Meditation : BACK ON YOUR HORSE by John Gruchy

BACK ON YOUR HORSE

II Corinthians 4:1-12

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed."

One of the Stellenbosch theological students who was at Volmoed last week told me that she used to ride horses here when there was a riding school some ten years ago.  I wish I had learnt to ride, but never did.  So why did the abbot comment to me the other day: "I see you are back on your horse!?"  It is a gory story which some of you already know, but others keep asking me about.

In brief, two weeks ago I badly cut three of my fingers while using the jointer in my workshop.  Its  12 inch cutter spins around at speed planing wood as you push it over the revolving blade.  It was late in the afternoon when I decided to plane a large piece of wood, and to do so without the help of a push-stick.  All of a sudden as the wood passed over the cutter it was wrenched from my hands and my fingers were dragged onto the blades.  Blood spurted out of the cuts, spilling onto  the machine and the floor.  I tried to stop the bleeding,  then rushed into the house leaving a trail of blood on the path, the front door and kitchen floor.  Isobel helped staunch the bleeding, and then rushed me to the Medi-clinic.  I was soon in the emergency ward under the care of the sister in charge.  Then Dr. du Toit  arrived and two hours later my fingers were stitched. I was on pain-killers and antibiotics, and Bernhard arrived to take me home.  It was bad, but it could have been a lot worse.  

In retrospect, I got off lightly.   I could visualise what might have happened to my hands, and what if there was no clinic, no medics, no medicines, and no drugs to ease the pain.  I had been stupid,  breaking the basic rules of workshop safety, and paying the penalty, even though I had  got lightly.  Within a few days I was back in my workshop even though my fingers were heavily bandaged.  "I see you got back on your horse!" said the abbot.  Yes, I had learnt from  my youth that if you fall off your bicycle, get back on straightaway otherwise you will never ride again.  Important counsel for the journey of life. 

Sometimes people are so severely crushed by life's afflictions that such counsel sounds trite.  I cannot begin to imagine how people in Syria today cope without being crushed.  No food, no medical supplies or emergency clinics.  Only destruction and death on every side.  It would be the height of insensitivity to tell people in such circumstances to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get back on their bicycles!  We all know people whose troubles and woes seem insurmountable, people for whom life has thrown a nasty curved ball.  Tomorrow we will be holding the funeral of Robin Douglas in our chapel.  After a full life, his last months since his wife died in September were tragically sad.  No matter how much he tried to get back onto his feet again and regain his trust in God and zest for life, it all became too much for him.  His is not an unusual story.  It is sometimes very difficult, even well-nigh impossible to get back on your horse.  After all, while we are on the ground our horse might have bolted or been stolen by the tax man.   So much does depend on circumstances and the severity of our afflictions.   Yet too often we simply give in rather than get up.

 Over the past few weeks I have got to know an Anglican priest in the United States who wrote to me after she had heard me lecture in Baltimore and then read my book Led into Mystery.  We have not met in person, but we have shared experiences in dealing with grief.  A professor of psychiatry before becoming a priest, she had to nurse her husband for many years through deteriorating health until he died from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease.  She remarried a few years later and then, soon after, her second husband died of cancer.  Her afflictions have been considerable; but she has not been crushed.  We all know people like that too, some amongst us, who inspire us when we are knocked down by life's traumas and find it so difficult to get up again and continue our journey.

Of course, getting back on our bicycles when we are young or in the prime of life is one thing; having to do so when we are older, when our level of energy is far less than it once was, when the healing of our bones and tissue takes longer, when we tire sooner than before, when we too easily and too frequently lose our balance and fall, and when we suffer loss and experience loneliness.  We may tell others that we still feel in the prime of life, but our bodies tell us otherwise. We are not immortal. 

So what did I learn from my mishap in the workshop?  For one thing, it could have been much worse!  Not everyone can say that about their afflictions because for many people it seems it can't get any worse.  But most of the time we can count our blessings, and give thanks for the care of partners and friends, the skill of doctors and nurses, for the prayers of this community and the healing power of the body. I also learnt that even when you are supposed to be full of wisdom, a sage on the hill say some, you can act stupidly.  Nobody needs to tell me about safety in the workshop.  I know the rules.  But that did not prevent me from disregarding them.  As we grow older we have an abundance of experience to draw on.  But experience also teaches us that the lessons of life have to be learnt again and again if we are not to be crushed by our afflictions.  If we stop getting up when we fall, we soon won't be able to get up at all, long before that becomes inevitable.   

