Finger pointing

Our Bishop, Bishop Rachel, wrote this week about Ash Wednesday. She began by noticing the way that in the argument in the Oval Office last week between President Trump, Vice President Vance and President Zelensky, there was a lot of physical finger pointing, pointing out the faults of the ‘other side’.

The Prophet Isaiah says this:

If you remove from among you
the pointing of the finger
the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry 
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.

Finger pointing, blaming and shaming, speaking evil of each other, can be incredibly divisive and damaging. It also takes our focus away from where we could be looking – noticing the needs of those around us – and maybe noticing the good that we would otherwise miss.

In a recent Thought for the Day on the radio Martin Wroe commented on how there is news all around us that we will miss if we only focus on the news that we are pointed to by the media and by our phones. There is healing news as well as breaking news. He mentions the carer he sees each day pushing his wheelchair-using adult son to the shops, always buoyant and cheerful, and person who cuts his hair, who goes out of her way to look after her vulnerable customers.

I wonder who we might notice in our world, if we redirect our attention away from events over which we have no influence and towards the people around us. Brian Draper says this:

Perhaps the first simple yet vital step is to pay attention to what we pay attention to. To notice to whom and to what we give that precious gift away, from morning to night.

Bishop Rachel went on to write about the connection between pointing and Ash Wednesday. She says this:

Ash Wednesday is a day of pointing and the offer of transformation and hope. As we submit to crosses of ash being marked on our foreheads, we will be pointing at ourselves – at our sin and our participation in the brokenness of our world; yet we will also be pointing ourselves to God’s unchanging love, forgiveness and mercy, revealed in Jesus Christ.

Lent can be a time to stop pointing at others, and to look hard at ourselves. We can do that because Jesus looks at us with a steady gaze of love – love which sees us as we are, but still loves us. ‘Has no one condemned you’, he says to the woman who has been the subject of much finger pointing. ‘Neither do I condemn you…’

All this reminded me of an icon that I love.

Jesus stands alongside Abba Menas. Abba Menas looks a little pale and small beside Jesus -perhaps aware of his brokenness. Jesus does not use his hand to point out his friend’s faults. Instead, he puts his arm around the shoulder of the monk.

Abba Menas is pointing his finger. He is pointing towards Jesus. Maybe this can be an invitation to us for Lent – an invitationto direct our attention differently – to spend this time pointing ourselves towards Jesus, so that we can be living pointers to him.

Spend a few moments becoming aware of to whom and to what you give the precious gift of your attention…

Lord of love, set us free from all that wrongly captures our attention.

Lord of love, in this time of Lent, may we learn to let go of ‘the pointing of the finger’.

Lord of love, help us to trust in your all knowing, all forgiving and all loving embrace, and so face the truth about ourselves without fear.