TRAPPED IN A DARK CAVE

TRAPPED IN A DARK CAVE

Two stories dominate the news; the World Cup, with its agony and elation, and the boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand.  Both have brought the whole world together but especially the second.  In the Thai drama, ten teenage boys and their coach on an outing to underground caves were suddenly surrounded by a flash flood and found safety on a raised section of the cave.  It took days for them to be discovered by which time they were short of food and their flash light batteries were running low.

Methodically their intended rescuers planned to bring them oxygen and teach them to dive and swim under water to safety.  Skilled underwater swimmers made the six hour journey against the current – and the five hour return journey with it - many times to prepare the boys for their swim to freedom.  One lost his life in the effort.  He is the honoured hero of the moment.  Political, religious and cultural differences fades away as the world watches.

Once again, we see a drama, an accident - even a tragedy- drawng us together and reminding us of our common humanity.  What we have together far outweights the differences we make so much of. Can we find our lumbering way back to Bethlehem to be reborn? (W.B.Yeats)

This Sunday we read of Jesus, in his first coming, returning to Nazareth and being rejected by his own folk.  “Who does he think he is with all his words and signs?  He is just a carpenter, son of Joseph and Mary.  We know him.  All those other people are foolish gullible people taken in by him.”  We are told: “He was amazed at their lack of faith.”  They were stuck and could not rise above the horizon of their provincial town and see the wider world.

We have come a long way since that squalid scene in Nazareth.  People of every country under heaven roam the streets of,for example, Dublin and London and I was helped through Dublin airport recently by a staff member from Nigeria. So many from other countrys causes unease, apprehension and fear.  But it is also a source of opportunity, creativity and new life. It all needs much work and sensitivity for it to work.

The boys trapped in the dark cave have brought the world together for a moment.  There are many more dark caves to be illumined by imagination and courage.  

8 July 2018                              Sunday 14 B

Exodus 2:2-5                           2 Corinthians 12:7-10             Mark 6:1-6