Reaching Crisis Point

Yesterday, I was reminded of ‘Crisis’ four times…

On Sunday, in church, considering fresh water and hygienic toilets, ‘The Great Stink’ of 1858 was mentioned…

The London population had grown to 2.5 million… homes lacked flush toilets… 17^th century sewers were old and inadequate… cholera outbreaks recurred… waste from homes, factories and slaughterhouses was discharged directly into the river Thames… a hot dry summer caused low water levels… deep sewage accumulated on the banks of the Thames…

The Great Stink was a public health and sanitation crisis.

Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, going nowhere on a becalmed sea is approached by a ‘skeleton ship’ with two women aboard. One, called Death, takes all of the Mariner’s crew; he is left alone with the other – ‘Life-in-Death’. As the crew die the Mariner, living a death-like life, wishes for death, but is unable to achieve it.

Coleridge himself knew opium addiction, horrific nightmares, attempts to withdraw from his addiction… He knew his life-in-death crisis point.

Haejin and Makoto Fujimura have set up ‘Embers’, an anti-trafficking organisation that works in South Asian slums and red-light districts, In this month’s ‘Premier Christianity, they describe their ‘five Gs’ that get someone out of crisis:

Genesis – seeing failure, brokenness, crisis and creating a new beginning. Generosity – creating, selflessly giving light to darkness, beauty to ugliness. Grit – tenacity and determination to go where others won’t go, continue where others give up. Generational – long-term commitment to mothers, staying with their children. Gratitude – ‘Thanks be to God… Coram Deo – living every moment in the presence of God.’

In August, British Army soldiers sailing round the British Isles spotted an exhausted barn owl seventy miles from land. They named the owl-in-crisis Little Reg. Having rescued Reg, they left him in the care of RSPCA Scarborough.

Reg’s near-death crisis… soldiers’ caring generosity… RSPCA’s skilled determination. Yesterday, on the local news, we saw Reg released back into the wild, six weeks after being rescued.

From crisis there can be hope and healing, recovery and release, flight and freedom.