In the midst of this week’s load of confusion over Brexit one voice was heard to say “We are 90% agreed”! In the middle of the remaining 10% is the problem of the Irish Border. Why is there no solution to it that keeps everyone happy?
Because there isn’t one!

It was last December that a ‘fudge’ called the Irish Backstop was invented. This permitted the problem to be temporarily set aside. It said that even if no formal deal could be reached on trade and security arrangements, Northern Ireland would stay in the customs union and much of the single market, guaranteeing a friction-free border with the Republic.

Both the UK and EU signed up to this basic idea in December 2017 as part of the initial Brexit deal, but there have been disagreements since on how it would work.

The UK Prime Minister requires the support of the Northern Ireland Members to maintain her parliamentary majority. They are opposed to any deal which treats the North differently from the rest of the UK.

On the other hand, those on the right wing of her party want a complete severance from the EC. To achieve this, they have tended to ignore the North hoping it would merge with the South – something it has resisted for over 100 years. There is no doubt a united Ireland makes sense to everyone except the people who live on the island!
The Bible has some wisdom to offer. It may appeal to those who think that Brexit was ill advised from the start! This from Proverbs Chapter 26 verses 4 and 5.

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself” (Verse 4).

“Answer a fool according to his folly or he will be wise in his own eyes” (verse 5).

If you supply an answer to the foolish you will certainly get more questions or comments of the same foolish nature and you may end up like the fool.
If you do not answer the fool, he may be tempted to think that he cannot be answered.
This would encourage him to continue with his folly.

The dilemma of Brexit is that we see we the negotiators try to reason with the unreasonable. You can’t win! That’s why we have had so many resignations. They have seen the folly and resigned.

In the trial of Jesus, we see examples of both. He was in the hands of fools and he knew the Scriptures. At times he made no answer and at other times he answered that the Scripture might be fulfilled (Isaiah Chapter 53 verse 7; Psalm 41 verse 9 and St Matthew Chapter 27 verse 14).

It is good to remind ourselves that there are no borders in heaven! And in that blessed place even the fools of earth will be redeemed to the glory of God by the work and merits of Christ and that gives me a lot to rejoice in.

Seldom can a Public Inquiry have produced a report of such clarity as the publication this week of the Disclosures Tribunal Report into the destruction of the reputation of Sgt Maurice McCabe. Justice Peter Charleton identified three culprits: the head of An Garda Síochána, Commissioner Martin Callinan, the Press Officer, Supt. David Taylor and the Child and Family Agency, Tulsa.

The latter, whose handling of a file which should have been filed ‘dead’ in 2006 is quite without precedent. A social worker appeared to have erroneously placed a horrendous report of sexual crimes against a young girl on the file and the error was never corrected. Instead the toxic file took on a life of its own and, at one stage, a letter falsely accusing McCabe of sexual crimes was opened by his wife! The contents of the file were circulated to Garda headquarters and then to Press Officer David Taylor.

It is a sorry situation but organisations do not like whistle-blowers. With An Garda Síochána there is a strong loyalty which arises out of the nature of the work. Under Callinan’s watch this was encouraged and whistle-blowers creditability was to be attacked. In his Press Officer, Callinan found an alley to assist him in his efforts to do down McCabe. Charleton used the word ‘calumny’ around 50 times in his 406 page report to describe the accumulation of lies told by both men in their efforts to destroy McCabe’s creditability.

Problems with Garda structures were looked at by the Morris Tribunal 10 years ago.
Changes were put into effect and structures improved. But structures have proved to be subservient to Garda culture. This needs to change. The truth should be paramount. Backing up fellow Garda should never compromise the facts of the case.
It seems that inside An Garda Síochána we have the situation Isaiah 59 described: –
So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

In this case McCabe was the prey. How many more McCabe’s will it take before the culture is corrected?
In Isaiah’s day it took a period in exile, away from their land and centuries of hardship before the Christ came. His revelation of truth did not compromise even at death. In fact, his death became the gateway to glory for all truth lovers who walk in his ways.

