Great meditation here from Mark Berry.

I particularly like the Celtic link with St Brendan. I’ve loved for ages the prayer of St Brendan the Navigator in the daily prayer book of the Northumbria Community, which is subtitled ‘a call to risky living’.

It reminds me of my earlier, younger, faith when I would do anything. It causes me to ask hard questions of myself and consider why I stopped. It encourages me to start to take those risks again. Old trendy ‘No Fear’ sayings come to mind such as ‘if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room’.

I used to believe I was living on the edge. I used to think I was taking risks. I think, actually, I stepped towards the edge, tried out a few things, but never really got right to the edge, never really took any significant risks. I wonder whether I have really ever been truly out of my comfort zone. I doubt it.

I think I am struggling with a fair bit of stuff at the moment. How do I achieve a balance between family life and risk taking? What sort of risks should I be taking for the sake of the gospel? What is ‘living on the edge’ as a reality, what doe it mean? All those questions can melt into one … what is the gospel to those around me?

For the next few days I am pondering these words of St Brendan:

‘Have I the faith to leave old ways
and break fresh ground with God?’