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
