This is the script of this morning’s Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2’s Zoe Ball Breakfast Show with Gaby Roslin.
I’m trying really hard to hide my envy of anyone who went to Glastonbury. Yet again, I couldn’t be there for two solid reasons: first, it’s the weekend I ordain new clergy in the Diocese of Leeds; second, I didn’t have a ticket. So, a bit of sympathy in the studio would be good!
I did catch some of it on the telly, and I came away feeling like I’d just eaten a dozen rich dinners. It looked and sounded fantastic – even though my own ‘best musician in the world ever’ (Bruce Cockburn) wasn’t there either.
If you did go to Glastonbury, how does it feel coming home to the old routine? Remember that Soul II Soul song: “Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now”? Apart from being a bit worn out and totally over-stimulated, how do you re-enter normal life?
Well, I think it’s a mistake to even think this way. Why? Because what we experience at a great festival IS ‘life’ and IS ‘reality’! Being together with thousands of random people you didn’t choose, uniting non-judgmentally around a shared love of music in all its vast diversity, meeting new people, hearing new stuff, thinking new thoughts, and so on … this is real and is really vital. In one sense, and at its best, it is how life can and, possibly should be.
Now, I’m not naive. Switching off for a few days doesn’t mean challenges go away. And, yes, we know festivals have their dark sides; but, as the great Bruce once said: “Joy will find a way.” And it will.
Did you know that every image in the Bible of heaven is of a great festival and feast? It’s always about joy … together. The people who hated Jesus and, eventually, nailed him, were the joyless pedants who couldn’t or wouldn’t dance. Even his friends, who included a denier, a traitor and a few deserters, struggled with a vision of ultimate human freedom.
So, party on, Glastos ! But, please show some sympathy for those of us who stayed at home. One of these days …