Some wisdom from James (chapter 4 verses 13 to 17).
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

In James’s vision forward planning must carry the label “If the Lord wills”! Certainly St Paul would agree (Acts Chapter 18 verse 21). “Man proposes God disposes” was a familiar saying of yesteryear. It underlined some understanding of the sovereignty of God in all our affairs.

Certainly this was a week when we were conscious of just how little control we have over our activities. A routine visit to the doctor ended up with Betty having five days in hospital. The garden and greenhouse were left to their own devices! The dog spent some fruitless hours looking for her!! The cuisine took a downward turn with many complaints from Tess until I got her food portions right. She will be a happy dog when Betty comes home at the weekend!

The Chemist’s assistant recommended “The Power of Positive Thinking” the book, was written back in 1992 by Norman Vincent Peale and is still popular today. It is a classic in wishful thinking! It aims at eliminating negative thoughts and visualising solutions to your problems. Trouble is that you have to keep doing it and never get off the treadmill.

A better plan would be the power of negative thinking. Now that would keep most of us busy! But instead of becoming depressed you take up Jesus’s invitation to “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (St Matthew Chapter 11 verses 28 to 30).

It all hinges on your coming to Jesus. All that he requires is that you leave your sinful thoughts and deeds with him. He has already taken the ultimate burden when he died in the sinner’s place and his blood purified us from all our sins (1 John Chapter 1 verse 7). When you leave your guilt and shame with him you cannot take it back as he has purged them. They are gone for good.
So, as St James says, now that you know the right thing to do – do it.

Of all the words in the English language the word ‘sorry’ can be the hardest to articulate! It may also be the hardest word to hear or perhaps accept according to a new study from Queen’s University published at the 10th anniversary of the banking crisis.
Apparently researchers have categorised into groups people who should apologise to society and bankers are included with the paramilitaries and clerical or institutional abusers. In fact, a survey showed that Bankers scored the lowest!
This is the 10th anniversary of the State’s guarantee of the Republic’s banking system, which cost taxpayers €64 billion in bailouts and tipped the State into an international bailout. The guarantee was arranged between the then Taoiseach and his Minister of Finance when they came under considerable pressure from the leading bankers.
With hindsight far too much credence was given to the might of the banks who were seen as being too big to be allowed to go burst.
Perhaps a case of allowing appearances to influence you was when Samuel was choosing Saul’s successor and was misled by Eliab’s attractive looks. The Lord cautioned Samuel “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel Chapter 16 verse 7). Under the Lord’s guidance Samuel went on to chose David, the youngest of Jesse’s family, who was doing the menial task of shepherding.
The bankers word of choice with regard to their atrocious banking practices was ‘regret’! It, or a variation of it, was used 230 times in the testimonies. It is hard to see why they could not express sorrow unless the shadow of possible lawsuits for negligence hung over them. They have bought into the common confusion about who they were paid to serve – themselves or the public. The continues to be illustrated by the large banker’s bonuses they award themselves.
St Paul writing to the church in 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 15 quoting Christ as an example, stated that they – the Corinthian believers – “should no longer live for themselves”. They obviously did once live for themselves. Clearly bankers are not the only people in that category although their leaders demonstrate it well!
If you have been redeemed by Christ, your orientation should have changed from selfishness i.e. serving self to serving others. The motive is again emphasised by the text … “should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again”.
Living for Christ is a 24/7 activity!

