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May Letter - Little Black Bags

Easter has come and gone, and like most clergy families we do what we can to get a bit of rest after the ‘big day’. Normally, that involves walking. One of our favourite places to walk is Gummer’s Howe in the South Lakes - there’s plenty of parking, a well marked track, lots of friendly people in holiday mood, and ‘knock-out’ views over Windermere and across to the Old Man of Coniston. It is always wonderful. This Easter, there was also something else that I am afraid has become a feature of our rural life for the last ten or so years…little black bags all over the place. Mostly, they were neatly tied up at the top. Some were thoughtfully tucked away in-between tree roots and cracks in the dry-stone walls. Others were hanging in the bushes. The most blatant were just by the stile - to be ‘picked up’ when the dog owner returned… maybe…never! Once you start to notice something, you see it everywhere don’t you? Even closer to home!

Some time ago I went on another walk. It took us along a river bank in the Spring sunshine. On that occasion, I went with a big black plastic bag in my pocket. Before long, I had found a ‘black bag’ full of little black bags... as well as an assortment of other old bottles and tins. I took them to the bin by the footpath gate at the start of the walk. I confess the exercise made me feel a bit smug. After fifteen years of working outside in the woods, I am not a fan of the contents of ‘the little black bag’, or of any kind of litter for that matter! In fact, the truth is that I think that it is excellent that it has become socially unacceptable in this country to let our four-footed friends ‘foul’ public footpaths and playgrounds… but isn’t there something a bit strange about going to the trouble of bagging up the problem, and then leaving it somewhere, in full view, where it will then take years to disappear from our beautiful countryside? Apparently, some of the little black bags are biodegradable. That may be the case… but so are the contents… unless you wrap them in a bag!

In the modern phenomenon of the ‘little black bag’ by the path, I think it could be that there is something interesting for us to think about as we travel on from Easter towards the Ascension and Pentecost…and the rest of the year. It is a spiritual lesson. We are all on a journey. It is a path through life. Occasionally things happen that leave a mess – something that doesn’t smell too good – and gets nasty if people step in it. Very often, it is extremely tempting to ‘bag up’ these messy times...put a knot in them...and then hide them somewhere where we hope they will be forgotten. But of course they never are. They don’t go away that easily, and inside the bag the problem remains!

The gospels show us a God who wants to wash our problems down, and, in the process, deal with them once and for all, so that instead of hanging around, they can become useful experiences, and fertile places where new things can grow – after all, in time the messiest of experiences become the manure in which new things do grow. In time, the rain that turns our trials into triumphs is called ‘God’s grace’. The ‘rain of grace’ only starts to fall when we are open and honest… and when forgiveness is in the air.

Looking back, I can easily see plenty of things I have ‘bagged up’ and tried to hide in the bushes - often with a double knot on top! I still do it. But the truth is, it is much better to deal with things as they happen, rather than pretending that they do not matter. It is much better to find a proper home, where you can unpack your problems and let the rain of grace and a good dose of fresh air do its work. When things are working properly that is the role of the church and the body of Christ in our lives. It is an atmosphere which should be safe. When it is, things begin to blossom. There are some signs of that blossoming amongst us at the moment… so ‘Praise God’… He is so good.  

Have a lovely May!

Philip