| A Walk in the RainI really enjoy walking in our city’s green spaces. In our local neighbourhood we are fortunate to have places like the stunning Halswell Quarry and also Te Kuru, a vast wetland and stormwater basin to wander through. In Ilam, near the church office, we have the beautiful Ilam Homestead Gardens and the magnificent Riccarton Bush. Several times a week I head out for a stroll through these urban breathing rooms. The rhythm of footfall often moves me into a reflective frame of mind. Last night, as I strolled through the darkness and rain, I began pondering the Beatitudes. “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4. As the water beaded and ran off my jacket, I recalled the people in our church whanau who have recently lost loved ones. As the rain drops misted up my glasses. I saw tragic images of grieving Palestinians and Israelis, Ukrainians and Russians. As my shoes splashed on through pools and rivulets of water, I brought to mind many whose relationships with family and friends have become strained or broken. As I stepped across a small stream I thought of Jesus ‘a man of tears acquainted with grief’ comforting the mourning ones that he met and I tried, as best I could, to gather all those places and faces up in prayer and offer them back to him. As I squelched through the mud and stepped around puddles gleaming and rippling under the light of the streetlamps, I gave thanks for our Ilam whanau, a community of Christ followers that dares to name griefs and comfort those who are weighed down by them. Blessed be the rain that nourishes our whenua and calls us to solidarity with the tearful. “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” |
