January 2010 – For the fainthearted . . .

Footballing lessons

Lazing on the settee, watching Egypt beat Ghana 1-0 to become African football champions for the third time in a row, there was a lesson in African politics.

It seemed odd that the tournament should have been played in Angola, one of the poorest nations on Earth in terms of human development. Go to Google Earth and type in ‘Luanda’ and look at the place. There would have been considerably greater priorities in the country than providing stadia for an international football tournament.

FIFA’s insistence that governments not be allowed …

Eyres or the Evangelicals?

In a virtual age, there is still nothing like having something on a piece of paper. Having only a couple of hours to spare this afternoon, the debate about which newspapers to buy is quickly resolved. Buying the Irish Times and the Financial Times costs less than a pint of beer and they can be kept for days to come, unlike the pints, which are very quickly recycled. The Best Beloved, who never has a clue how much there might be in the bank, buys the Financial Times in order …

Sermon for the Presentation of Christ, 2nd February 2010

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation”. Luke 2:29-30

The story of the presentation of Christ, the story of Mary and Joseph bringing the forty day old baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, is beautifully reassuring. Perhaps the reassurance comes from the story itself, the encounters with the saintly Simeon and Anna; perhaps the reassurance comes from memories that go with the song of Simeon, those words he utters when he takes the baby Jesus into …

Moving on to the past

“Will you miss Dublin?”

“Of course”.

“How do you feel about moving to the country?”

“My roots are in a deeply rural community. I worked for seven years in a deeply rural community. I can stand in the middle of a farmyard and feel at home”.

Perhaps that sense of belonging owes as much to morale as to place. Farmers may be quiet and conservative, but in Ireland the church is a central part of their lives. They will be there in all seasons, week in week out; they might …

Never again

Reading Victoria Barnett’s “For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest Against Hitler” on Holocaust Memorial Day is depressing. The world knew of the genocide being perpetrated against the Jewish people in 1942. Emmi Bonhoeffer remembered that even Germans knew what was happening in 1942:

It was also the case that, when you reported atrocities, they would be denounced immediately as “horror stories.” I can tell a story that is very characteristic of this period. It was 1942. I stood in a long line to buy vegetables and said to

…

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, 31st January 2010

“But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. ” Luke 4:30

I was thinking about the late Bill Shankly, manager of Liverpool Football Club, his team have been having a difficult season and I wondered what Shanks would have made of it. Most of us will know Shankly’s most famous comment about the game he so loved. Asked if football was a matter of life and death, “no”, he said, “it’s far more important than that”.

Bill Shankly was a marvellous man and manager, but …