Ghandi

I am ponderously reading a biography of Gandhi. It's a comprehensive document with lashings of background and context. It transpires that Gandhi was in and out of prison on a regular basis. He made friends with those who kept him locked up and it didn’t seem to bother him. Why?

There is a telling little line where Gandhi says that the prison could be his temple. His point was basically this. That an encounter, a conversation with God can happen anywhere if you work hard enough at fostering that ethereal relationship. It can even happen in a prison cell. Fortunately God is not confined to any particular place and so the possibility of finding him in the most meagre and grungy of circumstances is never hopeless.

It’s splendid for us. We have sacred spaces that have been prayed in, loved and where the community comes together. It’s easy with the stained glass windows, candles and icons to catapult us into ‘that’ dimension. We ought to make the most of these privileges and opportunities. Gandhi was not exactly a Sunday by Sunday Anglican, but his point is still valid. God has taken the initiative and it is now up to us to encounter Him, find Him and most of all enjoy Him. To develop and enhance this relationship no matter where we find ourselves. It’s not always easy and it would have been an extraneous exercise in a prison cell in India. It is however, always achievable. It is something precious, to be sought and chased after all our lives.

Conversely we can find ourselves in a ‘prison cell’. A fraught marriage, the toxic workplace, in fact anywhere or any situation where we can’t see a way out or beyond ourselves.  For a gold star you might ponder your ‘temple’ and / or your ‘prison cell’.