SOUL SURMISE

FR ALEC REID; PEACE AMBASSADOR - BBC RADIO 2 PAUSE FOR THOUGHT 24.10.18

This week's Pause for Thought theme was Peace Ambassadors

Nikki, when I became the minister of Fitzroy nine years ago I walked into a community of Peace Ambassadors. My predecessor Rev Dr Ken Newell had built a relationship with Fr Gerry Reynolds from Clonard Monastery, run by the Redemptorist Order, on Belfast’s Falls Road. They founded the Clonard/Fitzroy Fellowship still going strong today.

Early meetings of the Northern Ireland peace talks were held in Clonard and Ken with other members of Fitzroy were involved in the discussions. The work of Gerry and Ken and the Fellowship was recognised when in 1999 they were awarded the prestigious Pax Christi Peace Prize. 

Fr Gerry and Rev Ken however would recognise another Redemptorist priest from Clonard as the actual architect of the peace process. Fr Alec Reid got to a point in Belfast’s mid 80s where he could not reconcile his faith in Jesus with doing nothing about the violence going on in the streets around him.

One Saturday afternoon Fr Alec found himself in the middle of that violence. In a 14 day period where killing had gone viral, two British soldiers accidentally drove into an IRA funeral cortege. 

Fr Alec risked his own life in a vain attempt to save the soldiers. Minutes later he is photographed, with the soldiers blood on his face, having tried to give them the kiss of life. They died.

Unknown to everyone, Fr Alec was at the funeral to receive a letter from Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. The letter had the conditions by which Sinn Fein would enter peace talks with politician John Hume. That same afternoon Fr Alec drove to Derry and handed the letter to John Hume. It would be six years before we had peace but it started right there.

It is an unbelievable story of one man who had faith in a radical Jesus and who believed that peace making was at the heart of that faith. Believing was not enough though and he went into the very vortex of the violence to make connections that brought the peace we enjoy today.

Ken Newell describes Alec as the electrician of our peace. He brought the two wires together that ignited a long journey to reconciliation. 

JANICE SHOUTS STOP AND TAKES OVER THE DRIVING - Pause for Thought, The Early Breakfast Show - 17.10.18

This week's theme was Changing Directions...

It was a fun day. I were in Cape Town and though it was South African winter in July, it was sunny. I was with my family and some of my Chaplaincy staff. We were leading University student teams, building houses on townships. We were on a few days off, between teams.

We were out looking for an art gallery. It was an area of town that I didn’t really know. I remember coming up to the end of a side street and turning right. I think I knew immediately that it was a wrong turn. Even my staff in the car behind didn’t follow me.

As I confessed last week Vanessa one of my weaknesses is being in the wrong lane. I kept driving, knowing I needed to turn without ever getting into a position to do so. A few miles of this and my wife Janice shouts “STOP!” She gets me out of the car and takes control herself, turns the car around and drives us to the gallery! 

Christianity, and indeed all other faiths, make it clear that there is a need for humility when we are going in the wrong direction. I find it difficult even with those closest to me. Admitting I am wrong doesn’t come easy. Getting out of the car in the middle of the road and doing the walk of shame to the passengers side!!! Ouch!

Christianity, again like other faiths, also encourages us to seek help when we are in difficulty. I have long stopped being embarrassed to seek help from others. For me that can be Janice who helps fix me in more ways than just turning the car round… or it might also be a good friend or indeed God. 

One thing is for sure. When I am heading in the wrong direction I have found it helpful when someone shouts "STOP!"  If Janice hadn’t shouted "STOP!" we would have been past Cape Point and on our way to the Antarctic… (shivering sound)

MY GREATEST WEAKNESS - PAUSE FOR THOUGHT - BBC RADIO 2 - 10:10:18

My wife laughed when I told her that this week’s theme was “my greatest weakness”. Oh my could she could wax lyrical on that subject. And she often does.

Losing my keys every morning, which I truthfully believe is in my DNA because my mother could never find hers. Always being in the wrong lane, while driving. Again a carbon copy of my dad! 

Oh, if Janice was Sarah Millican she could get a comedy show out of my weaknesses and their outworking. Of course there are worse things than keys and motorway lanes!

I can remember my history teacher in Sixth Form telling us that any great person in history was one who knew their weaknesses. Like a boxer who knew they had an easily cut eye, they could then defend that weakness. 

The singer Tom Petty, who we lost a year ago last week, called these weaknesses fault lines. Like the San Andreas Fault under California, always waiting to quake, Petty thought we all had weak foundations running under our lives, that might give way at any minute.

