Bodies as Beacons                    Word on the Week                    11^th May 2024.

The practice of body art has had a field day.   In fact, some are so adorned that there is no more space left!    Perhaps a new level of grotesque has been reached in our entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Our competitor, Bambie Ray Robinson, sings under the name Bambie Thug. The song, Doomsday Blues, seems to have gone through a number of versions.   The current one depends more on the performance of the singer than the power of the lyrics.

Like everything associated with Doomsday it is full of dark imagery.   Bambie takes on the guise of a witch, or as one writer has put it, she is Irelands ‘Goth, Gremlin and Goblin’.    The song makes use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ which is repeated frequently.   The voice ascends into a scream which earns it a unique spot amongst the other entries.

Eurovision has become increasingly political over the years.   Originally points were awarded based on the performance of the song.   In those days Ireland did well with songs such as ‘The Voice’ with singer Eimear Quinn “.   Then Eastern European countries joined and tended to vote for each other!

More recently the performers have gone in for political point scoring so that Robertson has her body painted with words which translate to ‘Ceasefire and Freedom’.   This referred to the Gaza war and was picked up by Social Media.  The European Broadcasting Union immediately banned it and Robertson washed it off!   However, the damage was done and the message went viral!

Robinson’s practice of neopagan witchcraft makes her well suited to sing Doomsday Blues.   The performance is heavily influenced by her acting of pagan rituals in a darkened stage with only a couple of male props as back-up.

Apparently Robinson is said to have done blood magic.  This involves using her own blood.   Her witchcraft has influenced her songs both in writing and performing them, making her somewhat unique in an event where it is hard to be original.

It couldn’t be further removed from the blood of sacrifice used in Scripture.   In the Bible the blood had to be from a perfect offering which was substituted in place of the sinner (1 Peter 1:18/9).    Jesus Christ was himself the sacrifice enabling the sinner who believes in him to go free from witchcraft and other pagan practices (1 John 3 verse 8).

The believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, a beacon of light as opposed to darkness (1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 to 20).

People as Pawns                    Word on the Week                        4^th May 2024.

‘The Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.  So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt’ (Deuteronomy 10 verses 17 -19).

Or, these days, the US of A!    Once uprooted from ‘home and hearth’, in unfamiliar surroundings and in an alien culture, the refugee is dependent, to a large extent, on the people of the land where he has sought refuge.  

If the land is Ireland and he is a recent arrival, he may be excused for wondering where the Ireland of the 100,000 welcomes has gone.  Perhaps used by the 100,000 immigrants who have arrived here to date. Male refugees were met with tents which they pitched outside the Government Immigration Offices!    Food is supplied but water and toilets they would have to search for!

And in their searching they discovered the regular charity food sources in the city including The Lighthouse in Pearse Street, a Christian run centre supplying food and clothing to the needy.   At its busiest they were coping with 500 clients daily.

The authorities moved in to the tent camp early Wednesday morning and dismantled the tents loading them onto trucks and erecting barriers to prevent a return to the site.   They transported 290 men outside Dublin to the hotel at City West where they are to remain till their case is dealt with.   Additional staff have been assigned to the International Protection Office where they are trying to cope with a backlog of applications amounting to 20,000 at present!

There has been some hostility to the refugees.   Some properties designated to house them have been destroyed by fire.   Another tactic has been to try to intimidate the politicians involved in immigration by appearing in large numbers outside their private houses.   The positions of the immigrant and the anti-immigrant have never been further apart.

It was the same story in Ephesus.   The Apostle Paul found the Jew/Gentile conflict, as of now, created divisions.   These were healed by the preaching of the Good News that Christ had made a way by his blood shed on the cross both could have their sins forgiven and be reconciled to God and each other (Ephesians 2 verses 13 – 21).

Pawns have rights!   In chess they advance in a straight line.   They can also be changed to a more versatile piece when they reach their full potential!

Coming to faith in Christ is a surer way to realise it! 

Sensory Garden              Word on the Week                27^th April 2024.

This week we finally bit the bullet!   The project had languished for a long time but this week the Men’s Shed unanimously agreed to turn our garden into a sensory one for use by the school for Autistic children.

The Kill Men’s Shed occupies a small part of the school campus.  Last year we erected a Polly Tunnel for the pupils to grow plants and vegetables.  Transforming the garden was the big one which had been put on the long finger.   It was the generous offer by a local business to deal with the site preparation that galvanized us to action!

The aim of a sensory garden is to engage with our five senses.   Plants and grasses are chosen for their abilities in the following areas.   Sight, Sound, Scent, Taste Touch.    The appropriate plants will occupy large boxes and by planting them together accentuate each of the five senses.

The garden is long and narrow.   It will have a central path winding through it.   The boxes with plants will be located on either side of the path.   They will be readily accessible to those walking along the path.   The school pupils will be encouraged to get to know the different categories.

