· stillpoint ·

                                                                               Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef lived in Capernaum just after the time of Jesus.    The story goes that Akiva was ambling along the edge of the water one day.    The day was almost over.   The light was fading and Akiva, caught up in his meditations, missed his turning and wandered on to the wrong path.    Still contemplating a particular passage in Isaiah he found himself in front of the local Roman garrison where he was stopped in his tracks by the brusque bark a young sentry on the wall above: ‘Who are you and why are you here’? Following the rabbinic tradition, the rabbi responded with a question of his own.    ‘How much do they pay you to stand guard and ask that question of anyone that approaches’?   No doubt the young sentry was a little taken aback by Akiva’s retort, but realising the intruder was a rabbi who posed no threat to the fortress, replied: ‘Five drachmas a week’.   The rabbi then made the young

  Being Stable, not Stuck: turning a necessity into a virtue So it looks like our movements are getting more restricted again, and probably rightly so.    There’s not much we can do about the rules but what do have some measure of control over is how we react to them.   For example, if  we feel stuck then we may get resentful and frustrated and that actually changes nothing.   If however we are able to accept our restricted movements as a call to stability then we could find this autumn a rich time indeed. Stability is a virtue which has been appreciated by Christians over the years. St Benedict developed his monasteries as places of stability at a time when Europe was going through immense social and economic and even violent change.   Monks made a vow to stay the rest of their lives in the same monastery and build a community together. Here are some lines from Michael Cassidy’s book The Road to Eternal Life. Stability is one of the fundamental values of Benedictine spirituality

  The Inn of the Prancing Pony Here in East Dunbartonshire we had the news earlier this week that we could not visit each other’s homes or indeed the home of anyone else in the country.   This has been followed today by other precautions for the nation as a whole.    Back in April/May many of us hoped that by this time we would have Covid 19 more under control, but it seems not to be.   Some of you may have guessed from the title that I’m referring to Lord of the Rings in which Frodo is given instructions by Gandalf to take the ring and meet him at the Inn of the Prancing Pony.   This was a challenge enough in itself and far beyond the comfort zone of even an adventurous young hobbit like Frodo.   Yet he summoned his courage and with his friends made it there just escaping the clutches of the Black Riders. Your heart goes out to him when, thinking he had completed his task, he discovers that Gandalf is not there and weary and afraid, despondent and helpless, he is not sure what

  FOMO is over During the lockdown, for many people, life was a lot quieter and less busy. One of the upsides of this was that the Fear Of Missing Out was suddenly over!    There was nothing happening to miss out on!    FOMO had become quite a thing, particularly among younger people, and at times turned into a genuine fear that missing out on something would be just the worst possible thing.    It’s easy to laugh at it now and wonder what all the fuss was about but many teenagers and young adults especially were glued to their phones just in case they missed something that might leave them feeling left out. As life returns to some sort of a new normal it would seem that FOMO does not quite have the same power it used to as there is so much still not happening. Probably in the small dramas of high school life there is plenty however.    I remember one of my daughters reflecting back on high school saying… ’Dad, I’m so done with all the drama !’   However, whether it is different ar