Taking a Jew by the sleeve

Taking a Jew by the sleeve

Ten men from nations of every language will take a Jew by the sleeve and say; we want to go with you, since we have learnt that God is with you. (Zech. 8:23)

We are in Advent, the season which celebrates ‘the coming’ of the Messiah, the longed-for-one. Advent is heavy with quotations from Isaiah, a prophet whose constant theme was the fulfilment of the promises. Perhaps we can begin by remembering just how much we owe to the Jewish people who, in their faltering way, welcomed the ‘Son of Man.’ It reads like a fragile tale laced through with one, two or a small ‘remnant’ holding on to the hope. There was Abraham and the patriarchs, Moses and Elijah, the writers of the psalms, the prophets and the whole story narrows down to Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph. They were few but they held the treasure. There is a modern equivalent in the Muslims of Timbuktu who have preserved their scriptures for centuries in their desert city.

How much we owe to people who ‘keep the tradition’! They have left us a legacy. They endured alienation and exile in Egypt before discovering their new identity in a new land. They had a destiny but they do not seem to have been clear what it was. They kept discarding it and opting for more immediately attractive prophets and messages. Elijah had a hard time hammering them into fidelity. The psalmists put their moods into song. Sometimes the psalms expressed despair; other times elation. The underlying message was, ‘Sing a new song to the Lord … for he takes delight in his people’ (Psalm 149). The prophets moved further in focusing on a Messiah, ‘Oh that you would tear the heavens open and come down’ (Isaiah 64:1).

This intense hope and longing is the character of the weeks we are now entering, The same reading from Isaiah continues, ‘no one invoked your name or roused himself to catch hold of you.’ This is a time of ‘rousing.’ To ‘take a Jew by the sleeve’ is to identify with that longing in the Song of Songs, the psalms and the prophecies and to ache with the desire for the One who can fulfil all that we hope for.

But this cannot remain in a spiritual realm of private devotion. It has to be out in the market place where people are battling day by day to survive. How can they ‘rouse’ themselves when all their energy circles round finding a dollar here, a dollar there? We have beautiful words but they do not help unless they bring meaning to people who are struggling. When the heavens were thrown open and he did come, he went around healing people, reaching out to them and ‘carrying their wounds’ evn to the cross. (Isaiah 53).      

30 November 2014                 Advent Sunday 1 B

Isaiah 63:16-17, 64:1-8           1 Corinthians 1:3-9                 Mark 13;33-37 

YOU SEE THEM BUD

PRAYER MOMENT 

Friday 28 November 2014

YOU SEE THEM BUD

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “Think of the fig tree and indeed every tree. As soon as you see them bud you know that summer is now near.” (Luke 21:29-33)

Reflection. Jesus describes this budding fig tree as a parable. It is a sign of expectancy. We have an aloe in our garden and it is currently full of buds. We interpret signs and live in expectancy of their fulfilment. Our readings this week have been heavy in the expectancy of the final revelation of God after times of great trial. This can mean nothing to us if we do not draw it down into our own lives and live in expectancy. God is working to surprise us every day. But if we are not expecting him we won’t notice. If we don’t see the signs his surprises will pass us by. One of the saddest things is to enter an old people’s home and see people sitting around with vacant looks on their faces. They are not expecting anything, except perhaps their next meal. The invitation to be open to surprise involves a habit of watching and being attentive to people and signs all around us..

Prayer. Lord, teach us to be open to your coming each day and in so many different ways. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ

YOUR LIBERATION IS NEAR AT HAND

PRAYER MOMENT 

Thursday 27 November 2014

YOUR LIBERATION IS NEAR AT HAND

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.” (Luke 21:20-28)

Reflection. Imagine priest visiting a man in prison who has just been condemned to life in jail and the visitor says, ‘hold your head high, your liberation is close at hand.’ It would sound like mockery but it would still be true. Earlier in his gospel (4:18) Luke had quoted Isaiah’s words used by Jesus that he had come to proclaim ‘liberty to captives.’ The message of liberation is for now – not some distant time in the future. Even when Jerusalem is, ‘surrounded by armies’ the underlying ‘good news’ of liberation is there. When Etty Hillsum was being deported to the death camps during World War Two she wrote a postcard which she threw out of the railway carriage, ‘we left the station singing.’ They were going to their death but as free people. That is the enduring message at the heart of the gospel. No matter what the circumstances we are called to freedom and a prisoner can be more free than those who guard him..

