Saying 'SORRIE'

Part of my Lent reading this year is Mark Oakley’s My Sour-Sweet Days. He takes from George Herbert’s poems, one a day, and then offers commentary on them. Herbert (1593-1633) is a poet who reflected on what Oakley calls “humanity’s inner being, the benefits of honesty, the mystery and love of God and what can be made of religion in a world of projections.”

In the poem that I read earlier today – ‘Sinnes Round’ (Oakley retains Herbert’s spelling) – we have, as Oakley says, “a penitential prayer, each stanza focusing in turn on sins of thought, word and deed.”

Sin is not a popular concept these days. We tend rather to explain our wrongdoings away. That is all very well, but it doesn’t eliminate the damage they do. I think one of the most startling things of these days in which we face the challenge and the uncertainty of the impact of Coranavirus is the way in which the supermarket shelves have been unnecessarily stripped. How can we behave like that? We should be ashamed of ourselves! I watched a health worker in tears on the TV news last night. ‘There is nothing left for us because it has all been taken while we are busy caring for you.’

As Mark Oakley says, commenting on this poem, “Herbert’s poem is a timely reminder that the things which matter most in life – trust, love, compassion, kindness, courage – all increase as we share them. Unlike money and power, where if I win you lose …… To sin means to live a life curved in on itself, feeding on its own poisons and leaking acids over those who unhappily find themselves close by. It is a circle that needs to be broken. Recognition is the first step of salvation. To say ‘sorrie’ is the second.”

Quite!!