St. Paul tells us that he was afflicted in every way, but nor crushed.  Ever since he had been struck off his horse on the Damascus Road he had to pick himself up and get his life back on his new track.  His afflictions  were chiefly those of persecution.  Yet his words speak to all of us. In the same passage where he tells us he is afflicted but not crushed, he also speaks of being perplexed but not in despair, struck down but not destroyed, and attributes this to the "extraordinary power" which does not come from us but from God.  Yes, that is the good news.  God is able to keep us from falling, but if we do and are open to the possibility, then God's grace keeps us from being crushed, and  usually does so through the agency of all those whose love, care and pray for us as channels of that grace.  And it is this mystery of restoring grace, the grace that puts us back on our feet,  that we celebrate as we share in the Eucharist.  For here we experience the Spirit who nourishes and sustains us in the sharing of peace,  the breaking of bread, and the communion we have together in Christ. 

John de Gruchy

Volmoed  30 January 2014

Meditation : TRUE PATRIOTS by John Gruchy

TRUE PATRIOTS

Mark 12:13-17

"Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

I received an e-mail last week from a friend in Johannesburg.  A chartered accountant, he has spent much of his life helping churches and other groups manage their financial affairs, and has raised funds for many community projects.  In his letter he wrote:  "I am very frustrated at the moment. I love SA but hate living under the rule of a President who is such a flawed individual. I am sure that I am only one of many Christians in SA who are battling to know how to respond to the forthcoming elections." Many would probably say the same, as did my American friends before their Presidential elections last year!  

There are many things  wrong about South Africa that cause concern.  I need not catalogue everything that comes to mind, for you know about them as much as I do.  At the same time, we can be thankful that South Africa did not end up in a civil war like Syria, a real possibility in the late 1980's.  We can be thankful that our diverse religious communities are not engaged in fostering conflict, that we live in a secular democracy, and that so far we have escaped terror attacks such as have occurred in the United States, Britain, Spain, France not to mention the Middle East, Asia and north Africa.  We can be thankful that whatever its faults, we have a reasonably stable government, and that the democratic process is working despite problems  We can be thankful that there are processes at work to combat corruption, nepotism, and the squandering of resources . We can be thankful that we have a good civil society, and many committed, courageous and compassionate people in our country who are doing so much.  We can be thankful that most of us live reasonably comfortable lives, more so than in some other countries and more so than many of our compatriots.  We can also be thankful that, whatever his faults, our president is not a tyrant like some others in the world with weapons of mass destruction on hand.  He reminds me more of one Shakespeare's tragic kings, trapped in the mire of past mistakes, beholden to those who have bailed him out, and in danger of being ousted by the same crude tactics used  by those who put him in power by others who won't hesitate to ditch him if it serves their interests. But he does keep on calling us to be good patriots, so let us take him at his word.

To be a good patriot is to acknowledge all that we can be grateful for as I have done already.  But equally true patriots are sad and often angry when things go wrong, when hard fought for victories over racism are squandered, when money that should go to help the poor ends up in the pockets of politicians, the powerful and rich.  True patriots are angry not because they hate their country; but because they love our country.   To love South Africa truly means to be committed to its welfare, and therefore disturbed when things are not as they should be.  My Johannesburg friend is a true patriot, someone who loves his country so much that he is not prepared to accept things uncritically as they are, not given to uttering the slogan "my country right or wrong," but also not prepared to sit back and do nothing to make it a better country for all who live in it.  True patriots like him do not wash their hands of the situation when it is bad; they are prepared to get their hands dirty when needed to make things better.  There are, I believe, many such true South African patriots, and I like to think that we are numbered amongst them.  

