Doing Nothing

“What I like doing best is Nothing.”  Surprisingly it is Christopher Robin who says this, rather than Pooh. He explains, “It means just going along, listening to all the things you can hear, and not bothering.” Many of us are getting quite used to ‘doing Nothing’. For some that is delightful; but others find this enforced inaction a problem – which is why they have been hyper-active, doing jobs around the house, and garden, sorting papers, and so on. We’re all different! (And we mustn’t forget, that for some key-workers this crisis is causing excessive extra activity and stress.)

But there is a positive side to doing nothing, which we might focus on as we progress into Holy Week. We are celebrating Passiontide, and the distinctive note here is Jesus’ suffering, which involves his passivity. In The Stature of Waiting, W.H. Vanstone reminded us that after his arrest in Gethsemane, Jesus does nothing, and says very little. Part of the miracle of our redemption is that the Word Incarnate empties himself of all, and allows himself to be handed over to his opponents, to face rejection, suffering and death. His resurrection is also not what he does, but what the Father does (Jesus does not rise from the dead; he is raised.) We experience the fulness of God’s love not through what Jesus achieves, but because of what he allows to be done to him.

We ourselves need to learn to stop finding our identity in what we achieve; to remember that, as someone said we are human beings, not human doings! Much modern stress stems from our insecurity, the incessant need to succeed, to do better than others – in effect, to justify our existence by what we have, rather than what we are. Against this tendency, the Christian Gospel is that we are saved solely by God’s grace, not by our works; we are loved, simply because we are. We don’t – we can’t – earn our salvation. St Augustine wrote, “Take heart; you would not be seeking me if I had not already found you.” Saints are those who have been faithful to their calling, not those who have succeeded in some test. As St John of the Cross wrote, “At the end of our lives, we shall be examined in love.” And that love comes not from ourselves, but is God’s gift

We looked at the positive aspects of solitude a couple of weeks ago. The place of waiting and allowing things to happen is also significant in our relationship with God. In Psalm 46, the Lord tells the suppliant “Be still, and know that I Am God.” And through the prophet Isaiah, we are told “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. But you would have none of it…” (Isaiah 30.15); and the King James version of Isaiah 40:31 states: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles…”

And so, although we may be feeling helpless at this time – confined to a small area, unsure what lies ahead – there is here an opportunity to explore more fully our ultimate dependency on God. Too often we are inclined to think that everything depends on us. Dioceses and churches develop strategies, and time-framed plans. We set up committees and training courses – and can easily forget that there are times when we must just let go, and let ourselves be carried, led by God. In the end, we are not in control of the world - nor are we expected to be.

Prayer is more what the Father does with and in us through his Spirit, than about our carefully learned techniques and efforts. Of course, we need to learn from our traditions, and from the guidance of holy men and women, but at the end of the day, we have to open up and give way to the Lord. “We do not know what we ought to pray for (or ‘how we ought to pray’), but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26.)

So let’s accept any feelings of helplessness, and use our ‘spare’ time, firstly in holding in prayer those who are having to work hard and under pressure – medics, care workers, and all involved in the provision and supply of food and medicine; they need our loving support. Then we can learn to trust, to put ourselves and our lives (and the lives of those we care for) into the hands of the One who loves us and never lets us go.