Many ancient Celtic sites are on the edge - Iona, Lindisfarne, Whithorn, Whitby, Jarrow, Bardsley, Burgh, Bradwell.
At the edge we see horizons denied to those who stay in the middle.
Walking along a cliff-top our bodies and souls face each other and that is how we grow.
The edge is in fact always the centre of spiritual renewal.
The Christian Church has always been renewed by those it placed on the edge, such as St. Francis and John Wesley.
Jesus lived life with the marginalised - the lepers, prostitutes and tax-collectors.
Jesus was edged out of the synagogue, out of the temples, out of the city, out of society and out of life - yet remained totally in touch with the heart of life.
We are called to mould the kingdoms of the earth so that they reflect the Kingdom of Heaven.
Any Christian movement that becomes respectable risks being brought from the edge to the centre - and so is given the kiss of death.
How will I keep myself on the spiritual edge?
Martin Wallace, Celtic Reflections, Tim Tiley Ltd.
I seem to be writing rather a lot on the subject of edges just at the moment, and I keep finding other people's writings about edges, too, like this remarkable passage from a little book I was given as a gift at my Profession the other day.
1 comment:
Very timely writing, I think.
Maybe the world is in a reverse black hole, where everything in the centre will be sucked out to the edges :)
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