Time to Hunker Down?

 

As the snow began to fall, I said “It looks like time to hunker down”, to which Doug responded by asking what the phrase actually means. I had meant that we weren’t going to be able to go out for a while, so we had better make ourselves as comfortable as possible and continue to work from home. It turns out it is an Americanism!

Hunkering down can mean crouching, as in “she hunkered over the heater” – good idea! – so I was right. It can also mean to apply oneself seriously to a task – so I was right again! It can also mean being prepared to stay in a specific place or situation for whatever time is necessary either for protection or to achieve something. Spot on! I am getting into this hunkering down.

We do need to hunker down. We need to do all we can to keep warm and to stay safe, and we need to be ready to act. In spiritual terms, to spend prayerful and contemplative time with God, for the good of our souls and to direct our lives. Yet the implication of action also fits, for our faith implies that, like Jesus – sometimes described as The Man For Others – we need to be faithful people seeking to pray for those in need, and to give care and support in whatever way is possible.

Sometimes, when we are not in lockdown (soon, please) the church seems to remain hunkered down.  It is right to hunker down in prayer and worship, but then we are called to hunker down in achieving God’s purposes in living and sharing the gospel. We need to recover our confidence that now and in the future we can do that hunkering in a way that those we meet will encounter something of God’s presence in our lives, in our midst. For Jesus hunkered down with us, and we live for him.