A crack in everything

I HAVE a confession – I love the music of Leonard Cohen and I believe that the world become a poorer place when he died back in 2016. My favourite song and lyric is Anthem, which contains the lines:

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect of ering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in

These words remind me that in spite of the masks people wear and the images of coni dence and self-assurance that we like to project, we are all broken in some way. There’s a crack in everything, not one of us is perfect and, in any case, most ideas of perfection are just projections of the world the way we would like it to be. The message, however, of Leonard Cohen’s poem is that it is in the places where we are most vulnerable and at the times when we are most dependent on others that we can experience some of the deepest things in life, because it’s through the cracks that the light gets in.

The world is also a poorer place since earlier this year we lost that extraordinary figure and spiritual giant, Jean Vanier. Vanier was the founder of L’Arche, an international federation of communities serving the needs of people with developmental disabilities, their families and their carers. What Jean Vanier discovered in life was the way in which those with learning disabilities had the capacity to enrich the lives of others and shine a light in the darkness of our self-absorption. Dr Pamela Cushing, who worked with Jean Vanier in L’Arche, said of him: “[His] fundamental contributions to our understanding of ‘being human’ were informed by his deep yet inquisitive faith and his philosophical training, but were inspired in the main, by his transformative experiences of sharing life with people with developmental disability.”

I once had the privilege of being in Jean Vanier’s company – it was a most extraordinary and uplifting experience. Without a hint of self-importance or conceit his presence i lled the room. His holiness was palpable, his humility utterly genuine and his presence was as relaxed as it was warm. People who worked with him considered him to be one of those ‘living saints’, but he was completely unmoved by such accolades. His great longing was to help people to know and live with Jesus – whom he spoke of as one might speak of a close friend. And he believed that Jesus was to be found through encounters with the poorest and weakest in society and, in particular, in those with mental disabilities. It was through the cracks that he saw the light of Christ shine in.

In Jean Vanier’s own words, “The cry for help and the trust that spring from the heart of a fragile person give him or her a secret power that can open many a closed heart. The weakest can activate forces of loving generosity that are hidden in the hearts of the strong.” I will never forget sitting beside Jean Vanier and wondering – where did such composure and profound spirituality come from? I know now that it found its way through the cracks in the vulnerable lives with whom he lived.

There’s a crack in everything, not one of us is perfect.

When I think of some of the raging egos that stalk the corridors of power, I wish that alongside the jobs they do, they had to volunteer one day week in a learning support centre – what might that do to the tone of their tweets and the priorities of their politics? And it would do no harm if volunteering at a disability learning centre was a compulsory part of training for the ministries of the church. Intellectual ability is one essential ingredient of ministry, but just as important is emotional intelligence and it’s through the cracks that we develop this capacity which is the storeroom of compassion, empathy and self-awareness.