Chaplain’s Note
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.” (Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love.)
Powerful words. Words that could once be found painted on a wall here at Cranbrook, but which not everyone got to see. They were written in the stairwell which led from the dressing room up to the stage, in the old War Memorial Hall. They were an exhortation to our dramatists to trust in their identity, their ability and their preparation. To play big, not small, upon the stage.
It is a powerful truth that our sense of destiny has an enormous impact on our enthusiasm, confidence, and execution.
This is true on the stage or the sporting field, in our subjects and in our life prospects.
An aspect of our Anglican ethos at Cranbrook, which comes from the Bible, is that of the opportunity of human destiny. The Bible has a positive view of humanity, our potential and our future. So, let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of what it means to be human when we look at ourselves through heaven’s eyes. In 1 Corinthians 15 we find this passage, one which is profound in its implications.
21 For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a human. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
You’ve probably heard Christians talk about ‘eternal life’. It gets mentioned in one of the most well-known Bible verses, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
So, Christianity is often thought of as the pursuit of something radical and miraculous, mortal beings being granted immortality.
But Paul’s letter reminds us that Christianity is not quite that after all. He wrote of an immortality lost. We are not mortal beings seeking immortality but immortal beings tragically experiencing mortality, “death came through a human”, it wasn’t intrinsic to being a human. This is what the tree of life in the Garden of Eden represented. Humanity’s free access to life with God and each other, together, forever. Access spoiled by Adam and Eve’s decision to eat from the other tree they were told would lead to their deaths.
Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances;” (from As You Like It, spoken by Jaques). It is a vision of transitoriness. We exist for but a time, this surprising conglomeration of atoms, which momentarily achieves consciousness before scattering once again into stardust.
Why would we believe any differently?
Because once there was a singularity that established a break in this inevitability. “For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a human.”, Paul here refers to Jesus’ resurrection, celebrated annually by Christians around the world because it changes everything. Christ, the first fruit of a new season of fruit to follow, is the destroyer of death for those who belong to him (v.23-26). For them this life is a dress rehearsal, which doesn’t mean it’s unimportant as anyone who has performed on stage knows, but a dress rehearsal nonetheless for unending life to follow.
What an incentive to invest our energy and effort into things of eternal significance. Giving up our small ambitions liberates us to pursue higher things, to honour our lives by fulfilling our potential, living lives that honour our Creator and our fellow creatures, to be all of what it means to be a human being, made in dignity for an eternal destiny. The way we understand ourselves changes the way we conduct ourselves.
Some say the devil’s greatest trick was convincing the world he doesn’t exist. But greater still would be his convincing you that you are made for nothing more 100 trips around the Sun.
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
Rev. Rod Farraway
Chaplain