The Holy Caterpillar
by Christopher Lane
Coping with change can be challenging, especially when called to let go of the very things you always believed were unchangeable.
But then what do you suppose goes through the mind of the caterpillar as in the chrysalis all its external organs shrivel up while all the internal ones dissolve into a kind of soup, to be reconstituted into something so amazingly different?
Chris Lane is an Anglican Priest and Chaplain of Carisbrooke Priory on the Isle of Wight, a centre for Christian Healing.
The Holy Caterpillar charts something of his own thoughts on the process of metamorphosis, both from a personal perspective and through the observation of others, all in the context of his Christian faith.
The first three chapters ‘Birth, Death & Resurrection’ explore a personal experience of these life-changing events. Chapter Four, ‘Acquisitiveness’, looks at the universal urge to ‘gain by oneself and for oneself’ and the final chapter ‘Change’ brings things to a head, as happened for the author when twenty years ago his nephew and godson came out. The book does not profess to be a defining scholarly statement. Difficult and elusive issues are in part addressed through poems and the whole lump is leavened with some delightful cartoons by Rupert Besley.
Rupert is a professional cartoonist who features each week in the local paper and whose postcards have gone countrywide.
The author’s hope and prayer is that others browsing among the leaves of The Holy Caterpillar may find some help in dealing with difficult issues, not least the challenge to change what you thought was unchangeable.