We plan seating and a water feature.    No doubt there will be other items introduced to enhance the tranquillity of the place but these items are foundational.

Where these gardens exist they appear to live up to their reputation to bring peace and calm into the lives of those who relax in them.

The Bible has much to say about peace.  (a)Peace with God; (b)Peace with our neighbour and (c)Peace within ourselves.

(a) You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:3/4).

(b) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  (Colossians 3:15/6)

(c) The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4 verse 7).

And for you Reader Jesus benediction where peace is not just the absence of conflict but the Hebrew word Shalom epitomized in the hymn ‘All is well with my soul.’           Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Peter Pan Syndrome             Word on the Week                 13^th April 2024.

Peter Pan was the creation of the playwright J.M.Barrie.   It became the favourite Christmas time pantomime of yesteryear.   Peter was the little boy who, among other things, could fly.   He also had the secret of perpetual youth!

It’s the latter that is being pursued today, largely but not exclusively by women.   It manifests in the battle against ageing which can commence in the teenage years and carry on into post maturity.  

In my youth women called it a facelift.   As far as I could gather the hairdresser wrapped hot towels around the head of the client who was left to steam for some time.   More sophisticated methods developed involving cosmetic surgical operations. 

However, in the world of today tools and chemicals are employed in the task of rejuvenating faces and sundry other body parts as well.  The aim however has not changed – the desire to look one’s best (forever)!

As a result of its popularity there is a sameness emerging effectively cancelling the earlier comment, “He is the image of his father” of the infant.   Now it is beginning to look as if we are all physically related!

In the Bible Job had the same problem.    He was the victim of a wasting disease.    In the Scriptures, Job addresses God; “Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up against me beareth witness to my face” (Job 16 verse 8).

Even if there had been Botox around I doubt if Job would have used it.   Although he was reduced to skin and bone he had the believer’s true assurance.  This is how he expressed it, “I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.   And after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh will I see God.” (Job 19 verses 25 and 26).

Indeed, Job’s faith was rewarded.   His fortunes were restored.   He made a full recovery and lived to be 140 years old – seeing his children and their children to the fourth generation (Job 42).

Our body is temporary.   It was never meant to be permanent.   For those who know and love the Lord the Apostle Paul has this news.  The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable.   Our new body ‘without spot or wrinkle’ will last forever (1Corinthians 15 verses 50 to 58).

The Peter Pan desire in us will be fulfilled through trusting in Christ our Redeemer.

A Real British Cock-up                 Word on the Week                       6^th April 2024.

It came to be known as Mr Bates v The Post Office and involved over 900 sub-postmasters (operating as franchisees) who were accused of stealing. The shortages were revealed by the new computer system which was compulsorily introduced in the 90ies. 

The ‘Horizon’ computer was designed to provide a swipe card system for payment of pensions and other benefits.   It failed and in an effort to salvage something of the £700 million costs the post Office, against the better judgement of its IT specialists decided to move all its paper based functions onto Horizon!

These Postmasters were numerate people who occupied a vital place in their community.  They were valued by their customers who knew them as honest, upright members of their town.   It was out of character to find them accused of theft, fraud and false accounting.   The Post Office decreed if they wished to retain their employment they had to replace the losses out of their own pockets.  

From 1999 to 2015 over 900 sub-posters were accused of stealing.   During that period 700 were convicted, faced disgrace in their community and were dismissed from their work.    The court cases, criminal convictions, imprisonments, loss of livelihoods and homes, debts and bankruptcies, took a heavy toll on the victims and their families, leading to stress, illness, family breakdown, and at least four suicides.

During this period a number of reports were produced but none were acted upon.  Instead the Post Office hierarchy was led by the nose by its own middle management and in-house and external legal advisors.    If they had done their job huge amounts of money, and human suffering, would have been avoided.

Out of all this human suffering Alan Bates emerged.   He first reported computer problems in 2000, was fired in 2003 and went on to launch the Justice for Sub postmasters Alliance.    The Post Office took the line that each accusation was unique and it was Bates tenacity in investigating the extent of these cases that began to reveal the true extent of the problem and create remedial action.

With the aid of a whistleblower at Horizon, makers Fugitu admitted the system could be tampered with and that daily adjustments had been made without any record of them being retained.  This brought disgrace and shame to the Japanese company. They have volunteered to assist with the astronomical compensation costs!  

Will justice ever come to the Postmasters – the weakest people in the case?  Will money compensate?   Will the public apology restore the disgraced?   What of those who died with the stigma hanging over them?

What of the lies told implying that their case was the only one?   That ‘Horizon’ could not be tampered with!    That no changes to the figures could take place during the night!    The weak management.   The ignoring of expert advice.  The case rolls on. Will anyone be brought to account?   Could it happen here?  Could I be part of it?  

