The Hole and the Whole Hole

Yesterday, in our car, taking Grandson-Luca into Lowestoft, the road past the station was blocked off. There was a deep hole, several metres across in the middle of the road. This led to a nonsense conversation that was based around the notion that you can’t have half a hole, but that two halves make a whole.

I confess I resorted to the old grandad joke about the man in prison, lying on his bed, wondering how to escape… He rubbed his hands to make them sore, used the saw to cut his bed in half. Two halves make a whole. He climbed through the hole and escaped, shouted till his voice was hoarse, climbed on the horse and rode home.

One phrase that I’ve heard on several occasions recently is that ‘we live in a broken world’. I’ve heard it in church many times over the years; recently similar phrases have been used on the news – particularly when describing the situation in the Middle East. What was whole is now broken.

My knowledge of Shakespeare is very limited. Yesterday I came across these lines from The Merchant of Venice: ‘How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.’

Wholeness in a broken world, one light in a dark world, one good deed in a naughty world.

This morning I read the story of parents bringing their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them, bless them and pray for them. The disciples scold the parents for bothering Jesus, but Jesus says, ‘Don’t stop the children coming to me. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.’

Perhaps today I can look for opportunities… noticing the apparently insignificant that might be ignored… bringing childlike simplicity to broken complexity. The broken isn’t whole… the hole’s still a hole… the world’s still dark and naughty… but my one good deed, shining my little light, does make a difference.