A friend in need.....

So, this is a little unscheduled!

This week I have had an unexpected few days off work. Fortunately, I have had lovely company as the whole of our household has tested positive for Covid-19. I played football in the garden yesterday with my children and I enjoyed watching 'Tangled' again with my daughter (as a 49 year-old man, I should probably not admit that it is one of my favourite films!). In keeping with a previous blog theme of 'gratitude' - we have had our vaccinations and boosters. None of us are too ill. It could have been so much worse. Our enormous gratitude goes to the people who have fought so hard against this pandemic. Over 150,000 lives have been lost in UK, but because of amazing people of science, we have suffered with minor colds. While thousands of people have mourned, millions of us should be grateful for where we are.

But this week has brought us minor challenges.

I have had to do something that I really do not like doing: I have had to ask for help. Even more than that: I have had to ask strangers for help! But for the help of friends and neighbours, our dinner last night was going to be some grated cheese, two eggs and some nondescript brown Chinese cooking sauce! But, we had a normal dinner - thanks to the kindness of neighbours. We live in a culture where we do not ask for help. We might like to offer help - but many of us do not like to ask for help.

We all like to be in control,. We like to think that we are all self-sufficient. Other people might need help... but we are above that. We like to think that we can handle what comes our way, we have the resources and we can cope. But we cannot always.

I strongly believe that this is right at the heart of pilgrimage.

And in building these walls around us, perhaps we stop others not only from helping us - but from connecting with us. This week, I have become more aware of the kindness of people who have stepped in. For the people who we already knew, it is shown me how much I should value their friendship because they were so quick to help. For the people who answered my shout out for help on my facebook - I am reminded that we are all community. We are all connected. We are there to help and support one another and sometimes our own self-reliance stops chances of community from happening. In our culture, maybe we only want help if we can pay for it in some way? I don't believe that our ancestors would have understood that concept at all. In ancient times when communities had less, they were more connected. People had to share more and had to work together to live with enough for all. Perhaps in our individualistic and self-sufficient society we have lost something that was very important and connecting. Giving and receiving kindness is one of the things that binds us together. Both sides of that are important. Learning to be on both sides of that can be difficult - but it can also, as I have found this week, bring opportunities for friendship, kindness and connection.

So, my little lesson from isolation (and this is for me more than for anyone else!): On our pilgrimage,

Help us to find that we are connected. Help us to find that in the giving and receiving of help that friendship may flourish. Help us to find that in our time of need we not only find help - but connectedness and community.

Help us to neither be slow to give or receive help - because both of these are equal expressions of belonging and living together in harmony. Let it be so.