A CHINESE MAN GETS UP AND GOES

A CHINESE MAN GETS UP AND GOES

I have just seen a delightful eleven minute film, YU MING IS AINM DOM,[1] about a young Chinese man who, bored by his routine job, searches the internet for appealing prospects overseas. He decides on Ireland and, with Chinese determination, sets about learning the language via the internet. There is a clip of him talking to himself in the mirror in Irish while he shaves. He duly takes a plane and lands in Dublin and is immediately puzzled why people cannot understand him.

At the end of his tether he goes into a bar where they look at him quizzically as he perseveres in asking where he can get work, where he can stay. The barman, who happens to be Australian, tries to be helpful though he thinks the man is speaking Chinese.  But salvation is at hand. Leaning on the bar with his glass of Guinness is one of the 1% of Irish people who do speak Irish and he engages the Chinese man in conversation – in Irish. The short film ends with the Chinese visitor employed in the Irish speaking part of the country in a bar himself where he becomes a local celebrity.

It is a simple moving story but it does show up the saying we often hear: Have the courage to be different! You do not have to settle for ‘what everyone does’. A person can strike out on her or his own. If you don’t manage all the research – you’d be excused for thinking they speak Irish in Ireland – it may add to the adventure.

Our pre-Covid 19 world was peer driven. There was a dominant culture which seduced people into its ways.  I am thinking of the rise of fashions, like being wired to gadgets, to which many felt drawn to conform. And, paradoxically, I am thinking of the assertion of individualism, meaning a focus on one’s own life to the exclusion of compassion for others.

Along comes Covid 19 with its ability to penetrate ‘locked doors’ and reach every corner of the planet.  Suddenly our lives are utterly changed.  All predictions of economic growth wither and the opposite of growth is the norm even for the richest societies on earth. Suddenly each of us is faced with questions about our life style, the spontaneous choices we make and the values of which our choices are the expression.

And it all happens at Easter: a time when a seed was sown in the human family that would take centuries, millennia, to mature. No longer was humankind to be swept along by forces beyond its control. Individuals could make decisions that reversed the headlong flow of evil forces which enticed people to slavery and despair. In the first century an Ethiopian (Acts 8:32) ‘urged Philip to get in and sit by his side’ and explain what this new way was all about and, in the last, a young girl, Sophie Scholl, and her friends stood up to Hitler’s tyranny even if it meant losing her life.

Easter is the celebration of the gift of courage to ‘get up and go’. This has to be done by free men and women. The young man from China, who ended up in the West of Ireland, is a parable.  That he comes from China, the place where the virus originated, is coincidental but fitting.  He blundered into a new life where found his true self – perhaps for the first time.

26 April 2020     Easter Sunday 3 A     Acts 2:14, 22-28       1 Pet 1:17-21      Luke 24:13-35      

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[1] https://ifiplayer.ie/yu-ming-is-ainm-dom/

OF GRACE AND GRIEF

Near where I live there is a graveyard ‘in which no one has yet been buried’.  Someone had the idea of investing in the dead and bought a large piece of land and crisscrossed it with pristine roads that would be the joy of our suburbs. That was all some time ago but up to now, as I walk its perimeters, there is no sign of death or burial. I ask a man, who seems like a caretaker, when they would start to bury people. ‘There will soon be a pilot project’, he said. A pilot project?  I continue on my way, baffled, as the images of the mass burials in New York come to mind.

Death is such an enemy! For Paul, reflecting ever deeper on the mystery of God’s death, it is the visible sign of Sin. And Sin, like Death, touches all of us. No one can say they are ‘without sin’ even though we are quick to cast stones. For Paul, the whole world was under the power of Sin and Death, two enemies of human nature personified in Satan or the devil. These days we are remembering that death on Calvary, and what happened afterwards.

Up till then death was the end.  People erected tomb stones to ease their pain and then walked away. But this death changed everything. No human being could overcome the awful virus of Sin and Death that had entered the world.  Only someone from outside humanity could do that and God entered humanity precisely for that purpose. He ‘carried our offences’ and the ‘burden of our guilt was laid on him’. What we celebrate these days is the victory over Sin and Death. They no longer have power over us.

