St Francis Vurch Station
Written for the parish: Lent 2021
We adore thee O Christ, and we praise thee, because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.
From Psalm 115
I trusted even when I said: I am sorely afflicted.
And when I said in my alarm: No one can be trusted.
That was from psalm 115 which we used back on the second Sunday of Lent, It is now the fifth week. And Jesus is in Jerusalem, knowing that there are plots to kill him. Not knowing who to trust, even amongst his friends:
I trusted even when I said: No one can be trusted.
I have been thinking a lot about trust. As a hermit, I don’t have many prolonged and meaningful conversations – a handful of phone calls each year with my closest friends & family, maybe a visit or two.
So when, at the beginning of lockdown, I was invited to join a small discussion & prayer group, I intended that I would sit at the back of the Zoom room & glean all sorts of wisdom from my fellow participants without having to say too much for myself. Well, it didn’t quite work out like that. Instead, I found myself drawn in by the warmth of everybody else, and by their expectation that I would have something to say which was worth hearing, but especially by their willingness to be vulnerable to each other. Trust like that is a rare gift.
We have reconvened several times during the year, and each time that ease-in-being-vulnerable, and that trust has grown. It is lovely to be a part of it.
I find the same trust in some of our Vurch liturgies, and in these Lenten stations as people open up and share things from deep within. So this station is by way of a thank you for inviting me into your community and for trusting me; for inviting me to trust you. And to bear witness to this exceptional freedom you have with each other. It is a very precious gift, to be treasured and nurtured.
It didn’t work out quite so happily for Jesus and his friends of course. But Jesus kept on trusting both Judas and Peter, even after they betrayed him.
I trusted even when I said: No one can be trusted.
We adore thee O Christ, and we praise thee, because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.
