From our Vicar, Sam, I learned the phrase ‘going to the bottom of the pond’. It means that kind of deep conversation with a good friend that helps you delve deeply and safely into all the murky bits that are troubling your life.
From my friend Gwen, I learned the meaning (literally and in practice) of the Inuit word, qarrtsiluni, which means ‘sitting in the dark with someone, waiting for something to happen’.
From my friend Jennie, I learned how indispensable it is to have a friend who’s happy to go to the murky depths of my fridge to search and destroy all the past-it tomatoes, manky melon, and stale bread.
From Ezekiel 47, which inspires our Lent and Easter art exhibition, I learned to love its story of going on and in, step by step. It’s the bit where the prophet is taken by the hand and led along the trickle of water that flows from the temple – the water gets deeper and deeper, and deeper still: so deep until we are in the flow of the source itself. This is the Source that waters the trees on the banks of the river, whose leaves are for healing.
Down, down, deeper and down is a good theme for Lent, especially as we turn now towards Passiontide. We are called to keep delving, to keep questing. The status quo is not for us.
Ali Lyon
