LET’S BUILD SOME MORE BRIDGES

Are you getting fed up with reading more and more stories about division and discord? Are you getting tired of watching news reports from Syria, Nigeria, Thailand, Egypt and, now, the Ukraine, about people fighting and killing one another because they cannot agree? I know I am!

 

There are lots of people I disagree with and I know there are plenty who don’t agree with me. But there’s no one I would disagree with enough to kill them. And I hope there’s no one I would stop speaking to because we hold different viewpoints. In point of fact, when I’ve taken the trouble to sit down and talk with them (or they with me) I’ve usually found that, even if we continue to disagree, we seem to get on a lot better.

 

There’s a world of difference between good healthy argument and sectarian division that leads to bloodshed and violence. And yet the “world of difference” that we all live in is simply a sign of diversity and the amazing plethora of variety that surrounds us. God made us all different just like he designed each separate snowflake, and we are going to have to learn somehow to live with difference and disagreement or we’ll just end up annihilating everyone else with a different point of view.

 

I learned many years ago that the more opposite our standpoints and opinions, the stronger the friendships we could make if we just learned to get on. Thus a young person could build a stronger link to an older person and a black person to a white. A Jew could get on better with an Arab and a Catholic with a Protestant. It is our very difference that makes us more interesting; it increases our impetus for understanding and makes more beautiful the complexity of our relationships.

 

The apostle Paul puts it like this: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. I put it like this: The bigger the barrier we breach, the better the bridge we build.

 

And whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile, a male or a female, a believer or a seeker; there’s no doubt that building better bridges in this world of difference we inhabit is a very good thing to do!

 

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

We’ve all watched and listened with horror to recent stories of flooding and catastrophe taking place across the Somerset Levels and along the banks of the Thames west of London. I have marvelled at the courage and resilience of families facing loss of homes and possessions and danger to life and limb and given thanks to God that I and my loved ones have been spared such privation.

 

There’s always someone worse off than you they say and it is true that what causes loss of personal belongings in the UK wreaks greater havoc in countries of the third world. We can still remember the terrible scenes from the Philippines disaster of last year. The following story illustrates the point.

 

On May 31st 1889 a spectacular flood took place in the small settlement of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. After several days of extremely heavy rain the South Fork Dam burst, unleashing 20 million tons of water on the town and a flood that subsequently killed 2,209 people. There were few survivors but they had stories of amazing, even miraculous, deliverance.

 

One (completely apocryphal and untrue!) story concerns George Maxwell who made a career out of regaling large crowds with his testimony of rescue and release. George travelled the length and breath of the country and even took overseas tours to tell the amazing story of “George Maxwell, only survivor of the Johnstown flood”!

 

George became a celebrity, a kind of “rock star” of the early 20thcentury and was still pulling large crowds in his eighties as he told his incredible story. Finally George died and went to heaven where he lived happily apart from his overwhelming desire to tell everyone his testimony.

 

So Saint Peter and the angels got together, booked a large venue and invited everyone to hear “George Maxwell, only survivor of the Johnstown Flood”. Just before the show Saint Peter slipped into George’s dressing room as the celebrity was straightening his gold lamé suit and putting the final touches to his makeup. “Just thought I’d drop by to wish you luck,” smiled the apostle, “and to let you know …

 

… we’ve got Noah in the audience!”

SHIGIONOTH!

Shigionoth! No – its not a swearword in Serbo-Croat. It’s a word that occurs just once in the Bible: at the beginning of the third chapter of Habakkuk to be exact. He’s one of the minor prophets by the way, so you can find his book towards the end of the Old Testament.

 

You won’t find this strange word in a dictionary or thesaurus or even on Wikipedia. I’m told this Hebrew word is broadly translated as “a highly emotional poetic form”. It is actually a musical term like the equally important word ”selah” that also pops up in Habakkuk. Shigionoth means getting excited and exuberant in singing, jumping about and dancing wildly.

 

You’d expect to see Shigionoth-type activity at a nightclub (or so I’m told!) where it is quite normal for people to bounce up and down to loud music, flail their arms about and generally get “pumped-up” to contemporary rhythm.  What is unusual about this instance in Habakkuk is that this is a response to sad circumstances!

 

If your roofs leaking or your road’s flooded - and, to be quite honest, whose isn’t these days? - well, try to shun the pity party and the gripe group! If you’re fed up with the economic situation or cheesed off with local politics, don’t get into a downward spiral of despair. If you’re facing illness or injury, sadness or cynicism, don’t be dragged into negativism and complaint.

 

Find a private place with a bit of space. If you’re really brave – take a like-minded friend. Put on some loud music and let rip! Shigionoth!“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3: 18

 

Go on! Try a bit of Shigionoth!