Prayer. Lord, lead us into freedom even in the midst of the restrictions and limitations we experience each day. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ

THEY WILL PERSECUTE YOU

PRAYER MOMENT 

Wednesday 26 November 2014

THEY WILL PERSECUTE YOU

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “Men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and imprisonment and bring you before kings and governors.” (Luke 21:12-19)

Reflection. The atmosphere of crisis continues in our daily readings as we come to the end of the year. The time of decision has come – with its consequences. The main consequence here is persecution. The dictionary defines this as ‘pursuing with enmity.’ When someone stands out in some way, puts their head above the crowd, and does or says something that someone does not like, they lay themselves open to being ‘pursued with enmity.’ That is exactly what happened with Jesus and it is happening now with one of our highest politicians in Zimbabwe. Persecution is, in a way, a measurement of our witness. If we stand for truth – or make any kind of stand that separates us out from others, we are liable to be persecuted, physically or verbally. The fear of persecution keeps people quiet and docile. But we know in our hearts that this fear also paralyses us and prevents us from doing what, if we listen to our heart, we know we are called to do.  

 

Prayer. Lord, give us the courage not to be afraid of persecution but to do what our heart tells us to do. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ

NOT A SINGLE STONE WILL BE LEFT ON ANOTHER

PRAYER MOMENT 

Tuesday 25 November 2014

NOT A SINGLE STONE WILL BE LEFT ON ANOTHER

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.” (Luke 21:5-11)

Reflection. Jesus gives this bleak message to the people who were admiring the stonework and decoration of the temple rebuilt by Herod the Great in the last period of the pre-Christian era. Naturally they ask when this will happen and his answer moves beyond the destruction of the temple in the year 69 to the end times which are “not so soon.” The perspective we have during these last days of the church’s year is of the impermanence in physical terms of what we achieve and create. We look around at fine buildings and great technological advances and have to say, ‘yes, these are wonderful but they won’t last.’ The only thing that lasts is the integrity of our response to God. This alone we can take with us when we go.

  

Prayer. Lord, help us the see the impermanence of all things. They are only stepping stones on our way to you. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ

SING A NEW SONG

PRAYER MOMENT 

Monday 24 November 2014

SING A NEW SONG

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “There in front of the throne they were singing a new song that could only be learnt by those who had been redeemed from the world.” (Revelation14:1-5)

Reflection. We have reached the last week of the church’s year and there is a mood of summing up the whole story of the new life given to us by God in Jesus. The book of Revelation is not an easy read. It is full of symbolic language but its overall message is clear. It about the final triumph of “the lamb who was slain.” People from ‘every nation and language’ would ‘sing a new song.’ People without hope would find a new meaning. The invitation to ‘sing a new song’ comes from the Old Testament (Psalm 149) and the widow who placed “all she had to live on” (Luke 21:1-4) was an OT woman. So there is a real sense of fulfilment of the longings deep in the hearts of people now realised in the coming of Jesus.   

Prayer. Lord, help us to ‘sing a new song’ each day in our living out the joy of your coming into our lives. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ

Nyanga

Nyanga

I am in Nyanga, in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, an area largely unknown even to Zimbabweans. I am with several of them, all middle-aged for whom this is their first visit. The sun is out and the mountains and slopes are green after the first rains. The air is sharp and pure – a contrast to the pollution of the capital.

There are two Nyangas; the town itself with its bustle and all the ways of a struggling urban settlement in today’s Zimbabwe, and there is here, close to the Troutbeck Inn, a hotel hinting at the leisure of a past age. I was offered a glass of sherry as soon as I entered the foyer and the fire there has burned continually for 63 years.

I have been here before and, while enjoying it, have habitually disdained this luxury setting; an island in the midst of poverty. But today I felt differently. This creation was the outcome of the imagination of an Irish born British army colonel who had fought in World War Two. The lakes and hills, the bracken and rocks, all reminded him of his home country and he set about sharing his vision with others.  And his dream is now clearly enjoyed by the sons and daughters of the soil.

There are many ways of doing things for others. The gospel of Matthew (chap. 25) speaks of feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger (the migrant) and visiting the sick and those in prison. But we must not be caught up into thinking that these good deeds, which cry out to be done today, are the only ones. There are so many ways one can share his or her gifts with others. The musician, the artist and the sports person thrill us with their prowess. They tell us what a human being is capable of. They “stretch” us in their area and inspire us to stretch in our own.

So we can see the story of Jesus separating us into ‘sheep’ and ‘goats’ quite broadly. The devoted teacher who gives time to a struggling student is ‘feeding the hungry’ just as much as those who physically provide food to the famished. The artist who raises our eyes from the dross that often surrounds us is also ‘giving drink to the thirsty.’ And the civic activist, journalist or writer who attempts to ask searching questions about our society is also ‘visiting those in prison.’

The ‘goats’ on the other hand are those who pursue their own interests regardless of all others and in the end only compound their own unease and unhappiness.

Those who enhanced the natural beauty of the Eastern Highlands for the benefit of all who visit are lifting our spirits and helping us to breathe pure air and come in touch with the one who blows where He wills.

23 November 2014                             Feast of Christ the King

Ezekiel 34:11-17                                 1 Corinthians 15:20-28                       Matthew 25:31-46