 ‘If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.’ (1 John 1 verses 6 and 7).

Risen and Reigning                   Word on the Week          30^th March 2024.

Of all the expressions of Easter my least favourite would be the cartoon which adorned the front page of one of our national newspapers.    It portrayed the common man surveying a litany of disasters appearing in a news sheet and exclaiming loudly ‘Jesus Christ’.

Recognising he was blaspheming the Lord’s name the cartoonist sought to head off possible criticism by having the little bird pose the question, “Is that blasphemy?”  The worm responds by professing ignorance and claiming that the disasters listed are blasphemy.

I am sure there is a word for the recognition that what you are doing is wrong but after naively querying it, go ahead and do it anyway.   ‘Disingenuous’ comes close but in taking the Lord’s name in vain you descend to the language of the gutter.   Usually his cartoons are brilliant but even cartoonists require editorial scrutiny.   

Ironically the horrific items listed in the new sheet are similar but on a smaller scale to those listed by Jesus in the Gospels as signs of the end of the age (Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 21).   

The scene in Jerusalem that first Easter was set by the arrival of some Greek worshippers who were looking for Jesus.   This was a sign that the Gospel was breaking out from its Judean roots and reaching the Gentiles.   Jesus now proclaimed that the hour had come for him to be glorified by giving his life for sinners (John 12 verses 20 to 27).

The Lord’s illustration of the seed requiring to die before it could bring forth many seeds was to be applied to himself on the cross producing the seed of the Gospel.   In his death he was substituting his perfect life for the sinner making him the long awaited Saviour: –

I delivered to you, wrote the Apostle Paul, as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15 verses 3 to 4).

And on a more personal note the hymn writer Philip Bliss wrote of Jesus: –

Bearing shame and scoffing rude

In my place condemned He stood

Sealed my pardon with his blood

Hallelujah! What a Saviour.

May the real Jesus Christ be Risen and Reigning in your hearts this Easter and always.

To Be or Not to Be              Word on the Week                 23^rd March 2024.

On 20 March 2024, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying recommended the introduction of legalisation regulating assisted suicide and euthanasia in its majority report.   The spirit of our age, so fond of death, commended we follow Holland, Belgium and Canada on the downward path.

Once introduced, it expands like a business opportunity, removing limitations such as age or competency in its way.   Assisted suicide as a concept elevates ordinary suicide to the position of a worthwhile goal, fostering despair and banishing hope.

The very notion of euthanasia plays into the near universal feeling of the elderly that they become a burden to others.   It is a pernicious thing which feeds on the evil idea that if you were removed others would be happier.   It also diverts attention from the excellent palliative care provided by the hospice movement and others.

Co-incidentally I visited the St Bridgit’s Hospice in the Curragh on Thursday.  I was able to spend an hour with my friend who recently went there.   The experience was entirely positive.   The love and care shown by the staff as they went about their duties made the occasion a very pleasant experience for us both.

Jesus famously waited till his friend was dead before demonstrating indelibly that He was the resurrection and the life beyond the grave.   Lazarus had an experience of life on both sides of the grave proving the reality of Jesus’ power over death.  

He challenged Martha with the words; “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.   Do you believe this?” (John 11 verses 25/26).

Do you believe this?   Then tell someone.   Do not keep it to yourself!

Isaac Watt the hymn writer certainly believed it when he wrote “I’ll Praise my maker while I’ve breath” the last verse of which is; –

I’ll praise Him while He lends me breath; 

And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers: 

My days of praise shall ne’er be past, 

While life, and thought, and being last, 

Or immortality endures.              

St Patrick                         Word on the Week                     16^th March 2024.

It’s tomorrow that St Patrick kisses the stone!   His kiss transforms the land from its winter hibernation to the green fertility that makes Ireland the Emerald Isle.   After this Winter’s deluges of rain, he may need to blow his warm breath over it to dry up the saturation caused, they say, by global warming.

Tradition has it that 17^th March is the date to bury your seed potatoes in the ground so the warm darkness can work its magic.    Only those with access to the inside of a poly tunnel would dare to tackle planting in March this year!

But it’s not only for the potatoes that we would wish St Patrick had died during a warmer month.   Thousands of flimsy dressed marchers in the multitude of Patricks Day Parades would dream of Summer sunshine as they fight off hypothermia in the East wind.

It appears, like many of the participants who come from the US, the parades themselves are an import from the cities of the East coast of America.   We are told they originated in Boston and New York, brought there by Northern Irish immigrants in the 18^th Century.   The marching, normally associated with army drills, has found its ‘raison d’etre’ on the streets of 5^th Avenue!   The NYPD are out in force with bands, singers and dancers making our Parade in O’Connell Street seem like a scaled down version with many crossing the Atlantic to join in it!  

