Reflection: Greg Morgan

 Text of the Reflection:

Kia ora e te whānau.

What can I tell you about success?

• That behind every successful student, there is a deactivated Facebook account.
• That before you reach the top of the ladder, make sure it’s leaning against the right wall.
• And my favourite: if at first you don't succeed, we have a lot in common.

 

Some days off have meant time for chores. I finally found somewhere to hang a mirror that belonged to Paul’s late father. Once it was up, I realised that

(a) my lockdown hair is about to go crazy and

(b) I have been staring at two mirrors this week. In Mark 9 I’ve seen my life reflected.

 

Jesus tells the disciples what lies ahead for him. We know how this story goes, but they don’t. Fear of the unexpected makes them afraid to ask questions to learn more. In the same way, I frequently miss what the universe is messaging. I don’t always ask the questions that would release new understanding into consciousness and shape the reality I experience every day. So what does the story of Jesus mean to us? What do we have to learn? Or, in fact, unlearn?

 

Then we see Jesus and his disciples inside – it’s moving within. The disciples won’t answer Jesus’ simple question about their argument. Again, silence is the sign of energy not flowing. Yet Jesus speaks into their circumstances. Unlike the advertising that hits us around the clock, he doesn’t say you have to become someone else to be successful.

 

Jesus explains that the way to greatness is to serve others, for instance a child without status or authority, someone undervalued or vulnerable. This lesson reminds me of that moment before the feeding of the thousands when the disciple Philip sees only lack. All those people and nothing for them. The more enterprising Andrew focuses on a boy with his lunch.

 

Take the words of Jesus for yourself. Whose reflection do you see?

• Maybe the person you are directly supporting through your service, friendship or advocacy
• Beneficiaries of your charitable giving or those for whose rights you campaign
• People whose hurts or potential motivate your prayer
• Someone under-recognised you spend time with – you listen to them, answer their questions, ask for their opinion; truly, you see them
• Perhaps you glimpse your true self. For ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’ Will you welcome the true you out of hiding?

 

The insecure self, obsessed with how we are perceived and ranked by others, is not the truth of us. Today, our true self requires more attention and love - for that’s the divine spark alive with the potential for us to see and hear God everywhere around us.

• In each of us
• In others
• In people who are challenging or simply unlike us
• In creation.

 

I’m trying to embrace the love that enfolds us and lifts us beyond the small self that ‘gives rise to needless anxiety, unnecessary suffering, and cross-cultural competition and violence’ – those words are from Father Richard Rohr. Step by step, we recognise the essential self that knows no separation from the ultimate reality that is Love without any limitation or favouritism. ‘The one … who sent me.’ I know these are just words. When we look within, the feeling is what matters, not the words. For other people, it is our action that matters; they will remember how we make them feel more than what we say.

 

Marianne Williamson writes that ‘It isn’t a question of whether we work on ourselves or we work on the world. We need to work on both. ….  We might have been calm and peaceful last night, but this morning someone left those toaster crumbs on the counter so all bets are off whether we can hold on to all that harmony til noon.’

 

If we want peace in our time and justice in the world, do we see that we cannot be silent? Our interaction with the model of Jesus and with all that inspires us must be expressed outwards.

David Beckham got into a taxi at an airport and noticed the driver kept looking in his rear-view mirror at him. After five minutes the driver said, ‘Go on then, give me a clue!’

Beckham replied, ‘I had a glittering career with Manchester United, played over 100 times for England and married a Spice Girl, is that enough?’

The driver replied, ‘No mate, I meant where are you going?’

Where are we going?

 

May the gifts of curiosity and openness help us participate in the great conversation that is life. The world is waiting to hear what is to express through us. Go gently this week in the love that enfolds you.  Amen.