As much as I can, in my life, I try to seek out those fault lines. I realise that I might have prejudices or see the world a little skewed because of the culture of where I was born, my social class, the spiritual character of the Church I grew up in, the political ideology I am steeped in and, to go back to the lost keys, there are no doubt fault lines in my DNA.

Jesus was always intuitive to peoples’ fault lines. When he met a Samaritan woman at a well he observed her gender, her race, her religion and how she was looked upon by her community and read the fault lines running under her life. They were very different than they fault lines he recognised when he met Nicodemus, a man, a Jew and a religious leader.

Jesus loved them both but to make that love fulfil its potential in their lives he assessed how to minister to their unique individual fault lines. 

As I go into my day, seeking to love my neighbour, I am constantly aware that everyone I meet has fault lines that I need to understand… and if I am to be anyway helpful to them I need to be acutely aware of the greatest weaknesses running under my life. 

ODIE, MY INSPIRATIONAL TEACHER - PAUSE FOR THOUGHT BBC RADIO 2, 3.10.18

Deacon Blue singer, and indeed BBC Broadcaster, Ricky Ross tells a story about a dog that he watched on Byers Road in Glasgow. Ricky says that the dog caught his attention and as he watched it, it ran across the road and  jumped into the arms of a homeless man lying by a shop window. It took Ricky a bit by surprise. On the way home he pondered that that dog could have been in a lovely house in the leafy suburbs, with a soft carpet and an open fire but here she was giving all her love to a man living on the streets. When Ricky got home he told his wife what he has seen and Lorraine said to him that that was the kind of love that only God and dogs have. Ricky wrote the beautiful song God and Dogs as a result.

In the summer we lost our beloved dog Odie. He had had cancer and the vets told us a couple of years ago that he only had weeks to live. We were blessed with almost two extra years. After Odie left us I reflected on his life. 

I was overwhelmed by what that reflection taught me. Remembering Odie was a lesson in unconditional love. Oh my wife Janice, my daughters and I loved him but nothing like he loved us. When I took him for granted, when I scolded him for barking at the neighbours, when I dismissed his very presence, Odie loved me anyway. There was nothing I could do to stop him loving me. He cared for me. He protected me. He watched for my coming home.

Lorraine was right. God and dogs. I suddenly realised that Odie had taught me more about God than any teacher in a classroom or preacher in a pulpit ever had. I had seen in Odie the kind of love God has for me. I was challenged by Odie about the kind of love I should have for others. He didn’t need words but by every action Odie taught me the meaning of God’s amazing grace.

 

SHORT REFLECTION ON the BBC DRAMA, MOTHER'S DAY

(The theme for this morning's Pause for Thought was "The Cost Of Giving." I wanted to do something about the giving of forgiveness and then on Monday night on BBC 2 I watched Mother's Day... that was it!)

On Monday night I was gripped by the BBC drama Mother’s Day that told the story of the Parry family who lost their 12 year old son in the IRA bomb in Warrington in March 1993. It was harrowing and emotional. The eyes were moist as I watched Wendy and Colin Parry realise that their son had been caught up in the bomb. Then they see him bandaged from head to toe in a hospital bed. Then they had to switch off his life support. Oh my. Tears.

Mother’s Day revealed that at the same time in Dublin a very ordinary woman, Susan McHugh, decided enough was enough and attempted to do something to end the N. Ireland Troubles. She held a meeting and then a rally where 20,000 came out into Dublin city centre to tell the terrorists that we were fed up with the killings.

The rest of the drama shows how the Parry’s, with the help of the McHugh’s, decided that they should use their grief to speak out, to become peace makers. Their vulnerable attempts to make a difference for us all again brought me to tears. Different tears. Hopeful tears.

The Parrys are not the only people who have taken the horror that visited them to act for peace. I am always inspired by those who have every reason not to work for peace, modelling for us an alternative way to deal with the loss.

The Parrys have spent the twenty five years since they lost their beloved son, as peace builders. They founded the The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace in the name of their son and the 4 year old boy who was killed the same day. At their Peace Centre in Warrington they invited former IRA man Martin McGuinness to speak.

It is hard to quantify what that must have cost. To let go of your pain and heartache. To let go of your seeming right to vengeance and justice. To forgive or at least be prepared to be reconciled.

The IRA Ceasefire happened seventeen months after Tim’s death on what would have been his 14th birthday. The loyalist ceasefires came just a few weeks later. There was a whole lot more to those ceasefires and the peace agreement that followed BUT acts like the Parrys and McHughs played their part for sure. The cost of their sacrificial giving helped to buy us all peace.

