Finding our Middle – 40 Days with Anna

Day 0 – Shrove Tuesday

To Read:  From the Introduction by Vernon Sproxton

….some readers may remain incredulous. They will ask, ‘Is it true?’  Now I happen to believe that it is true in the way they are asking the question.  But then I know Fynn.  I have seen the documents in the case:  the notes, the drawings, the essays, the music.  But there is a sense in which the relics have nothing to do with the truth of this, any more than the truth of the myth of the Garden of Eden would be enhanced by the discovery of a fossilized apple with a couple of bites taken from it!

What is Truth?  Pilate raised the question and wisely declined to answer it, realizing no doubt that all political truth is necessarily tainted. But Sören Kierkegaard did make an attempt at answering the same question;  …the truth, he wrote, is what ennobles.  It is, in other words, that which makes you a better being.

It is in that realm that the truth of Mister God, This Is Anna is finally to be found.  It is an ennobling tale which greatly widens our perception and touches the heart.  And it does so in a way which defies the processes of logic.  We cannot find words to explain how it works its spell. But, as Solzhenitsyn wrote in his Nobel prize speech, ‘Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into the realm beyond words…  It is like that small mirror in the fairy tales – you glance in it and what you see is not yourself;  for an instant you glimpse the Inaccessible, where no horse or magic carpet can take you.  And the soul cries out for it.’

…and from the Introduction by Fynn

‘The difference from a person and an angel is easy.  Most of an angel is in the inside and most of a person is on the outside.’  These are the words of six-year-old Anna, sometimes called Mouse, Hum or Joy.  At five years Anna knew absolutely the purpose of being, knew the meaning of love and was a personal friend and helper of Mister God.  At six Anna was a theologian, mathematician, philosopher, poet and gardener.  If you asked her a question you would always get an answer – in due course.  On some occasions the answer would be delayed for weeks or months;  but eventually, in her own good time, the answer would come: direct, simple and much to the point.

She never made eight years, she died by an accident.  She died with a grin on her beautiful face.  She died saying, ‘I bet Mister God lets me get into heaven for this’, and I bet he did too…..

From the Scriptures:

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  (John 16v12-13)

To Reflect:

Much has been written about the origins of the story of Anna and her friend Fynn.  

To some it may seem that the wisdom that pours forth from a homeless waif in the East of London is too much to believe – yet it remains true.

Others may feel that the stories are a mélange of Fynn’s thoughts and the chatterings of a child discovering words and life at the same time – yet they remain true.

Still others may want to dismiss the whole account as a farrago of nonsense and can be dismissed and ignored – but truth will not be so easily dismissed.

Regular readers of these Lenten Reflections will know that I have a firm belief that truth is found in many and varied ways and places – previous reflections have been about the Velveteen Rabbit, Narnia, and Winnie the Pooh.

Something does not to have actually happened for it to show us the way to the truth.  (I have often commented that ‘Red Riding Hood’ is a ‘true’ story because it teaches a truth).

Wherever you find yourself on this day before Lent, a season of truth-seeking for the faithful, decide to take the hand of this homeless waif from the East End of London and allow her to introduce you to her friend Mister God.  

Who knows perhaps come Easter Day we will be able with Anna say;

‘I bet Mister God lets me get into heaven for this’

Please Note:  These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Bluesky as @suffolkvicar.bsky.social, and on my public Facebook page  Suffolk Vicar – Rev Andrew Dotchin.  If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to revdotchin@gmail.com

If you have enjoyed reading them please make a donation to The Clergy Support Trust who provided a  generous grant to help me find the space to compose them.