Every Parade has to have a Grand Marshal.   This year we have the new presenter of the Late Late Show, Patrick Kielty.   He assumes the responsibility of upholding the traditions and values that define our Parade.  It appears that both have been eroded in favour of a Maida Gras type of event popular in Latin America.

We know three things about St Patrick.   His written Confession, his Hymn to Jesus (Breastplate) and his letter to Coroticus, the latter’s soldiers having murdered some of Patrick’s newly baptised converts on the beach.  Apparently the soldiers came from Scotland and were seeking to capture slaves when they attacked the baptism, killed and carried off a number of the converts by boat.

In his letter Patrick quoted John’s Gospel, “Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (verse 18).  

He concludes his letter by recommending it be read in front of ‘the whole body of the people’, concealed from no one and in the presence of Coroticus himself.   He states his desire that the murderers may repent and they may set free the baptised women, that they themselves may live before God and be made well, both here and in eternity.

From the River to the Sea         Word on the Week          9^th March 2024.

It’s the slogan, chanted by Palestine/Hamas supporters, seeking the total destruction of Israel who inhabit the land from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.   It is matched by the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s intent to annihilate Hamas!   The conquest of Gaza ensued.

There can be few of us who have read the Bible and not cringed at the conquest of Canaan.   Especially because it was ordained by our God one of whose qualities is peace (Deuteronomy 1 verse 8).  God was preparing a place on earth for his chosen people because he loved them (Psalm 44 v’s 2/3).

It was to Abraham that God promised global mission (Genesis 12 verse 4).   This was to come through his descendants.   There was to be an interlude in Egypt and afterwards when the sin of the Amorites reached judgement time, they along with the other Canaanite tribes, who embraced evil practices, would be judged (Genesis 15 verse 16).   Hence the conquest of Canaan terminating in Joshua’s day (Joshua 24 verses 25/6)’

There would be many battles fought culminating with God’s people, through their disobedience, being removed from their land (2 Kings 25 verse 22b).   After the exile the people of God seldom had full possession of their land and it is only in 1948 that the State of Israel was formed.

And so the battles continue between the offspring of the Son of Abraham by faith – Isaac, Jews and the offspring of the Son of Abraham after the flesh – Ishmael, Arabs (Genesis 21 verses 8 to 10).    The battles have been fought over the Land, both claiming it as sacred!

The Apostle Paul, himself a Jew, longed for the day when his brethren would realise that the expected Messiah has come (Romans 9 verses 1 to 5).   Paul’s heart’s desire and prayer to God for his people, the Israelites, is that they may be saved (Romans 10 verse 1).

At present their minds are hardened.   It is as if a veil is over their face.  It remains to this day and will only be lifted when they turn to Christ (2 Corinthians 3 verses 12 to 17). 

And what of us who believe?

 ‘We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ – Verse 18.  

Counterfeit Relief            Word on the Week                     2^nd March 2024.

Life in this life can be hard.   It can offend our desire for fairness.  Things happen that should never have been allowed.   The apparent randomness of illness and accidents.    Then, in some cases, the premature-ness of death.

To combat these thoughts many turn to the drug culture which has come into being in my lifetime.   In my youth you may have heard of a chemist taking drugs.   (Only doctors and chemists had access to drugs.)   The contrast with today could not be more stark!

Popular today are Cocaine, Ecstasy, Cannabis and Heroin.   We read of shiploads of new drugs of increased potency and reduced price being apprehended by the authorities.   Users try to mix drugs to achieve a longer lasting effect at the same time minimising the negative effects.

It’s a murky business.   When we sought permission at Grace Church to build on our old site in Pease Street the Drug Rehabilitation Centre next door required us to block all windows looking towards their premises.    Apparently drugs are no respecter of persons and the wealthier clients would not wish to be seen attending the Centre!

The craving for more drugs ensures continuity of employment for ‘pushers’.   They act as a conduit for the flow of drugs in their area.   The drug users pay dearly and the debt incurred by them ensures loyalty of custom! 

The other common form of escape is through alcohol.   It is having a hard time competing with coffee!   Pubs are closing down as traffic laws enforcing sobriety for the driver are imposed.  

One friend who suffered from alcoholism had long periods off the drink but it eventually ended his life.   He lived in the flats beside the church.   He didn’t leave much behind but this poem is something of himself he expressed: –  

May, June, July and August gone again but not memorable;

Save that I saw them go past the empty quays the rivers flow.

Look at the old house, outmoded, dignified, dark and untended;

With grass growing instead of the footsteps of life, the friendliness, the strife

In its beds have lain youth, love, age and pain.

I am something like that – lonely?

But not on my own.

Tony Curtis.

No one should underestimate the pulling power of an addiction.   At the same time, it should not be overestimated.   Tony knew he was not alone.  He had Jesus.   “I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day (2 Timothy 1 verse 12).