There was never a storm like it – not in all the 87 years of its existence. Never has there been the cancellation of a day’s events. Despite the fact that the Annual Ploughing Championships is held annually around the Autumn equinox such a storm as Ali was unique.
There have been years when the rain was challenging! The challenge was met with powerful water pumps which removed surface water from the 600-acre site. It is the largest outdoor event in Europe drawing Farmers and Farm Suppliers from every corner of the continent. The expected attendance of 300,000 over the 3 days was curtailed by Ali.
The gusting winds’ destruction was so severe that the middle day, Wednesday, had to be cancelled and, to partially compensate, the event continued on Friday. Total attendance was better than expected at 240,000 but the damaged tents and exhibits will have proved costly for the organisers and exhibitors alike.
This is an occasion where city and rural populations meet. You know it is so when you see politicians shaking hands with everyone they come across! They were added to by the candidates for the Presidential election – due in a month’s time. The President, who officially opened the event, and his wife were there. His opening speech managed to incorporate the inaugural speech of his campaign as he is looking for another 7- year term in the office!
The one part of the programme which was not affected by the weather was the ploughing competitions which give their name to the event. They take place in neighbouring fields and involves both horses and tractors to do the work. When it started in 1931 it set out to stimulate an interest in tillage farming. It certainly did that and Ireland has a record of winning the World Championship in the various ploughing competitions. In every case the furrow being opened has to be straight. It is necessary to have a marker on the far side of the field and to keep your eye on it. Looking back would cause the plough to veer from the straight line and ruin the furrow.
In outlining the cost of discipleship Jesus used the illustration of the ploughman who having started to plough must not look back. The decision to follow Jesus in the three cases instanced by Jesus in St Luke Chapter 9 verses 57 to 62 had a ‘but’ added qualifying the decision. They had started to plough but were not putting Jesus first. A better illustration is Matthew who left his business and followed Jesus (St Luke Chapter 5 verse 28).
St Paul writes (Romans Chapter 8 verses 28/30 & 38/39) with the confidence of a man who, once converted, never looked back: –
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?… For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When the call comes don’t look back!

Those in the workforce have become familiar with CPD – Continuous Personal Development – which formalised into training the abilities required to cope with the developing jobscene. With the introduction of the gig economy CPD itself has been left behind and we now require to become familiar with Skillnet to stay in the race.

This concept harnesses technology which itself is continually upgrading. It becomes the agent for change as more targeted ways of working are devised. No-one is immune from this revolution. It applies equally to the farmer and the surgeon.
Skillnetireland.ie will give a flavour of what’s on offer.

Work in future, we are told, will resemble more of the free-lance journalist who earns his bread from writing article after article. There is no safety net. If the inspiration dries up so does the job. The land of permanent pensionable is a distant memory. So the Millennials coming out of secondary or tertiary education can look forward to a life of assignments, tasks and projects offering short-term contracts but little promise of permanent work outside of the Civil Service.

Along with this ‘independence’ comes the ability to set your own hours and your own location i.e. home working may be one option. On the plus side you can achieve a better ‘work-life balance’. In some cases, this may enable a couple to raise a family while continuing to contribute to the workscene often, for them, an economic necessity.

Courses are available, such as at IMI, or more direct tuition by hiring an expert to instruct staff on their particular field. In the Christian realm Irish Bible Institute offers tuition locally whereas both Cork and Belfast have colleges. St Paul’s advice to Timothy holds good today “Study to present yourself to God, as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy Chapter 2 verse 15).

The old joke of the Preacher sitting by his fireside finishing the last chapter of the Bible and exclaiming “Thank goodness that’s finished” is about as far from the truth as you can get! The Psalmist’s assertion “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Chapter 119 verse 105) was never more necessary than today.

Our problem of congenital blindness when it comes to understanding the Bible is addressed by Jesus immediately before the ascension “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (St Luke Chapter 24 verses 45/47). We are his witnesses today.

The decline of the Post Office in Ireland continues with the planned closure of 169 of them. This week’s announcement brought a flurry of letters to the correspondence columns of the national press the vast majority of them sent, no doubt, by email!

It is not possible to be on any street in central Dublin without bumping into someone immersed in their smart phone. People pass you on the pavement apparently talking to themselves. You look closer and notice a white flex joining their ears and disappearing under their chin. An even closer look reveals a miniscule microphone built into the flex transmitting messages with replies entering the ears.

Back at the Men’s Shed one of our number produced a new mobile phone which the supermarket was virtually giving away with the groceries. It seemed a simple enough gadget till it came to add ‘contacts’. The instructions, translated no doubt from Korean defeated us and could only be mastered by someone in junior infants!