But we need the grace, the life-giving power, of God to make this truth our own.  Otherwise it will pass us by.  We cannot grieve ‘for ourselves or for our children’ unless we have the grace to grieve. Sorrow is a grace, a gift.  We know it can set us on a new track – in our relationships, the way we work and so forth. But we cannot force sorrow.  We have to wait for it.  A therapist has to wait for her patient to understand, to ‘come to their senses’. Sorrow and grief are life-giving. We have only to look at the woman who covered Jesus’ feet with her tears.  She was a new person.  The prodigal son was a far better man after his tears than he was before.

And so we come back to Calvary and the empty tomb. They are not two events but one.  Jesus is the one who ‘passed through (our human misery) … and entered the sanctuary once and for all’ (Hebrews 9:11-12).  It is a decisive moment of universal and eternal meaning. No wonder we will spend the next forty days rejoicing.

19 April 2020               Easter 2 A

Acts 2:42-47                1 Peter 1:3-9                 John 20:19-31

AN EASTER CRISIS

AN EASTER CRISIS

Where is God in all this? Every question is related to the one asking it! So here we can reply to this question with another one: where are you expecting God to be? Are you expecting him to have prevented this? Or are you expecting him to come to our rescue now? As has often been pointed out, a crisis is a moment of decision (from the Greek krino, decide). A cyclone, a drought, an economic collapse – all these are crises in the sense we often use the word, meaning a disaster.  But a crisis is also an opportunity, an opportunity to choose.  

While the world is in mourning for the many who have died and the countless millions whose lives have been affected, many have commented on the beneficial effects of the corona virus pandemic. Suddenly we breathe the clean air of our cities and can hear the birds sing.  Suddenly people are becoming aware of each other and their dependence on each other, not just for the benefits of daily life but even for survival. And people are asking what all this means at a deeper level for the choices we have made as people of the twenty first century.

This year Good Friday will be different, not just for Christians who pause to consider the Lord’s death and who come to venerate his cross, but for everyone. You can see it in the media.  The world’s leaders are putting their grand plans in the ‘PENDING’ tray while they grapple with, what they may see as, this unwelcome intrusion. Maybe it is unwelcome? But it is a moment of truth: a moment when, not only leaders, but all people who have the power to choose (the majority don’t) look hard at the decisions we have made in designing the way we live on our planet.

There are two decisions we have to look at. First there was God’s decision in creating this wonderful world which he planned for us to prepare us for an even more wonderful fullness we can only dimly glimpse at the moment. The second decision was ours. How would we receive this gift? In a word, we messed up. His plan went horribly wrong and, to go back to the question in the first paragraph above, he intervened. He did this in an almost incredible way by coming in the flesh, bearing all our burdens and showing us the way. We, being who we are, rejected him and led him out of the city and killed him. But God, being who he is, remained faithful to his plan and broke out of the tomb and made his purpose clear in a way people could never have grasped before.

The first decision is unalterable. The second still depends on us.  Each year at Easter we are asked, ‘Will you come with me?’ Will you make this world a better place for my brothers and sisters? If you say ‘yes’ and mean it, if you ‘lose your life’ in your decision, you will find it is a far better place for you too.      

12 April 2020              Easter Sunday

Acts 10:34 … 43         Colossians 3:1-4          John 20:1-9   

Lazarus

Dear Reader

It is likely that you will not be able to go to your church this Sunday because of the danger of contracting this virus or passing it on to others.

But you may wish to spend a little time in virtual union, communion, with others in the presence of the Lord.  So here are a few suggestions.

1. Choose a quiet place, gather your thoughts and spend a few moments placing yourself in the presence of God and asking his mercy on his people in this crisis.

2. Read John 11:1-45 pondering the scenes, the people and what is said.

3. The following thoughts may help you. John calls the miracles of Jesus ‘signs’ and signs, as we know, are not the real thing.  A signpost indicating ‘Harare’ is very different from Harare itself. John gives us few miracles; by my count, just six. Yes, people are cured or saved embarrassment (water into wine) or fed (bread in the wilderness) or, as with Lazarus, their very life is restored. But none of these events, dramatic as they are, are John’s account of Jesus’ message. They have no particular value except for what they point to.  And what they point to hasn’t yet happened when the miracles were performed.

