No More Heroes?

They say you should never meet your heroes.  I caught the wisdom of that early in my life.  Aged about ten and living in walking distance from a certain football stadium, myself and some pals would stand outside waiting for our heroes to appear hoping for autographs.  They were mostly accommodating and might even engage in some chat.  Others, however, couldn’t get past you quick enough muttering stuff that was best not to hear.  Needless to say the next time you saw them on the field of play your estimation of them was somewhat tarnished.  It’s true to say, there is only one way off a pedestal.

So now to Georges Simenon.  I enjoy crime crime novels and there are few better than those that involve Paris based Commissaire Jules Maigret.  I first discovered the Maigret novels in my local library when I qualified for an adult ticket and they very soon became a favourite choice.  They were short, easy to read and you didn’t have to reach for the dictionary every two pages.  

Reading a biography of Simenon recently I have discovered that this was deliberate.  Like any writer Simenon wanted people to hear his message so why make it difficult for them?  That was his style even when he wrote what he called his more ‘serious’ work.  Not the usual crime fiction but novels which explored human psychology with some emphasis on the dark side. These met with much acclaim in the literary community with many placing Simenon among the best writers of the twentieth century.

The biography, however, does not hold back in opening up Simenon’s personal life.  As great as his literary achievement undoubtedly is, it apparently came from a broken and disordered life.  Alcohol, promiscuity, greed all feature prominently.  Not that this puts me off his work.  It’s a familiar story with many writers.  Often the greatest work emerges from less than attractive lives.  I regard this as evidence of the grace of God in operation.  

The Bible begins with God as a Creator of immense power bringing the whole Universe into being. He remains the source of all creative achievement in music, art, writing, architecture and science.  Even those artists, musicians and writers who have no personal faith in God testify to something working beyond themselves in their creations.  The poet Edwin Morgan was an atheist and yet he once said in an interview that he never completed a poem without feeling that it was in some way ‘given’.  God can be at work in lives that are not consciously open to Him in order to enrich the lives of all humankind.  This is what John Calvin called ‘common grace.’  

We may balk at the lifestyle of some of our cultural heroes but this need not negate our admiration of their achievements.  What we are seeing is more evidence of the grace of God working in broken lives.   

Strangers On A Bus.

 The bus was packed and I found myself sitting next to a woman I didn’t know.  ‘Busy bus,’ I said.  She nodded agreement and that I thought would be that.  But then we passed an incident on the pavement.  Two police officers were dealing with two kids who looked to be around twelve years of age.  The woman muttered something about too many kids these days being out of control, and somehow that seemed to open a door for her to tell me something of her own troubles.

I couldn’t make out everything she was saying.  The bus was noisy.  Kids again!  Bur I caught her drift.  She was looking after an elderly relative who was quite demanding and needed constant attention. She received some help from carers but it was off and on and not enough to make a real difference.  Today she had managed to get a few hours to herself and had done some shopping in Paisley.  

This was all unloaded on a complete stranger but it was obvious she needed someone to listen.  It made we wonder how many people we come up against in the course of a day who are carrying burdens and have difficulty coping.  A great Christian theologian wrote about the gospels having ‘the ring of truth.’  And they chime a familiar note in Jesus’ encounters with troubled men and women and His response to them.  The centurion caring for a sick servant,  Jairus and his critically ill daughter, the Canaanite woman and her demon-possessed daughter. These are just a few examples.  And Jesus’ response is always the same.  When he saw a woman mourning the loss of her son we are told that ‘his heart went out to her.’  (Luke 7: 14).  There is no reason to believe that His response would be any different to any burdened people.  

The conversation on the bus lasted less than ten minutes which is not much time too be with someone so dispirited.   What is left is to pray that being present, listening and offering some words of encouragement will make a difference and perhaps move her to find some more continuous support.  

But I go back to the thought that there are so many like my stranger on the bus to whom the words of Jesus might bring the ultimate assurance:

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’  (Matthew 11: 28)