seeking to achieve and fulfil ourselves, to deepen our sense of our identity, achieve our ambitions and to live full and meaningful lives.
Yet this set of ambitions would define reality largely in terms of how we perceive it. The more we expect to define ourselves, then the more aspects such as race, background, education, occupation, hobbies and interests serve more to lock us into ourselves, but do not to liberate us. If we are to be the judge of all that is right for ourselves then our worlds become narrow and cramped. If the only reality is ours, then it is a profoundly lonely, even isolated, reality.
Yet a full education is about becoming aware of the world about us. Language enables us to speak and to listen; maths enables us to deal with all numerical aspects of life – money, time, distance, and all those things that can be counted or measured. Geography gives us a sense of place and history a sense of background. All of these take us out of ourselves and enable us to interact with our families, friends, neighbours, colleagues and society as a whole. It brings us close to strangers, and even opponents and rivals with whom we still have to communicate.
Now reality is being defined by factors that are external to ourselves, and over which we have no control. To demand that kind of control is again to confine ourselves to our own perspectives and to never venture beyond them.
Yet the ultimate reality for each of us is death, and it as we reflect on this that new agendas present themselves. Not just ‘What is death?’ but ‘What does it mean – and how does it affect the meaning of life?’ We begin to ask whether this life is all that there is and whether it is a purely biological function or whether there is more to it than that? If this is so then society is also much more than an occasional organisation of life forms. It too is invested with questions about values and culture.
Ultimately it brings us to questions of faith. Not only where does life come from, but where is it going to, and what does it all mean anyway? Now the questions are spiritual and they probe the provinces of deity in general and of God in particular. And then the universe answers back. There really is a direction and a purpose. Personality really does have a depth and a dimension beyond death. And again God speaks – to all who will listen without imposing their own agendas on the conversation. And that conversation is definitely real, pointing us to the scriptures and the generations of people who have also believed in God. They too have come to faith and they form a community of faith, and worship and fellowship. It extends back to the resurrection of Jesus, to the Psalms and the Patriarchs.
And yes, they are centred on and they define themselves by Jesus Christ. None other. His person, His life and death. His teaching and accomplishments. His atonement and His desire to forgive and to release. Now faith becomes more formed and more active. It is more engaged and inquiring. Far from being encased in a silo of self-definition, it reaches out to the One who knows us better than any other and who loves us with an extravagance and a commitment that none other has ever matched – or even imagined.
It is not just that He asks us to let go of those things that harm us and which undermine our relationships, but He also offers us Himself. He is the One to lead us and guide us. He is the One who has already given us Himself but He makes Himself known in the scriptures and the sacraments, in the fellowship of those who also believe and who also seek to align their lives with His.
This is an ongoing relationship. It is a conversation that never ceases and a music that never grows dull. It is a poetry that leads us out of ourselves and into His domains. If an earthly education leads us to engage with society then His education leads us to engage with an eternity centred on Him.
These are the things that we are probing during Lent and which come to an annual celebration at Easter. The focus is always on Jesus – and it is in the light of His life and work that we are able to make sense of our own. And it definitely does not lead us into a dead end of self-imposed and self-consuming silos.
Every blessing in Lent and at Easter.
Sydney Maitland