Christians are called to be good patriots, to look for ways in which we can contribute to the welfare and common good of town and country.  So we come to the question posed by my friend:  "I am sure that I am only one of many Christians in SA who are battling to know how to respond to the forthcoming elections."  So should the churches tell their members who to vote for, and what party to support?  There may be situations in which this is necessary, when the churches say quite firmly that we should not vote for some party or person.  But I don't think that is appropriate at this time in South Africa.  In any case, there are Christians in all parties, and the churches would disagree on who to vote for.  So does the Bible tells us what to do?   St. Paul taught the first Christians to obey the authorities because God had appointed them to govern (Romans 13).  This is important, he said, if there is to be good order in society, however flawed those in authority may be.  And keep in mind the situation Paul faced was the might of the Roman Empire which he often experienced by being thrown into prison!  But, as we see in the book of Revelation, the state can also become tyrannical, the enemy of law and order, an instrument of evil (Revelation 13), which has led some Christians in extreme situations to resist tyranny and pray for its ending, as we did during the apartheid era.  In either case, Christians were called on to endure faithfully in their testimony to Christ as Lord above Caesar.   

But now we live in a democratic country, the country for which many of us struggled, which is very unlike that faced by Christians in the NT or in many other times and places, and even today.  This significantly changes the game plan.  So we should at least we glad we can vote, and do so responsibly,  rather than wash our hands in a Pilate-like gesture of indifference.  To vote responsibly requires that we first think critically about policies and issues;  that we do not vote in terms of self-interest but the common good; not in terms of past loyalties to parties or privilege, but on the basis of present realities; that we support that which is just rather than expedient, that which will contribute to the common good.  Only in this way will we be able to follow Jesus' counsel "give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's," knowing full well that all things are God's and the emperor had better recognise that for his own good.  But acting responsibly as good citizens does not begin or end with our vote; our vote be backed up by a commitment to work responsibly in whatever way we can for that for which we voted.  We certainly cannot leave everything in the hand of the politicians we elect!  In short, to be a good patriot and a good Christian one at that, is to take our place in civil society as responsible citizens.

Yes, we do get sad when those we love behave badly, and we do feel let down when our country is not what we know it should and can be, just as we despair when the Bafana Bafana, the Springboks or Proteas lose.  But that does not mean we give up on them, though we might fire the coach or ditch the president!  We work hopefully and responsibly for good, we pray regularly for those who rule, and we exercise our critical faculties when we decide about who should get our vote.  May election year 2014 be a good one!  May God grant us that for which we pray.  May the voices of those who suffer daily from bad government be heard loud and clear, but not lead to violence.  May those who govern be given wisdom.  May those in opposition fulfil their task with conviction,  May the elections be peaceful, free and fair. And may we be true patriots who take our responsibility as citizens seriously.  Let's make that our prayer and the guide to action.

John de Gruchy

Volmoed, 9th January 2014  

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Meditation : WHAT MUST I DO? by John Gruchy

WHAT MUST I DO?

Luke 10:25-37

"What must I do ...?  Go and do likewise!"

Last week, in my meditation  on "True Patriotism," I mentioned several good things for which we can be thankful about  our country, but also of  the need to use our critical judgment in making decisions as responsible citizens.  There were several positive e-mail responses, but one, from a retired professor and good friend, was more critical.  He decided to grade my meditation, and gave me 33%.  As 30% is now the minimum for passing matric this  meant that I just managed to scrape through.  He said, with some justification, that I had not really dealt with the issues facing us as a country, nor given specific guidance about how to decide what to do.  So my question is:  how do we decide what to do, not just in voting in elections, but more generally in life when we have to make choices and decisions?   The same question came up in a conversation recently with the abbot, which confirms the need to say something about it. But it  is also one often put to Jesus: "What must I do" a lawyer asked him,  "to inherit eternal life?"   How must I live life now, he was asking, so that I might have life in all its fullness?

Jesus first of all points him to the commandment to love God and his neighbour which the lawyer would have known very well.  For Jesus the Commandments were the first stop on the journey into knowing  what is good,  how we should live, and the choices we make.  Whatever you do, don't commit idolatry, don't kill, don't covet, keep the sabbath, honour your parents, and above all, love God and your neighbour..  Such commandments provide basic guidelines for discerning between good and evil.  The only problem is that tomes have been written about what precisely these laws and commandments  mean in specific situations.  So the man asks Jesus: "But who is my neighbour?"   Or we might also ask as many have:  we are commanded not to kill, but does that mean we are not allowed to slaughter animals for food,  or to shoot someone in self-defence?  Each commandment raises further questions.  

