Tradition

Tradition is a very special thing. It connects us with the past and holds us as we move towards the future. The photograph of a Northumbrian coble was taken last evening. This high prowed boat can trace its ancestry back to the influence of Viking ship design.

Tradition can seem to anchor us to a more simple time or past age, and that is a positive thing. We live in times of change which are disconcerting and disorientating. The default is to remain in what we perceive is the stable past, of surety and low levels of complexity.

This is our struggle now, because we are quickly entering a time where all we had faith in is beginning to shift and move and adjust. There is a sense that life as a human being has ever been so! I look back at my years and I’ve had to adapt amd change and move, and this can be difficult.

Jesus Christ lived in uncertain times and there’s a moment of testing that he gave his disciples as they shared a meal together, before his trial and crucifixion. A moment of gathering, tempered by the news of momentous changes afoot. The disciples were confused and uncertain and in the middle of all this, Jesus makes this statement; ‘ Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God , believe also in me.’ Seemingly, on face value, a bit crazy and unreal. But he offered them a new perspective. He still had to go through the hard time, as they would, but this is pointing beyond physical security.

We all have faith, in some form or other. We may hold on to tradition as a kind of anchor. All I’ll say is that faith anchors our reality, and I’d invite you to allow yourself to hear those words of Jesus for you. If you find it difficult to connect with them, just keep going back to hear the words…let them seep into your soul!