Who are these modern Behemoths? They bear familiar names; Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp and hidden behind some of them are Amazon, Apple and Google to name but three. Their ability to collect information about their users is aided by users having to comply with their demands in order to use the computer or smart phone. This data, which accumulates at a formidable speed, needs to be stored on a piece of land where the climate is cool (to reduce the air conditioning costs) and Ireland appears to tick all the right boxes. So we can expect a large Data Centre to locate here soon.

These behemoths are wealthy. Apple announced a cash reserve of $267.2 billion (a billion is a thousand million) for the second quarter this year. With their product being produced in different countries and sold globally they have been able to avoid paying tax other than at a tiny level which we, in this country, are increasingly dependent upon.

Controlling the means of communication and accumulating personal data places enormous power in the hands of non-elected and non-answerable leaders. At least non-answerable other than to shareholders whose primary interest is profit. The worth of their Data has now been revealed.

Cyber-crime involving the capture of British Airways passenger data of 380,000 people came to light this week. The investigation is on-going but it appears some of the data was sub-contracted and the sub-contractor’s security was less robust to withstand an attack than the Airline’s. Interestingly nothing has been stolen yet but a lot of people have to cancel their credit cards to prevent their account being hacked.

It is good to remember that Behemoth in the Bible is made by God (Job Chapter 40 verse 15). Also we are living in the day of His grace; this is Gospel country. Hebrews Chapter 4 verse 13 puts it – Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
And that is really big data!

This week, in conversation, one of us remarked that the Christian year actually begins now. Our new year should not commence on 1st January but 1st September! All the church activities that took a break during the summer resume. The Christian community arouses from its slumber and what better time to remind ourselves of the Gospel.
As the Apostle Paul said, “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians Chapter 1 verses 1-4).
We need to be reminded because it is so contrary to our natural instincts. We want to do something, help someone, be nice. What a slap in the face to find it has all been done by the grace of Jesus and our task is to simply believe. In fact, it is worse – if it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit we would not believe at all. Our very faith comes from God as a gift out of his grace (Ephesians Chapter 2 verses 8 -10).

We need to be reminded that we are saved by grace through Christ and not by works; that we are accepted by God so we obey, not we obey so I’m accepted.
It is God’s grace (the word means giving us what we do not deserve – in fact we deserve the opposite) in sending Jesus, his grace in placing our sin on Jesus on the cross so that we can say “in my place condemned he stood”. It is by God’s grace that Jesus conquered death and sent the Holy Spirit to incline our stubborn hearts to believe that we are now forgiven and by a grace given faith can now work out the implications of our salvation as God works in us (Philippians Chapter 2 verses 12 -13).

Many things flow out of the Gospel of grace. There is freedom from the doubt as to whether or not I have done enough, been good enough etc.(to gain God’s acceptance), that plagues those caught up in religion. No more the treadmill of trying to be a good person by doing good things. That is all in the past, accomplished by grace for every believer in Jesus. His grace in salvation blessing reaches the depth of every repentant heart (Acts Chapter 3 verses 19 – 20). Past sins are blotted out and future sins covered by the blood of Christ’s sacrifice (1 John Chapter 1 verse 7).

Entering into this freedom enables us to live in obedience to God’s Word just as Jesus did. His obedience to the Word is paramount. Here are two examples in extreme situations (1) answering Satan from scripture and (2) believing he would be resurrected he handed his life over to his Father’s will (St Matthew Chapter 4 verses 4 – 10 and St Mark Chapter 14 verse 36).
“If the Son sets you free you will be free indeed” (St John Chapter 8 verse 36).