So they are only signs or goods given on a trial basis.  If you are not satisfied you get your money back! And ‘the Jews’ were not satisfied and ‘walked with him no more.’

The real meaning and value, the real event they all point to, is the event we will recall on Friday week, April 10^th. Each year we are invited to go deeper into the Passion and stretch our minds and hearts to try to grasp what God has done for us on Good Friday. The little word, ‘for’, carries such weight! The scriptures tell us in many places - and Paul in particular in his letter to the Romans – that we were ‘helpless’ and under the power of Sin and Death. We could not save ourselves. It was as if we could do nothing about the corona virus: we are totally in its power.

We could only be saved by someone coming from outside, someone who was more powerful than we are. That person would have to win the battle ‘for’ us. But in order to do that he would have to be one like us and enter the struggle we experience every day in which we are defeated by Sin and Death. That is the crucial contest of men and women of every age and Israel, after the exile in Babylon, just simply gave up on it.

Jesus experienced that struggle in the garden, on the cross and even in his ‘descent into hell.’ His contemporaries did not know who he was and ‘did not know what they were doing’ when they crucified him. But we know. And so each year we follow the signs.  They all lead to Calvary and to our joy.       

4.  You could then end with a prayer in your own words, closing with the Our Father.

AND NOW IT IS HERE

AND NOW IT IS HERE

There is that moment when a crisis moves from ‘them’ to ‘us’. I sense it is happening this week in Zimbabwe. For weeks we have seen the reports about China (far way), Europe (a little nearer) and now South Africa and Zambia (next door).  Now it is here. We are waking up to what we have known for so long. What happens ‘there’ is bound sooner or later to happen ‘here’. Those far places have been taking ‘unprecedented’ – how much that word is being used – steps to contain and treat the virus. And they are able to do so because their economies can stretch to ‘unprecedented’ measures that will strain their resources for a while but, as they say, ‘we will bounce back’ and they will.

But now it is here. And we have none of those resources. In the emergency they have built hospitals in a week, provided face masks, ventilators and all the equipment – and they have been stretched to the limit to do so. They have been told to work from home, shop on line, avoid bars, clubs, concerts, football games, – even walks in the park unless they keep a good distance from others. They are organising their communities to deliver food to the housebound and the ‘locked downs’.

These instructions grate on us. The concept of ‘working from home’ or ‘shopping on line’ can only apply to a small fraction of our people. The vast majority have to congregate to survive. They have to go to work on crowded commuters, work and live in close proximity to others. Water, soap and paper disposable towels are a challenge to find. Face masks and all the other equipment are not widely available.

If we cannot contain this virus it will cut a swathe of death through our people and heaven knows where it will end. In China the government can make a decision and it is obeyed immediately throughout society.  In Europe the governments can make the same decision but people have to be persuaded to obey. Forcing them is always a last resort. What will happen here?

As so often in a crisis, people ask where God is in this. Well, God did not send this to teach us a lesson. He does not work that way. We brought it on ourselves by our own choice in a way we do not yet understand.  But God is with us in this as in every crisis. He always accompanies us, at times in compassion and at other times in delight. He is certainly with us now in compassion, suffering with us.  And he is working in this, in ways we do not understand, to bring new life out of this catastrophe. 

Today it happens that the readings open with the words; ‘Now I create… a new earth’ (Isaiah 65:17).  What are we to make of such words in the midst of the corona virus? Our response is twofold; first we are to believe that God really means what he says even if we see no signs at the moment; and second we have to do everything we can to push back against the virus in every imaginative way we can.  It is an invitation to reach out to others in ways that perhaps we have not done hitherto.     

     

A SILVER LINING

Cyclones, tsunamis, floods, droughts, fires and plagues! They have always been there but now, with worldwide communications, we know immediately what is happening where.  Mostly we can say, ‘it affects them’ and we contribute our resources and our prayers. But with this latest plague – the corona virus – it affects us, wherever we are. It cannot be contained locally despite the best efforts of the most advanced nations in Asia, Europe and North America.   In fact these are the continents most affected. They are the places most traveled to and from.

