~ The Cloud of Witnesses ~
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
~Hebrews 12:1
Dear Members and Friends,
After walking the St. Cuthbert’s Pilgrim Path—60 miles through Scotland and Northern England—this past May, I read a recent novel about the life of this St. Cuthbert, written by a British author from that region. Cuthbert was a monk in the Dark Ages who wanted nothing more than to lead a life of silent prayer. But his kindness, wisdom, and deep inner calm kept getting him pulled into the politics of his day. Bishops would put him in charge of monasteries, though he had no interest in bossing anyone. Kings would insist that he be given the bishop’s pointy hat (a miter), though he had no interest in serving as a bishop. All he wanted to do was to pray. His genuine humility and simple goodness made him into a larger-than-life character who is to Northern England and Southern Scotland what St. Patrick is to Ireland. The novel traces his influence down through the centuries and right up to modern times, when a lonely teenager whose mother is dying of cancer, calls upon Cuthbert for the strength he needs to be her daily caregiver.
Hebrews is one of those epistles I typically avoid. Its use of blood imagery strikes me as graphic and a bit theatrical. We all have books of the Bible that speak to us and others that do not; that’s just part of the Scriptures’ richness. But the writer of Hebrews wisely states that we are, all of us, surrounded by the good example of people who’ve gone before us and did what they could to make the world better than they found it—heroes of the faith, heroes of goodwill, or even just people who led imperfect but worthy lives and who did their best…at least much of the time. Like Cuthbert in the novel, in some sense their wisdom and their guidance are still available to us; they watch and encourage us from across the span of time. I think about the peaceable nature of this congregation and how, in my time here, we have never known the kind of conflict that sometimes shakes other churches. It’s because the long-ago souls who started this church made sure that it was a place of kindness and respect. They set a tone for our shared conversation, and even though they have slipped away from that conversation personally, the tone that they set has lingered. And who knows? Maybe they are in some sense still present.
Always in the fall, we think about the “great cloud of witnesses” that surrounds us. Who is your personal St. Cuthbert—someone long-gone whose presence still inspires you and gives you guidance? I don’t think it’s idolatrous to think about that person, imagine how they would act if they were at your side, maybe even speak to them. We will all join them in the great cloud of witnesses when our turn comes. Let’s give thanks for them. You will surely be someone’s St. Cuthbert someday.
Christ’s Peace,
~Brian
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