The Old Testament is full of answers to such questions, but  as Jesus taught, there is a danger that such legalism begins to subvert the intention of the law, even preventing healing the sick on the Sabbath. Something more is needed than simply knowledge of and literally keeping the Commandments.   So Jesus tells a story to help this man find an answer to his question.

The story is not about literally keeping the law, but acting in the spirit of the law, discerning its intention.  To do so well  depends on the formation of a good conscience that enables us to interpret moral precepts spontaneously when faced with decisions as we journey along the road and meet a fellow traveller lying wounded on the side.  How does the law, especially the law of love become part of our way of being in the world?   We  can set rules for  our children which tell them what to do and what not to do, but there comes a time when they need to make up their own minds about what is right and good in terms of their own lives.   The real test then  is whether or not we have so nurtured them that they make good and wise decisions on their own when they have to.  Have we helped them to developed characters that can cope well with life's choices, whether these have to do with sex or money, relationships or politics, vocations or nurturing their own children?  Commandments and laws need to be internalized, made our own, and processed responsibly in order to guide our actions when the moment of decision confronts us as it did confront the travellers who passed down the Jericho road.  The formation of a good conscience  means becoming open to and led by the Spirit and not simply the law.  But, of course, our consciences  can sometimes let us down because they have been inadequately formed, and we can also be deluded into thinking we are led by the Spirit when we are not.  We also  need to use our God-given reason and think critically when faced with decisions and choices along the journey to life in its fullness..

So, we might tell our children what is good and give them rules to live by, and we might back that up with nurturing them in ways that make them responsible human beings with a good conscience, but they also  have to think critically  for themselves about the consequences of what they decide and do.  Sometimes the choices might be  murky as when we have to decide between two things that are both not very good, and sometimes they are more clear because we can discern the consequences more easily.  If we steal we might go to jail; if we speed we might get a traffic fine; if we don't obey safety rules in the workshop we might cut our fingers badly.  If we have unprotected sex outside marriage, the consequences might be unwanted pregnancies and becoming infected by AIDS.  If we  cut down a rain forest in order to prospect for oil or develop farms, we will not only destroy the forest but also the life that sustains it, and that could be disastrous for the future of the planet and our own lives.  We can go to war and invade other countries in order to bring about regime change, but not take into account the terrible consequences that will surely follow. We can vote for and implement political  policies to safeguard our own interests, but not take into account their consequences for the common good.  The policies of apartheid were based on choices made by the white electorate, and some even claimed that this is what God intended quoting the Bible to prove the point, but now we are having to deal with the dire consequences of Bantu education and migratory labour on our door step.  So critical thinking about consequences is crucial in making decisions.. 

Those who passed by the victim on the Jericho road knew the commandments by heart, but found excuses for not doing anything.  Knowing the commandments even the commandment to love does not necessarily lead to the right decision and action.  You can even silence your conscience!  But the good Samaritan not only knew the commandment, he also knew that if he did not act the consequences could be fatal for the man lying along the road bleeding to death.

So we return to being responsible Christian citizens who not only know the commandments, not only have a good conscience, but also think seriously about the consequences of our decisions and actions.  What are the consequences of doing nothing about the living conditions of so many poor people in our society?  What are the consequences of not saving energy and caring for the earth?  What are the consequences of hating others, or not forgiving those who act against us?  What are the consequences of making utopian promises in manifestoes without being able to keep them?  What are the consequences for our health when we drink too much, smoke, take no exercise?  What are the consequences of not opposing corruption and blowing the whistle?  What are the consequences of the church remaining silent when it should be speaking out loudly and clearly about injustice?  All of these have to do with loving God and loving our neighbour.  So Jesus turns to us as he did to his questioner.  You want to know what to do?   "Go and do likewise!"  Or as the prophet says:  "Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God."

John de Gruchy

Volmoed  16th January 2014

Meditation : MANDELA AS MESSIAH by John Gruchy

MANDELA AS MESSIAH

Isaiah 40:1-5

Luke 3:1-16

"All were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah."

