{"id":2794,"date":"2020-05-24T01:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-24T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/?p=2794"},"modified":"2020-05-23T17:38:08","modified_gmt":"2020-05-23T16:38:08","slug":"a-message-for-the-seventh-sunday-of-easter-from-the-rev-dr-douglas-galbraith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/?p=2794","title":{"rendered":"A message for the Seventh Sunday of Easter from the Rev Dr Douglas Galbraith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Gospel Passage this week is: St John Chapter 17 verses 1 to 11<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life after lockdown<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John\u2019s gospel is not an easy\nread compared with the other three: more Hilary Mantel than Hercule Poirot. But\nafter you have puzzled over this rather impenetrable passage for a bit, a\nrather surprising idea emerges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Testament is a story\nof lockdown under the Law of a socially-distanced God, righteous, powerful, and\nsometimes vengeful. Here Jesus is offering a different picture, a God who is\n\u2018family\u2019, a God who is as intimate as spouse or sibling. What Jesus is saying,\nas he now makes preparations for his final journey, is that his followers will\nno longer be simply the people who hang on his words and gasp at his actions\nbut they will become part of<\/em> him, just as he is part of God<\/em>. Such\nan intimacy means that the heart of a good and just God now beats in us, and we\nare part of God\u2019s design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What might this mean in the\nsituation which faces us at this time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re all saying it \u2013 sage scientists,\nnewspaper pundits, neighbours, barrack-room lawyers: life after Lockdown cannot\nbe the same as before. What will this \u2018new normal\u2019 look like? Everyone has\ntheir ideas. Will the climate crisis become a priority (and, as we in Markinch\nand Thornton prepare to become an eco-congregation, we are interested in that)?\nWill global co-operation and planning replace national one-upmanship? Will\nworking from home become a recognised option?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people, though, go\nfurther. They suggest that, as we clap the front-line workers who help keep\nsociety healthy, safe and mobile, we could emerge from lockdown a kinder,\nmore caring, and more compassionate people<\/em>?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might find this last\nprediction hard to imagine. Given the stories of inhumanity across the globe\nthat dominate the breakfast news, and given the still prevailing theology of\nthe Fall, we tend to see human nature, unless kept in check, as tending towards\nevil rather than good. Remember that famous novel of the 1950s, Lord of the\nFlies<\/em>: a group of well-educated British children, including some choir\nboys, are marooned on a desert island; although they elect a leader and make\nrules, gradually they descend into vicious savagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the papers this week there was an extract from a new book which\nsuggested the opposite outcome. It concerned six boys from the Pacific island\nof Tonga who had set off in 1965 on a fishing trip and were caught in a storm.\nTheir sail was shredded and they lost their rudder. After eight days without\nfood and water they made landfall on a small rocky islet, far from anywhere. It\nwas fifteen months before they were found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the interesting thing is that this is not a novel but a true story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author had stumbled across an old newspaper cutting from 1966 and went\nlooking for the boys. He found them and their rescuer, now in their 70s and\n80s. On the island, they had hollowed out tree trunks to store rainwater, created\na food garden, constructed a gymnasium with curious weights, made a badminton\ncourt, fashioned a makeshift guitar, penned some wild chickens whose ancestors\nhad fed the island\u2019s original inhabitants taken into slavery 100 years earlier.\nThey organised themselves into teams of two, developed a roster. Yes, there\nwere quarrels, but with compulsory time out these did not last. They ate fish,\ncoconuts, seabird eggs, bananas, and poultry. One boy broke a leg, the others set\nit using sticks and leaves, and it was found, when they were rescued, to be\nperfectly healed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is part of the story we haven\u2019t told yet. There was no beach or\nlanding place on the island; one of the boys swam ashore at great risk, the\nothers followed. But before he dived in, he prayed. And every morning and evening\nof these long months, they sang and said a prayer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this prove? We know that realistically things can go wrong.\nPerhaps it is essential that there is a righting mechanism that tips the\nbalance. Christ died and rose and in rising took humanity into the life of a\ngood and righteous God, one who seeks justice for the oppressed, the weak, and\nthe marginalised. People who call themselves Christians are constant reminders\nof the innate goodness<\/em> of a humanity which shares God\u2019s nature. Their\nlife and their worship daily hold out the option of a kind and compassionate\nsociety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one more thing to take from our gospel passage: it is in the form\nof a prayer<\/em>. Jesus, having fully lived in the world and knowing at first\nhand the heights and the depths of the human condition, is praying<\/em> for\nhis disciples \u2013 and the symbol of Ascension means that this Jesus now prays for\nall humanity. It is a comfort and a relief, and sometimes even a lifeline, to\nknow this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This also is a true story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer<\/strong>
based on a prayer in a streamed service of Holy Communion 10.5.20
by the Revd Canon Ruth Innes, St Fillan\u2019s Episcopal Church, Buckstone, Edinburgh<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine that our prayers are like ripples on a pond
\nmade by throwing a stone into the water.
\nThe smooth surface of the pond is broken
\nand we see the first circle appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this circle are our families and neighbours,
\nthose with whom we live,
\nloved ones whose photographs surround us,
\nthose we long to embrace again;
\nand we pray for those around us and near us
\nwho are sick, or alone, or frightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The circle spreads, to people in our wider community:
\nall we depend on, whom we see daily but don\u2019t always notice.
\nWe pray for all who are essential for our life in community:
\nteachers, shop workers, nurses, carers, drivers,
\nthose who deliver our post, those who collect the recycling,
\nthose who take risks daily on our behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The circle spreads again, to those in the public eye:
\nthose whose responsibilities put them under enormous pressure,
\nthose who have difficult decisions to make,
\nwhen small misjudgements may be magnified,
\nwho are trolled on social media,
\nwho are criticised but cannot defend themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The circle spreads again, right to the edges of the pond,
\nlapping against the bank,
\nwhen all our prayers meld into God\u2019s creation.
\nWe give thanks for our world,
\nfor the beauty around us, for its rich provision;
\nmay we not deface it, or plunder its bounty,
\nharming those who depend on it for their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our prayer today is only a small stone thrown in a pool,
\na tiny offering of love in an ocean of need.
\nTake these prayers, Lord, and the prayers of others,
\nso that life, healing and hope may spread
\nto the furthest edges of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email: dgalbraith@hotmail.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Gospel Passage this week is: St John Chapter 17 verses 1 to 11. Life after lockdown. John\u2019s gospel is not an easy read compared …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2795,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions\/2795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}