What kind of a man can command an anticipated audience of 500,000 in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon? What gems of wisdom can he produce in order to garner the grain, remove the dross, comfort the broken and shore up the edifice of an ailing church?
With expectations running high a lot is expected of this man. He has been portrayed as ‘Mr Good Guy’ over against the faceless others. He is expected to reach both the devoted and the disillusioned. A task which the Irish clergy have failed. Even our local Archbishop is pinning his hopes on the pope saying something to Irish society as to where it should be going. Who is equal to this task? It looks like he is being set up for a fall!
The World Meeting of Families which has taken place in Dublin this week and is the reason for the pope’s visit, produced some clarity. According to Marie Collins, herself a survivor of clerical abuse, the church’s reluctance to look into the matter is caused by fear of what it may find. There is the possibility of the ‘domino effect’ where there is a trail of abuse, some of which is allegedly documented in the Vatican and which, if followed, may open an even bigger can of worms.
The alternative is the continuing drip feed of abuse scandals not dissimilar to the drip feeding of the Trump scandals in the secular world. The only remedy is the unpalatable one of the person in charge of the facts making all material details and documents available for inspection by the appropriate secular authorities. Of course this is unlikely to happen as it involves pride and loss of esteem even perhaps to the loss of vocation or presidency!
The usual tactic of ignoring it and hope that it will go away, is no answer. A priest cannot forgive his own sins. He must go to confessional. But he cannot confess what he has not grieved over, and he cannot grieve over what he does not see, and he cannot repent over what he has not confessed. It needs the operation of God’s grace to open his eyes to see the destroyed lives his addiction has created.
When by God’s grace your eyes see and your heart is made willing to confess you know something of that glorious forgiving, rescuing and transforming grace that has become yours. But it is not natural. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the Serpent.
Both of them hid and neither stepped forward and confessed instead they passed the buck.
We have inherited from our first parents a sturdy form of self-righteousness. It comes naturally to us to think we are more righteous than we are. We all need the eye salve of the church in Laodicea (Revelation Chapter 3 verse 18) so we can stand unafraid before the revealing mirror of the Bible and see what we are really like. Then by faith in the cleansing power of the death of Christ we know that the blood of Christ covers all that has been exposed to Him. The greater fear for the pope, you and me is the delusions of self-righteousness that replace Christ’s righteousness in us (Romans Chapter 4 verses 1 to 6).

The somewhat detached response of the Vatican to the hole that the church finds itself in Pennsylvania shows that the adage to stop digging is being ignored. Perhaps they are leaving it to the Pope to sort out when he comes to Ireland to the World Meeting of Families next week.
This week the Pennsylvania grand jury found that over 1,000 children in six dioceses there had been molested by 300 Catholic priests over the past 70 years while senior church officials took steps to cover it up. The grand jury said it believed the “real number” of abused children might be “in the thousands”.
In farming when we have losses among livestock we sometimes console ourselves with the fact that the same thing is occurring in other farmyards. It’s a truism to be expected. It stands to reason that the same thing is going on elsewhere. It is hard to believe that similar reasoning did not take place in the Vatican and a global enquiry set in motion to root out the scourge of abuse.
There has been plenty of evidence of cover-up of abuse by the hierarchy but few heads have rolled to date although that may change. Seldom has there been any public expression of sympathy for the victims. Admittedly there is the fear of being sued but churches should lead the way in offering compensation and rehabilitation where necessary.
There exists the parallel legal system of Canon Law. It may be that its requirements have been met and errand priests disciplined. However, one of the basic tenets of any justice system is that it must be open. How else can people be confident that justice has been done or mercy, where appropriate, been granted? This lies in the jurisdiction of the Vatican. Perhaps the Pope can use one of the keys of St Peter to open it otherwise its back to platitudes and handwringing?

There is a sense that all churches are tainted when one in disarray. We are all sinners and need the Saviour. Catholics look to the Mass for cleansing. This is dispensed by someone in apostolic succession. The reformed view of apostolic succession would be the passing on of the gospel of grace from the first apostles, to their converts in a steady stream down through the avenue of time to the present day in answer to Jesus’s prayer recorded in St John 17 verse 20.
But the heart of the Mass is where the ministerial Priesthood who alone can “make present” (in what the Council of Trent calls an “unbloody manner”) the bread to represent the body of Christ (St Matthew Chapter 26 verse 26 – 28).

The reformed view would be that the one who officiates directs the worshippers to the once crucified now risen Christ and invites the believers present to eat and drink in memory of Jesus their sin-bearer and Sovereign Lord until he comes again.
There is a blessed simplicity in the Lord’s Table which easily gets lost in protocols. We need to remind ourselves of Isaiah “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols (chapter 42 verse 8).