God is there in the isolation with his arms wrapped around us
He is there in the challenges holding up our arms when they just want to fall
He is there in the all, in the everything, in all moments
With help facing devastation, and the troubles that lie ahead.
And we’ll try not to fear, yet the fear overwhelms us
Though everything feels like it’s breaking up in pieces before us
Though all that was strong is torn down in the storm
Though the floods threat is to consume us and the barriers give way.....
There left behind is a river where life is lived in all fullness
God is here and he lives, Word made flesh dwells amongst us.
God is here, there is Hope, there is promise, there is future
A new dawn will rise, because the brokenness will not last forever.
Nations run, nations swirl, nations crash to the floor
People seek self before all and leave others flailing behind them
But God the creator, he speaks, do not harm them and all wait.....
God is here. God is here. God is here.
Come and see because before you lies his story of healing
Of devastation overturned, re-restored, and unfaded
He ends the pain of this unknown, the enemy lying before us
And it changes, all changes as the attacker is left dormant
He breaks the chain, stops the spread, and destroys it completely
Saying
Be still. Be still my child and know that I dwell among you
I hold your hand in your pain
I sit beside you in your loneliness
I bring my peace to your racing mind
I shut your eyes for a while so you can’t see
Rest in me and be still. Be still and know that in the darkness light will always shine.
"Build a wall," he said, "let's keep the problem out, let's make ourselves safe by barricading ourselves in...."
"Build a wall" he said, "build the foundations on fear; the other, the different they are not welcome here..."
"Build a wall," he said, "and trust in me, I'll stand up for you and fight with hatred and lies...."
"Build a wall, " he said, "then I'll make it great. Look at me... just look, aren't I great, yes I am...."
"Build a wall," he said, "keep the women in their place; get your own way, it's the same as my way, don't you see....."
"Build a wall," he said, "send that black man back home. He's a liar and a cheat. I'm RIGHT, look at me...."
"Build a wall," he said, "send that woman to jail. She's a liar and corrupt. I'm right, look at me...."
"Build a wall," he said, "and keep the guns, ready loaded. We'll be safe, don't you worry, look at me...."
"Build a wall," he said, "let's barricade ourselves in, I'm your saviour, I'll protect you, look at me, look at ME...."
"Build a wall," he said.
So they did.
Lord have mercy.
Today we woke up to the news that Trump, who ran in one of the most divisive and, frankly, ridiculous presidential races in the US has been voted in as the next President. I'm gutted. I really am. I don't know what will unfold in the days to come, but Trump's record in his campaigning on how he spoke about 'the other' - Mexicans, Muslims, women.... and others has been awful.
I'm not sure how to respond at the moment except to pray... for the future, for America and for the impact on the world.
"God is our refuge and strength
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge" Psalm 46:1-7
In Walt Disney's story of the Little Mermaid, Ariel ends up marrying her handsome prince and lives happily ever after.
Sorry to give it away....
One of the highlights of my recent trip to Copenhagen was seeing the Little Mermaid statue sitting on a rock. When I was in primary school I was in a play about Hans Christian Anderson, and I've found his stories fascinating ever since. They are fairy stories.... not the 'all lived happily ever after' Disney type but stories that talk of mistakes and naivety, of bad choices and struggle.
While in Copenhagen I also went to see a group of statues called 'Paradise Genetically altered' by Bjorn Norgaard. One of these statues is a genetically modified Little mermaid. Sitting on a rock in the canal her appearance is of stark difference to the gentle statue of a mermaid that attracts crowds of people. This mermaid speaks of a life of pain and struggle, where dreams are not met and where pain and suffering is a part of the every day. It, in many ways, seems closer to Hans Christian Anderson's original mermaid story which doesn't end quite as happy as the Disney version.....
I think that Disney has a lot to answer for. It has changed stories that speak of you can't always get what you want to stories that imply happiness in the end is possible if you are good.... Its versions of Pinocchio, the Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and others leave aside the gruesome bits where parts of the body get cut out, where every step is painful, where main characters are attacked, abused and even raped.
It's understandable that a lot of this stuff might not be in children's films.... but by taking it out our understanding of what it means to have a fairy tale life, what we aspire to as perfect, is unreachable. I will never be a Disney princess, and if I was and the true fairy tale stuff came out.... well I wouldn't want to be one.
I like the genetically modified mermaid best. Not because it was more attractive, but because it was more truthful. It spoke of how if you go out of your way to do everything to get the perfect life, it's not going to always be happily ever after. A fairy tale life includes hurt and pain. It includes sorrow and loss. It includes a reality far different from a Disney princess.
Behind every Disney fairy tale there is a real tale that is more painful...
Behind every happy picture there are stories that hurt....
When we talk of the Christian life we can make it more Disney than reality. We are to be joyful and happy and dance and sing and dance..... but the reality of a fallen world means life is more like the original fairy tales. We don't know why it's so hard sometimes, but it's in the darkness and in the lonely places that we can reach out, we can listen and hear and feel the breath of God as he holds us close, his love never going away.
'Be Still, and Know that I am God' Psalm 46:10
