'It was night'

Spiritual reflection to start the day in Holy Week with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.

Script:
Good morning.
Darkness can sweep over us, and it can take many forms. A sudden loss of confidence that seems to come from nowhere. A hurtful comment that can unsettle us and sap our morale. Darkness can also descend through an act of betrayal. Someone whom we thought we could trust turning against us. It is a feeling that can chill us to the very core as we discover just how fragile human relationships can be.

This week, Christians commemorate the ominous time when Jesus agonises over what lies ahead. He seeks comfort from his friends as they share a meal. The conversation turns deep, so deep they can scarcely comprehend. Then Judas leaves the room. Knowing what he is about to do, you can imagine how Jesus must have felt. A trusted friend was about to do the worst possible thing, destroy a friendship with betrayal. ‘It was night’, is how the moment is sparingly described in John’s Gospel.

Some of the most soulful and passionate music emerges out of betrayal, injustice and hardship. As a young singer, Emmylou Harris wrote to a mentor, Pete Seeger, to ask him how she could introduce that note of sadness and suffering to her own singing voice that she found so moving in others. Her mentor replied, ‘Don’t worry about suffering, it’ll come to you, one way or another’.

And, of course, darkness descends whether we anticipate it or not.

Christ who knew the sadness of betrayal, when darkness descends on us, we ask for the courage to bear it. In a world of fragile relationships, enable within us a deep resolve to nurture trust and integrity in our connection with others. Amen.