A SPIRITUAL LESSON FROM VINCENT KOMPANY

(my Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2, Vanessa Feltz Show on August 30th 2018)

I try, with all the discipline I can muster, to stay clear of football in my Pause for Thoughts. But the theme Saving The Day left me no choice. Sorry Vanessa but I could not help myself. 

It should have been the day when all my dreams came true but had turned into the very worst nightmare. After 44 years of footballing misery my beloved Manchester City just had to beat a very poor QPR to win the Premiership. The last twenty minutes were pure torture. 2-1 down with Man United winning at Sunderland, we had blown it again. Into injury time. No one could save us now. United fans were celebrating, smiling to themselves and laughing at us! I was in the garden avoiding the obvious. Heartbroken. When Edwin Dzeko scores in injury time it was only to make it worse. How close... 

… and then the ball is in the box. Aguero takes it past a defender. Shoots. GOAL!. Sergio Agueroooooooooo! The man who would forever after have zillions of o at the end of his name literally saved the day, the season, the club... I watched it for a week and wept every time.

When the City captain Vincent Kompany was asked about that moment, in a recent interview, he said that he never stopped believing. I was struck by why. He said that the team had come back right at the end of games before that season and so he remembered those moments and that had given him hope that we could do it again. Not me! I was in the garden. 

I grew up, here in Northern Ireland, near a mountain called Slemish. It is where it is believed St Patrick was a slave, looking after sheep. Some days Slemish looks clear and beautiful. Other days the soft Irish drizzle covers it up, like it had disappeared. A friend once told me that on the days he couldn’t see it, he remembered back to when he could. Sometimes that is like faith. For me when God feels distant, even absent, I remember back to when God was close, interrupting my life with love and strength and wisdom and believe he is still there.

Today. This week. We might find ourselves a little down or lost. We might find ourselves in difficult moments. When hope seems fading, covered in the mist or fog of circumstances and the day seems lost. It might be good to look back to better days. Look back to something that reminds us and gives us faith and hope to find resilience until the day is saved! 

MY FAVOURITE PLACE ON EARTH - PAUSE FOR THOUGHT BBC RADIO 2, 8.6.18

I could not be more excited this morning to be sharing with you my favourite place on earth as in 16 days and i will be right there… Now I have a few close seconds. I love Cape Town and have spent many months there gazing at Table Mountain. I had a sabbatical some years ago in Vancouver where I stayed in beautiful Kitsilano. Our own Ballycastle on the north coast of Ireland is special to me too… but in 16 days the Stockmans will be back in the playground of Onialeku Primary School on the edge of Arua, north west Uganda.

A few years ago our Church in Fitzroy tithed their recent building project to fund a school in this out post of the Pearl of Africa. In 2015 we went out to open that school and fell in love… not with the building though as buildings go this one looked unbelievable. No, we fell in love with the children. Children whose parents had to start a school to get them an education. Children who had little chance of a future but can now dare to hope that education might help them out of poverty.

Now, when I say poverty, I mean… poverty in shillings, still the currency in Uganda. What we have found is that we are rich… but only in shillings. Time spent on this school has taught us that these families are rich in joy, hope, imagination and resilience. Those are things that our wealthy developed world are a little impoverished in. 

Onialeku Primary School is not as scenically pleasing as Table Mountain or Kitsilano beach or Ballycastle Bay. There are no outside swimming pools, or great restaurants or wonderful ice cream.

BUT… I have  mantra I use a lot by writer Frederick Buechner that says "vocation is the place where your deepest gladness meets the world’s deepest need.” In Onialeku my family feel that deepest gladness. In just 16 days time I will look across that playground and see my daughters and my wife with a smile on their face that is bursting out of their inner souls. They love this place and that therefore is by far my favourite place on earth!

ROTTEN TREE BLOCKING OUT THE LIFE IN BLOOM - BBC Radio 2 Pause For Thought 23.5.18

It is so easy to miss your life in bloom.

If you are like me there is oftentimes a rotten tree in the way. Right there, in front of you. Right in your face! Blocking out a meadow of flowers behind it.

It might be that we’ve have been misinterpreted. There is nothing as rotten as being misunderstood. It might be that we’ve have been criticised, unfairly. Maybe it was a misinformed rumour. Maybe someone heard us wrong. Maybe it is a an issue we have at work, a difficult situation that we need to deal with. Or in the family. Maybe there is stress. Worry. Fear.

Rotten trees. They take up your entire vision.

