You are the captain of your boat

St Pachomius. Saturday 9th May, 2020.

It was the kindness of Christians which prompted St Pachomius to convert to their religion.

He became a hermit. In the course of his life he founded many monasteries and nunneries and wrote a rule for cenobites.

I somehow feel it a contradiction to be a hermit yet also an active founder of religious communities. Surely, either a hermit or not a hermit?  Yet why should I see a contradiction?

One of his sayings is an interesting observation on anyone's life: "if the highest aim of a Captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port for ever". It is the purpose of one's life which should be the driving force not just a dogged adherence to a particular form.

I have never fully understood the phrase made famous by Margaret Thatcher: 'this lady is not for turning.' If there is a need to turn, if new facts, higher aims, greater principles change so should we be able to do so in response.

Some years ago I heard an interview with George Carey whilst he was Archbishop of Canterbury. I recall the story he told of his secretary leaving one evening for the weekend. 'Take care, be safe, Archbishop'. In response he suddenly realised that that was not his purpose and found himself replying: 'no, I'll take risks.' Of course, he did not mean those foolish risks to health and safety and daily life...he would look both ways before crossing a road. If there was a greater goal or purpose than merely being safe he would take the risk. As he noted: he hoped he would be prepared to die for Christ. 

If your child falls into a raging torrent you do not say 'it is too risky, too dangerous to try to rescue him', you dive in. There was a great scandal years ago when a policeman refused to go into a lake to save a drowning man because, as he said, 'I have not been trained to do so'. 

Yes, of course, there are considerations to be made, assessments and judgements and prudence to be heard. Yet how would we feel today if nurses simply said, 'it is too dangerous for me to nurse as I might catch the coronavirus?' Or a soldier sent to a mission abroad says, 'no, I might be killed or wounded or catch a disease, it is too great a risk?'

There are fears that need to be overcome for a greater good, risks to be taken for a higher principle and purpose. 

St Pachomius and his allusion to the Captain highlights the point. The purpose of a ship is to sail whether for trade, defence, exploration: it is built with a purpose in mind which does not include staying in port. To keep it in mothballs is utterly contrary to its very essence. 

Another Saint, Gregory of Natzianzen, also a monk, wrote: 'we are not made for ourselves alone, we are made for the good of all our fellow creatures'.

We should nurture not destroy our planet, not pollute our oceans, not destroy species, not allow genocide or persecution simply for our own selfish ends and comfort and safety.

We are guardians of Creation, of our own selves as well...dictatorship, egocentricity is against our very essence.

As the saying goes today re the coronavirus pandemic 'we are all in this together.'

We are all in creation together. We are not mothballed into our own cocoon.