"Ask the right question and..."
- Small Offerings
- May 3, 2020
- 3 min read
Good Shepherd Sunday, 3rd May 2020.
Of late I have noticed myself ever in a questioning mood. It is as if lockdown has made me very conscious of not only the Government handling of the Covid 19 pandemic but also made me conscious of my own lifestyle and beliefs.
I have heard so many viewpoints from so many people on the subjects surrounding the pandemic from PPE to testing to tracing apps to transparency of discussions to social distancing and on and on.
I have heard God as the source of the scourge to nature fighting her corner to laboratory release to merely the way of the world!
Pros and cons as well as many don't knows!
It is Good Shepherd Sunday in my Christian calendar. I heard on a streamed service a pastoral letter from the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. He wrote of the 'service and leadership' of shepherds. Shepherd is a word used in many contexts from the traditional pastoral carer of sheep and goats to ecclesiastical ministers and even crowd managers.
I have witnessed the shepherds of Anatolia. Their care of the sheep, their knowledge of dangers and of pastures as well as the diseases which can infect their charges is truly remarkable. A stunning real life image.
A person I revered highly and considered a spiritual and human guide was the Benedictine monk, the late Dom Sebastian Moore. For me a true friend, guru and guide, indeed a good shepherd. He always maintained that good perception and understanding was found in the question not the answer.
"Ask the right question and you are on the right path".
He also valued silence: silence in front of the mysteries of life and silence so as to be able to hear and listen to the resonance of the question. He was a devotee of the book of Job.
One can easily get bogged down in the questions as one often hears on radio interviews! Yet they are the search mechanism.
Only this morning I experienced a torrent of questions. I have a catheter and it was due to be changed in ten days time. Last night I must, inadvertently, have put too much stress on it and I woke with a sharp pain. The catheter then seemed to malfunction. My question: do I grin and bear it and hope or do I telephone someone? I dialled 111 and after some music and apologies for delay as they were very busy it was answered. A competent, gentle, calm voice then barraged me with questions. At various times she passed me to a nurse and she too asked a series of questions. Within 90 minutes a District nurse was at my door to change the catheter. She too was calm, efficient, competent and kind and gentle. Now it was my turn to ask questions, all of which were professionally answered.
From this and from the Bishop's letter I have come to see the sense of the designation of servant and leader to those who shepherd and care for us. Those with knowledge and competence lead us but by serving us. The nurse came to serve me and lead me through a mildly anxious time. I would not use the word shepherdess of her but it would not be inappropriate.
Strangely I heard a radio drama recently and at some point noted the phrase ' he shepherded them out of harm's way'. A good shepherd is a knowledgeable, loving, kindly person. Their talent leads one on..out of danger or in to new pastures, whatever.
As the Buddha noted the purpose of life is to find one's purpose.
We need guides, we need shepherds who know the way, the path and who can lead us as they serve us.
But I warn myself that my questions as I search must not be garbled, gabbled or torrential and irrelevant but focussed.
And I must be silent so as to listen to hear the answers. Strangely answers do come. They come in a variety of ways, shapes, sizes and peoples and circumstances. They need to be noted, one needs to be sensitive and one needs to exclude the 'white noise' with which one's mind and the world is so full.
That noise is often the irrelevant, the trivial, the distracting question. One is grateful for the shepherd to guide one.
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