Globalisation has brought many benefits but we are realising that it has also brought many costs. America gets much attention in the media and it is noticeable that this virus has really knocked them off course.  Their president has his eyes on his ‘approval ratings’ but he also has his eyes on the stock markets. This virus is making them plunge.  This is awkward for him and distracting from his re-election bid. It is exposing the vulnerability of a country that preens itself on being ‘great’. They cannot even provide health care for their citizens or sick pay.

So Corona – the word means ‘crown’ – is a shock to the system of the most powerful nation.  In the long run it might help them become a more caring society.  Politicians, nearly everywhere, are urging people to ‘think of others’. Don’t visit your old folk in homes.  You may carry the virus unknowingly. Wash your hands lest, in greeting others or doing anything for others, you may transmit the virus. Don’t, as we do, put your hand to your mouth or nose when you sneeze or cough.  Your hand may become a carrier. And we are told many such ‘dos’ and ‘don'ts’ so as to show our care for others.

I do not think I have heard politicians speak so emphatically about ‘caring for others’ before this plague, or pandemic, hit us.  This is something we would like to see become contagious! Every culture must have its equivalent to the English proverb, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. It conveys the fact that women and men in every age have proved their worth by struggling against obstacles in their path.

The Corona virus is, to my thinking, the first truly global challenge in history – even more intrusive to our lives than climate change.  Suddenly the daily bulletins coming out of an office in Geneva, Switzerland, which most of us have never heard of, is top of the news every day. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, Secretary General of the World Health Organisation, is the most listened to person on the planet. This has to be a ‘silver lining’.

15 March 2020                      Lent Sunday 3 A

Exodus 17:3-7                        Romans 5:1…8                      John 4:5-42

COME AND DIE

COME AND DIE

‘When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die’ (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship). Bonhoeffer was one of those who realised the rise of  Adolf Hitler meant Germany was entering a time when law, culture, tradition, religion – every area of life – would be subject to an all-embracing power, pursued for its own sake.  The Nazis followed no rules, were guided by no moral code, were restrained by no beliefs – beyond their own lust to dominate and create a reich, a kingdom, which glorified their own twisted satisfaction.

To a greater or lesser degree that has been the way of malign dictatorships from the beginning. To stand up before such a power and protest, as Bonhoeffer and others in Germany at the time did, took and – even today – takes the kind of moral courage that I, and many of us, do not have. If the season of Lent is to have any bite with us we can at least lament its absence in a world that needs people like Bonhoeffer.

He did eventually pay the ultimate price when he was hanged as the war was ending but it was the climax of a long period of preparation. Bonhoeffer prayed and reflected and wrote over many years.  The words quoted at the beginning of this piece were not those of a man trotting out platitudes he had just thought up. He knew the words could well apply to him. He struggled with what his Christian faith might mean when faced with a political regime that is only motivated by its own power and preservation.

If we ‘are doing something for Lent’ at the moment it could well include some prayer and reflection on the theme of moral courage.  When we look at examples of it – Martin Luther King or the Dr Li Wenliang who, despite opposition, alerted China about the corona virus – we know these men did not get up in the morning and say, ‘I will make a stand today’. They were able to do what they did because they had prepared themselves by the choices they had made over many years.   

Still, the words of Bonhoeffer stop us in our tracks.  We read that Jesus said, ‘Come, follow me’ but the extra bit, ‘and die’, we do not include even though Jesus implied it when he talked of ‘losing your life’. Still, we hesitate.  Surely he meant, ‘Come follow me and you will be happy’.  Yes we will be happy, but first we must die. Not in the death that is inevitable when we part this life but in the death we are called to each day.  If we are faithful to these ‘little’ deaths we will be ready when the big one comes – the one where I find I have the moral courage to protest.

I often hear people say, ‘can’t the Church do something about our situation?’ The short answer is the Church will never do anything unless the members of the Church – you and I – want it to.  This ‘wanting’ is not just a woolly wish but the hard determined ‘wanting’ of which the people who have their eyes fixed on the benefits of this world give us such a focused example. This Sunday we have that ‘high’ moment in the life of Jesus when he allows his friends to have a glimpse of him in glory on the mountain. When they get carried away by the experience he tells them to ‘tell no one until the Son of Man has risen for the dead.’  Death is the way to life here on earth.

8 March 2020              Lent Sunday 2 A          Gen 12 1-4         2 Tim 1:8-10 Matt 17 !-9