Tethered or Chained

 I have been reflecting on the difference between being tethered and being chained.  This reflection was inspired by a prayer by Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat:

 

We have become untethered

from the earth that nourishes us,

and from you, O life-giving God, Creator of all.

And untethered, we have lost our roots,

lost our connection to those creatures

that fill us with life and love.

Ground us once more, we pray.

That we may grow ever deeper

in relationship with our creaturely kin and with you.

Amen.

 

If we have become untethered, which I believe we have in many ways, from the world which God created, what does it mean to be tethered to something?  We can be tethered to things.  However, that is different from being chained to things. I associate being tethered in ways that are positive.  There is the wonderful old hymn, Blessed be the Ties that Bind.  To be tethered or tied in that way certainly has the ring of being grounded in something positive in life.  Those things ground us and connect us to the source of our being.  We are on a boat which is tethered or anchored in a safe harbour during a storm as another wonderful hymn exclaims in that cry of hope, Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?

However, being chained has the feeling of being held in captivity.  The chains that held us can be broken and we can be set free.  I can turn to the definition of sin, which is most meaningful for me, those things which chain us to the past and do not allow us to live the life that God intended.  Turning to my favourite song writer, Leonard Cohen, the line says it well, “But there were chains, So I hastened to behave.” 

However, those lyrics are from the song, Show Me the Place.  It is one of Cohen’s last, and it deserves to be better known than it is.  It expresses the conflict between what we are chained to and what we are tethered to.  It expresses the hope that we can break the chains and, instead, become tethered to those same things which will give us the firm foundation in life.  Here are the first two verses which express this hope and challenge:

Show me the place
Where you want your slave to go
Show me the place
I've forgotten, I don't know
Show me the place
For my head is bending low
Show me the place
Where you want your slave to go

Show me the place
Help me roll away the stone
Show me the place
I can't move this thing alone
Show me the place
Where the Word became a man
Show me the place
Where the suffering began

May you be blessed to have your chains transformed to tethers on your journey.