Falling off the Cliff

Since we moved to East Anglia we’ve heard stories of land that’s fallen into the North Sea… there’s frequent news about erosion, sea defences, homes being lost…

 ‘Elephant’ is an exciting new play that’s set in a house that’s balanced on an eroding cliff in North Norfolk. Four interesting characters assemble; the rising tide eats away at the house’s foundations…

For the last two weeks local theatre company ‘fEAST’ have been researching and developing ‘Elephant’. Last night I watched a few scenes from it… Excellent! A full production will tour next year…

We spent yesterday with our good friends Tim and Jill who live in North Norfolk. We walked around a lake together… Eight weeks ago Tim was in hospital recovering from major heart surgery; it’s great to see how he’s recovered.

Three months ago, Tim was apprehensive about his surgery – stepping towards the edge of his cliff… he might fall… Yesterday he talked about the support and prayers of family and friends, of God’s presence with him… He’d looked over his cliff edge… and gratefully walked away from it.

Recent news has regularly featured TV presenter Philip Schofield… accusations, broken relationships, self-righteous condemnations… affairs, lies, homophobia, grooming, confessions…

Philip Schofield’s fallen over his cliff.

Musing…

…Tim …Philip …People …We are often in danger of falling off their/our cliffs…

…The media seem to watch for anyone that may be close to the edge… waiting for an opportunity to push them over… pretending to be shocked when they fall… taking delight at the pain and damage caused… enjoying the ‘tragedy’.

…Presenter Alison Hammond said she’s using ‘the Bible as a Sat Nav’, quoting Jesus’ words ‘Let he without sin cast the first stone’. That seems a good place to start.

…We should be standing at the top of the cliff, showing kindness, generosity and forgiveness – trying to prevent cliff-falling. We should be at the bottom of the cliff with compassion for those who fall… performing first aid, helping healing and recovery.