The notion of inviting the Irish Diaspora to “come home” next year and renew their bonds with the Old Sod met with some scepticism this week when someone suggested it was simply a money making sham to assist us with our crippling National debt!
The painful history of Irish immigration first by famine then for economic survival got a boost a number of years ago from Mary Robinson who, when President, popularised and possibly invented the Diaspora. Overnight Ireland jumped from a country of 4 million to 40 million people. We bought into the myth and it felt good.
US Presidents added their weight when, surprise, surprise they unearthed long lost relatives from the bog bringing joy to the local parish and a surge in their Irish American vote!
Present day immigration favours travel to the East more than the West with distance increasing the difficulties of visits home. Indeed the Irish in Sydney, Australia form a significant proportion of the population.
Scotland tried something similar in 2009 with Clan Gatherings. The idea there was for those with the same name to organise events culminating in a visit to the clan’s ancient settlement, or what (if anything) remained of it. The Morrison settlement on a large rock off the Butt of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, replete with some archaeological excavations, failed to entice this writer to visit the “home” of his ancestors!
The whole enterprise was a financial disaster for the Scottish Government. Let’s hope the Irish will not make the same mistakes.
What light does the Bible throw on exiles and what is its view of home?
Jesus spoke of going home causing consternation among his disciples. He explained that there would be plenty of room for his followers and that he personally would prepare a place for each one of them. It fell to Thomas to enquire the way to this place and to get an answer which has transformed many lives. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (St John Chapter 14 verse 6)
In this reply Jesus takes on himself the “I am” of deity and the exclusiveness of the Old Testament Priest who alone and only once per year could enter the holy place carrying the blood of atonement. Jesus was about to make a way for repentant sinners to come into the presence of God by shedding his own blood on the cross, fulfilling the truth of the Old Testament and obtaining eternal life for those who trust in him.
The gathering Jesus had in view for his exiles on earth was one centred around himself in the glory with the concept of home taking on an everlasting meaning.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 13-15.