The world seemed very different when I awoke last Friday morning and heard the news "Mandela is dead."  I first heard about it in an e-mail from a friend in Canada who, so he told me, saw the headline while reading an article I had written in 1994 at the time Mandela was inaugurated as President of the new South Africa.  He reminded me of what I had said at the time:

At the centre of it all was the national icon—a prisoner become president, a man of stature and humility who, like few contemporary world leaders, including those who had come to pay him homage, commanded the respect of all and the love of many.

It is now almost twenty years later, twenty years after apartheid was officially consigned to the dustbin of history, twenty years of living as if on a roller coaster, with high moments of great excitement and achievement, and low moments when we feared that all our hopes were being dashed.  But always somewhere at the centre though increasingly in the background was the prisoner who became president, the towering figure of the man who had, for too brief a time, led our country out of the wilderness into a land full of promise.  Now he is dead and the world that came to pay him homage when he became president, has returned in even greater numbers to pay their last respects.   His death came as no surprise but it was still a shock to the system, for it signalled the end of an era, but much more, the end of a life that has become an icon or symbol of true greatness, of humble leadership, of justice and reconciliation.  Some are even referring to Mandela as a messiah sent by God to deliver us from bondage! In fact, I think this is what President Obama was telling us at the Memorial Service on Tuesday.Today, as we listen again to the story of John the Baptist preparing us to celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world as the true Messiah, I want to ask whether it is appropriate to talk of Mandela also in these terms. 

The term Messiah is for us Christians so exclusively associated with Jesus that it is difficult to think of anyone else in these terms.  So we cannot use the world lightly or thoughtlessly when when we speak of him in this way.   In the Bible the word "Messiah"  means "the Lord's anointed."  In the Old Testament it is often used to describe those chosen by God to fulfil his purpose of liberation and redemption --like Moses who led the slaves out of the bondage of Egypt to the new land of promise.  But many others in the Old Testament are referred to as those anointed by God, whether prophets like Elijah or Kings like David, and even Cyrus, the pagan Persian king who allowed the Jewish exiles to return from captivity and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, was called the Lord's anointed or messiah.  So I do not think it is inappropriate to refer to Nelson Mandela as a messianic figure whom God raised up to lead our country from the bondage of apartheid into a new day of freedom.

But it is also dangerous to speak of any leader as a messiah, especially those who make such pretentious claims.   Adolf Hitler immediately comes to mind as the great false messiah of the twentieth century, though he is only one of many others who have been instrumental in crimes against humanity. There are too many would-be messiahs active in the world today!  Jesus warned his followers about "false Messiahs," leaders who claim to be God's anointed ones, but who actually lead peoples and nations along paths of destruction.  "Beware that no one leads you astray," Jesus said,  "for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Messiah!' and will lead many stray." (Matthew 24:1-8)  Jesus himself was even cautious in being heralded as the Messiah.  So we should beware of leaders whether political or religious who make boastful claims to be the servants of God but who in the end take us and the world down paths that lead us away from the truth, away from justice, and too often into destruction.

 But that was not Mandela's way, and therein lies his greatness.  He would never have claimed the title of Messiah for himself, or thought of himself in that way.  He lived and acted with the kind of humility, compassion and self-service that allows us to refer to him as a messianic figure, a true liberator, an agent of God's justice, peace and reconciliation, someone who, through his life, words and deeds, points towards Jesus and not to himself as the true Messiah.

During Advent we are reminded of the words of the prophets like John the Baptist who foretold the coming of the true Messiah and in doing so described the character of such a Messiah and what he would do.  And then in the fullness of time the shepherds heard the sound of the angels: "Do not be afraid; for see -- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)  The birth of the true Messiah brings great joy to people, it takes away their fears and gives them fresh hope and courage, pointing to a future that will usher in justice and peace for all.  This is what Mandela has done for us and in doing so he helps us understand better what it means to proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Lord.  For Jesus came that we might be set free and come to know life in all the fullness God wants to give us.  This is why we celebrate and give thanks today for Mandela's life and legacy, the father of our nation and express such joy amid our sadness..

John de Gruchy

Volmoed  12 December 2013

Advent 2