Have you ever seen the film A Wonderful Life. James Stewart’s character George Bailey has got stuck in front of a rotten tree. He is contemplating ending it all. An angel appears and takes him back through his life, showing him all the flowers that he caused to bloom that he was missing because of that tree.

The apostle Paul knew about rotten trees too. A time in prison here, a shipwreck there. A church in crisis. A thorn in his side that he never explained. He was often in need and wondering how those needs would be met. 

BUT… Paul spread the Church across the world. He founded Churches. He pastored them with some of the most profound letters ever written. How many weddings do you hear his poetry, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” St Paul had set the entire world of his day in bloom.

And what about us? Is there something rotten, that is taking up our energy, bringing us down. This week, as I see the Chelsea Flower Show all over the media, though to be fair the colours do not look great on the radio Vanessa, I am praying that God will help me see past any rotten trees that are filling my horizon, so that I might get a glimpse of my life in bloom. 

IF I COULD TAKE A MOMENT BACK - JACK NICKLAUS, St. ANDREWS 1978 - Pause For Thought 9.5.18

I remember it so vividly. It still goes round and round in my head. I was just 16 years old and had just watched one of the greatest sporting events of all time. St. Andrews, home of golf. It was one of golf’s most exciting afternoons. The most successful golfer in history Jack Nicklaus was coming up the 18th hole. 20,000 people shifted from a loud raucous din to hear-a-pin-drop silence as he bent over his putt. Then delirium again as the ball disappeared. Nicklaus had won the Open at St. Andrews - again.

Half an hour later I was leaving the course and to my right I saw him. Jack Nicklaus, walking towards me. I stopped. He came straight at me. He was right beside me, smiling, with the Claret Jug under his left arm. Imagine shaking hands with Jack Nicklaus with the Claret Jug in his hand. I froze. Smiled. BUT didn’t reach out my hand! Oh the regret!

My daughter Jasmine asks how our brains work 24/7, even while we sleep but when we open an exam paper or bump in to a celebrity it goes dead!

My mate David Dark has a method of overcoming that brain dead awe when you meet a celebrity. He always has a question in his head. For Bono for example he would ask “How much Flannery O’Connor have you read?” When we met Bono backstage a couple of years ago, those words were in my head! Thankfully I didn’t need it as we got talking about mutual friends but it lingered just in case! A question to avoid the gaping mouth idiot look!

That in turn reminds me of Joan Osborne’s song One Of Us. You remember ‘what if God was one of us”. One of the lines Joan sings is “What would you ask if you had just one question?” A question to God. Just one. There’s a thought to pause for and not just for one morning. Always good to have at the ready though. I’d love to ask, “What have we gotten most wrong in our understanding of who you are?” And… “why did my brain go dead when I met Jack Nicklaus?”

RESURRECTION SPACES - BBC RADIO 2 PAUSE FOR THOUGHT 28.3.18

(this morning's Pause For Thought on BBC Radio 2... their theme was "Coming back to life!" They are always tricky!) 

I always found it the strangest feeling. When I was a University Chaplain I used to take teams to Cape Town. For years I had the privilege of visiting Robben Island and District 6. Now you see… right there… when I say privilege in the same sentence as Robben island and District 6, I get that strange feeling.

We don’t visit Robben Island or the District 6 museum because of the joyful life they brought. Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela spent 14 years in the tiniest cell, which one year we actually got inside instead of looking through the bars. We visit the Lime Quarry where they made the prisoners  break up the limestone with the tiniest of hammers in the most tedious torturous work. Robben Island is the reminder of an injustice and harsh regime.

District 6 too. In the early 60 this was the creative, quarter of Cape Town where races and colours and artists mingled in vibrant community. Then apartheid decided to divide up the colours. The authorities came down hard and literally bull dozed the life out of District 6. There is a still a green gash in the city where if you drive up the over grown roads you see the steps of houses flattened where people once lived. District 6 is another symbol of inhumanity. As someone has written in a piece of fabric art in the museum 

"Happy days

District Six

Living was cheap

Life precious

Now…

Living’s expensive and

Life is cheap…"

So, do you see why I have this strange feeling using the word privilege when walking round Robben Island and District 6. Why is it a privilege? Why does it feel special? Why do I feel almost blessed?It took me a few years of these visits to realise that the uneasy joy I felt on every visit was ok. I wasn’t feeling blessed about what happened back then. I was actually elated at the redemption that I was experiencing in these places right now. 

The prisoners are not only free but they are the guides who walk and talk you round Robben Island. They have come back to life. Some people are actually moving back into District 6. The injustice has been put right. District 6 is coming back to life.

On Easter week particularly, I remember Robben Island and District Six as Resurrection spaces…