SPEAKING to a journalist some years ago, the American statesman Henry Kissinger described Nelson Mandela as a great leader. The interviewer asked him to explain the word “great”. Kissinger paused for a moment and said: “A great leader is someone who can lead his people to a place where they have not been,” implying a better place, a sort of Promised Land.
It is a hope shared by many today as a new government emerges from the clamour of an election campaign. The task facing it is enormous and the years ahead will be difficult for everyone as we seek a better future for ourselves and generations to come.
A friend recently mentioned the importance of the State prayers contained in the old Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland which asked for God’s blessing on our leaders. In the revised liturgy we still ask God to “bless our President and all in authority.” These words will be said with feeling tomorrow but we cannot leave them there.
An Irish prayer dating from the troubled years of the 1920s reminds us of our civic responsibilities when it mentions “laying aside our divisions, [being] united in heart and mind to bear the burdens which are laid upon us.” It continues: “help us to respond to the call of our country [putting] far from us selfish indifference to the needs of others.” This makes clear that we have a role in answering our own prayers. There is no logic in praying for social justice and for those trying to keep a roof over their heads if our attitudes and lifestyles add to or ignore their problems.
There are difficult times ahead but tomorrow’s Gospel reading reminds us of the importance of keeping things in perspective. The warning that we “cannot serve God and wealth” does not mean that material things don’t matter.
Indeed we are assured that just as nature provides for the birds and the flowers so too will our essential needs be met. But we are warned against becoming addicted to possessions – the Celtic Tiger – and neglecting other more important dimensions of our lives. The question is well put: “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” The Christian answer is a resounding “Yes”.
There are many for whom life’s necessities are a real issue and who will struggle to find comfort in such assurances. That is where that line in the prayer about “selfish indifference” has special relevance. We have a duty as a Christian society to make generous and adequate provision to meet their needs.
People are understandably worried but tomorrow’s Gospel suggests that we should not worry about the future, not an easy thing to do.
Corrie ten Boom, a committed Christian and member of the Dutch Resistance during the second World War, has some interesting views on that subject. Her words have a special relevance given the circumstances of her life, the dangerous work she did hiding Jews and others from the Nazis – an offence punishable by death. Her family was eventually betrayed and she ended up with her sister in a concentration camp where her sister died.
Here’s what she had to say about worry: “When we worry we are carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength; carrying two days in one. We are moving into tomorrow ahead of time. There is just one day in the calendar of action – today. The Holy Spirit does not give a clear blueprint of our lives but only of the moments, one by one. We are all preyed upon by frustration and worry. God knows and is interested both in the hardest problems we face and the tiniest details that concern us. He knows how to put everything in place, like a jigsaw puzzle, to make a beautiful picture.”
Nelson Mandela faced far more difficult and dangerous times than we are ever likely to face. His whole life bears witness to the belief that we must never
give up. His words can inspire us today as we as a people step into the future: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail”.
– GL