Category: World Affairs

Bible · faith · Political · Theology · World Affairs

With Prayers For The Landless

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I was reading in Psalm 105 this morning

For he (Yahweh) remembered his holy promise
    given to his servant Abraham.
43 He brought out his people with rejoicing,
    his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
44 he gave them the lands of the nations,
    and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—
45 that they might keep his precepts
    and observe his laws.

There is much that I find helpful in the Old Testament to do with God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to his covenant people. But I have a problem with God giving his chosen people land that others have lived in and toiled over. (See above verse 44)

With verses like that in the Hebrew Scriptures, it is, maybe, not surprising that Benjamin Netanyahu is still hell bent on annexing more land from the Palestinian people.

It is possible to find in holy scripture a warrant for the most evil of deeds. Christians must acknowledge that, and attempt to read the whole story of God and his people. In the prophet Isaiah for example, we see that God’s blessing is in fact intended for every people, and not just Israel. And in the verses below, Isaiah had harsh words for those who steal the land of others.

Ah, you who join house to house,
    who add field to field,
until there is room for no one but you,
    and you are left to live alone
    in the midst of the land!
(Isaiah chapter 5 verse 8)

And his conclusion is that they will get their reward

9 But I have heard the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    swear a solemn oath:
“Many houses will stand deserted;
    even beautiful mansions will be empty.
10 Ten acres of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine.
    Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.”
(Isaiah Chapter 5 verse 9,10)

With prayers for justice for the Palestinian people, and all those whose land has been illegally taken.

Poetry · World Affairs

Oh To Be A Poet

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I’m still pondering on the podcast interview with Mark Oakley that I listened to on Wednesday this week. I’m challenged to read more poetry, which I don’t find easy.

So, one of the things that Mark Oakley was saying is to do with the importance of language and using language carefully. He talked about the role of poets, prophets,* preachers, and protesters, and the need for a ‘poetic imagination’ to be more visible in the public square. He sees that we are in a very troubling time, when the rise of right wing politics is a threat to the health of many peoples. Now is the time for Christians to join with all people of all faiths or no faith to speak out against injustice, discrimination, hatred, bigotry and prejudice.

Here’s something written by a Greek poet that has been helpful to all sorts of groups who struggle against injustice. It goes something like this:

“‘They buried us, but they didn’t know we were seeds. ‘”

The quote comes from poet Dinos Christianopoulos, who was sidelined by the Greek literary community in the 1970s because he was gay.

It reminds me of another saying – “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”

I have always found reading poetry difficult. I’m much more drawn to narrative and story telling, but the language of poetry has something special that I need more of.

I was watching the cosmos flowers blowing in the wind this morning. So beautiful.

The wind gently blows
flowers bend their heads
breath of God on me
Shape me as you will

*The word ‘prophet’ is a tricky one. I’ll have to write more about that. Being prophetic is about discerning what is really going on. (Not so much about foretelling the future, although that might be a part of it)

Political · World Affairs

The Plight Of The Stateless

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We’ve been watching a Netflix series called ‘Stateless’ over the last week or so. It’s about the treatment of refugees in Australia, and it set in a detention camp. It’s not an easy watch as it is ‘inspired by real events’, and therefor has some basis in fact.

Linked with that, we watched the first programme in a series featuring Miriam Margolyes, where she goes on a road trip round Australia to celebrate her new Australian citizenship.

She admits to having a limited, idealised idea of what it means to be Australian, and has her eyes opened to the history of the Aboriginal peoples and the plight of refugees seeking asylum in Australia.

The sadness, repeated over and over again throughout history is the forced displacement of people through colonisation, and because of ethnic and religious difference.

She meets a man from Afghanistan, and a family from the Karen people of Myanmar, who are both in Australia as a result of discrimination and persecution.

it seems ironic that the Australian immigration system is so stacked against refugees when the history of the country is tainted by the genocide of the Aboriginal peoples.

The same of course is true of America, whose history includes so many examples of the abuse of power in land grabbing – primarily from the First Nation American peoples.

And it seems that we are no better, witness the treatment of many who seek asylum in this country and who spend years in detention centres, let alone the scandal of the forced deportation to the Caribbean of those who are from families of the Windrush generation.

Bible · faith · Political · World Affairs

You Are My Beloved Son

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Mark 1:9-11

The first chapter of Mark’s Gospel has the Greek word meaning ‘immediately’ 11 times.  (It’s not always apparent in the English translations, because the translators use different words).  Here is the first use of the word – ‘And just (Greek – immediately) as he was coming up out of the water …’ 
As soon as Jesus enters the story, things take off.  There’s an urgency about the Mission.  But, before the mission  can begin, Jesus is baptised and affirmed as God’s son.
To know who we are can take a lifetime.  The journey of self understanding can be a tortuous one for many.  The most important part of our identity is our place in relation to God.  God’s child.  Everyone should be able to know this, and be afforded this dignity by others.
I have just been watching the documentary film ‘Occupation 101’ about Israel/Palestine.  Palestinians are treated by many Israelis as second class citizens.  The are treated by the Israeli state as people with no rights.
They have to stand in line to cross checkpoints to get to work, or school, or hospital.  There is a recent documented incident of a Palestinian woman dying in childbirth because she was not able to get to hospital.  (Her new born  child also died)
I could say much more about this, and probably will.  The trauma of living in a war zone in conditions of poverty, and oppression has had devastating effects on the Palestinian people.
The children of Gaza will need an army of psychiatrists to help them if they are ever to live anything like a normal life.
The wall that separates Israeli from Palestinian is called the wall of separation.  In South Africa there was no wall, but Apartheid (which means separation) meant that black South Africans were treated as less than human in the same way that Palestinians are treated by Israel.
One small thing that we can do is to treat everyone with the same respect.  We all need to know our identity as a child of God
World Affairs

The Battle Of The Somme

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I’ve just come back from a few days away in the Autumn school break. We have been visiting the First World War Battlefields on the Somme.

Those who served in WW1 are remembered in cemeteries all over Northern France, and in museums and sites in the area.

At Beaumont Hamel, soldiers from Newfoundland are remembered in a preserved site that aims to show something of what it was like in the trenches.

There’s a book in which visitors can record their own feelings. Many of those who have written in the book have come to pay their respects to ancestors who fought in the world wars.

Many of the entries are along the lines of ‘Thank you – you gave your lives so that we could have freedom’

I don’t want to take away from the spirit of service that was shown by so many of our service men and women, I just wanted to write in the book ‘What a waste’

There seemed to be a widespread desire that we learn from the two world wars, but we still pursue what we perceive to be honourable ends by violent means.