THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS

THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS

I was once in Greece – and it occurs to me that it was exactly 50 years ago – and, with fellow students, romped around an athletics track dating from the ancient Olympic Games. The “modern” games date from the last years of the nineteenth century. The ancient games were only for Greeks but the modern ones are open to the whole world. Huge nations, like the USA which leads the medal table, compete with tiny nations, like the Bahamas which has just won its first ever gold.

Despite the tears and the shenanigans the games is a marvellous celebration of universal brother and sisterhood. Nations drop their political and economic rivalries to compete in a sporting festival that transcends every barrier. The peak moment for me in the 2012 games was a physically disabled runner from Djibouti who took five times as long to complete a race as all the other runners. The whole world watched for seven minutes as he relentlessly completed the course.

The twentieth century was the time when the whole world met. Nations emerged from the shadows and a forum was created where they could each take their place. Universal declarations were agreed that, at least in principle, asserted the dignity, equality, rights and duties of every man, woman and child on the planet. And that forum, the United Nations, has prompted searches for global solutions to global problems such as weapons of war and climate change.

These are remarkable achievements and are a real fulfilment of the poetic language of Isaiah about the “gathering of the nations.” The examples the prophet gave were “Tarshish, Put, Lud, Mosheck, etc.,” – names that mean nothing to us though some can be identified as modern Spain, Libya and parts of Turkey and Greece – countries that represent three continents. The dynamic of our modern “gathering” is now unstoppable despite the challenges of “difference” highlighted by the migration of millions over recent years.

These challenges are real and make us apprehensive. Can we really accept “others” and not just tolerate them? Racial killings in the USA, Brexit in Europe and war in Syria and South Sudan – this time four continents - all tell us how reluctant we can be to accept people who are not “one of us.” My own biggest hurdle was accepting people living with intellectual disabilities. I preferred they stayed away in some place they would be looked after. They had no place in my life – until, that is, I met them and discovered a whole new world I was unaware of which has enriched my life.  

21 August 2016          Sunday 21 C

Isaiah 66:18-21           Hebrews 12:5…13                  Luke 13:22-30