BREAKING THE SPIRAL
On 14 June we celebrated a 100th
birthday with a difference. The centenarian wasn’t there. He was already in a
‘far better place’ these past 42 years. John Bradburne was shot dead near
Mutemwa on 5 September 1979. He was such an extraordinary person that his name soon
became known far and wide. In thanksgiving for his life, we celebrated the
Eucharist with a Covid crowd of about 80 near the hut from which he was
abducted. I recalled the times, fifty years ago, when we used to sit near this
same hut while John regaled us with his observations on life. We shared a
lasagne cooked by Dr Luisa Guidotti in a vain attempt to put some flesh on John
who tended to live on lactogen and coffee – and chocolate when he could get it!
If you are unfamiliar with John’s
story, he was an Englishman who lived through terrifying action during the
second world war in the far east. On returning home, he sought to live out the
inspirations he had received during his first 25 years of life. These led him
to a monastery in the south west of England not far from where the G7 gathered
recently. But the life of a monk was not what he was called to and he began to
search again and came to discover his happiness in silence and solitude – a
life he pursued for almost another 25 years – until he came to Mutemwa.
There he found he could combine
his intense search for God with a profound service of the most abandoned and
vulnerable of people – those living with leprosy. The last decade of his life
were dedicated to these two goals which were really one. The world being ‘the
way we have made it’, he soon became embroiled in jealousies, misunderstandings
and open hostility – just like Jesus. And, like Jesus, he was killed.
The way he pushed out the
frontiers of what it is to be human has attracted people ever since and so it
was fitting that we celebrate his birthday into this world. This ‘world’ was
not far away even at our celebration. Our particularly Zimbabwean world
manifested itself: The technical people, who were to broadcast the event, were
more than three hours late and when they did arrive made no apology to the people
living with leprosy or anyone else. They just seemed to presume everyone would
wait for them. Forty years ago I would have got irritated and impatient. Today
I find I just accept it. ‘This is Zimbabwe, get used to it!’ Well, I have got
used to it, me and all the people of the country. But am I proud of, at last, learning to ‘go
with the flow’? I should not be. None of us should. The lack of accountability,
the taking people for granted, is now a spiral of disrespect that has got out
of hand. We have created a jungle of selfishness where the weakest are of no
account. John gave his life ‘pushing back’ against this lava flow which is
engulfing us. We have to break this spiral. Otherwise, it will break us.
20 June 2021 Sunday 12B Job
38:1,8-11 2 Cor 5:14-17 Mark 4:35-41
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