Tears and anger were vented at the felling of the “holy hawthorn” of Glastonbury. Someone with a chainsaw stretched over the circular fence which surrounded it and severed the ancient tree leaving a six foot stump. Apparently the last time it was cut down was by Cromwell’s soldiers. They seemed to have done a better job as only the roots remained. These roots were allegedly planted in 1951 to product this tree and three others growing around the town. Of course the original tree is attributed to Joseph of Arimathea who brought the seed (along with the “Holy Grail” the chalice which Jesus used at the last Passover) to Somerset. Why he should have brought either to “England’s green and pleasant land” is a question that only a British Israelite could answer! The fence surrounding the tree is shown festooned with token rags reflecting the devotion of many to their belief in pantheism. Perhaps someone will tell the mourners that hawthorn has a habit of sprouting so they can look forward to a “resurrection” in due course! My question is, are they barking up the wrong tree? What does the Bible say about trees? There are three notable trees in Scripture. The first in Genesis is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The description of such knowledge encompasses the entire spectrum of moral experience. Nothing is omitted. This is why the tempter could accurately say that with this knowledge they would be like God. But the knowledge came with a promise – that of death – which in its immediate form was separation from the God who had made them. At the end of the Bible we read of another tree. The Apostle John is given the vision of death removed and healing completed. “The tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” Revelation chapter 22 verses 2/3. For this change to become possible the separation caused by sin had to be removed so that we could enter into that intimate relationship with our creator God for which we were made. The third tree is referred to by St Peter in his first letter when he calls the cross a tree. Indeed it was a wooden cross, a Roman gibbet, an instrument of execution. Referring to Jesus he writes, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds we are healed.” Chapter 2 verse 24. Christians are those who by faith have seen their sins laid on Jesus and recognise that his death brought that life to them which Adam forfeited in the garden of Eden. This healing comes, not when we trust in a tree, but in a living saviour.

The Wikileak website has achieved prominence these last few weeks by releasing some of its “classified” documents to the media. Apparently its founder, 39 year old Australian Julian Assange, has obtained 250,000 US diplomatic cables so we will be hearing a lot more about what the US thinks about other countries! Understandably the US has blocked his website but Julian has been in this business since 2006 and has allegedly 20 websites in other countries from which he can broadcast this material. Just how he came by this sensitive material is causing the US some consternation. It appears that a soldier was accumulating the cables, presumably on disc, and made a deal with Julian. Some US politicians are calling this an act of treason but Julian reckons he is simply correcting the free speech deficit that exists! There are those who agree with him and liken the US clampdown on his website Wikileak.com to China’s censoring of Google which the US scorned. Julian, who is somewhere in Britain, is the subject of a European arrest warrant issued by authorities in Sweden, where he is accused of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. It seems that Julian may have been pursuing more than free speech! What has the Bible to say? There is an almost universal notion that God is both blind and deaf. That things done in secret will never come to light. That so long as others do not find us out, all will be well. “Your secret is safe with me” assumes a consistency humans are seldom capable of. This idea of an impotent God was voiced by Isaiah in Chapter 29 verse 15 which reads Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” The US diplomats thought their work was being done in secret with no-one to see what was going on. They thought that through encryption no-one would know. Now it is being broadcast through the world wide web! Jesus spoke of a day when all will be revealed – There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the rooftops. (Saint Luke chapter 12 verses 2 & 3) We may not have stolen US “classified” documents or been involved in sexual crimes but we need the Psalmist’s prayer: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”.

After the First World War the Allies decided to teach Germany a lesson. They had fought a very costly war and Germany, it was decided, must pay. The result was a resurgence of nationalism which brought a certain Austrian called Adolf Hitler to the fore and in due course we had the Second World War. After WW2 it would have been easy to make the same mistake and decide to make Germany pay but wiser council prevailed and the Marshall Plan was crafted. It embarked on a program of post-war recovery which poured aid into the stricken country to get it back onto its feet. After Ireland broke the European banking system causing huge problems for the economies of the EC it would be understandable for the countries that paid dearly towards Ireland’s bailout to decide to teach Ireland a lesson and make her pay. The result could be the resurgence of nationalism which could bring a certain ….! Hopefully Europeans are good at history and have learned their lessons. We will know the answer sooner rather than later! What light can the Bible throw on all this? Jesus countered the legalism of his day by twice quoting Hosea’s pronouncement, “I desire mercy not sacrifice” (sacrifice meaning the practice of religious rituals). The first time was to counteract the Pharisees criticism of Him eating with “tax collectors and sinners”. They would have preferred that Jesus condemn them. (St Matthew chapter 9 verse 13). The second occasion was when Jesus was being censured for permitting his disciples to “pluck heads of grain and eat them on the Sabbath”. Clearly those censuring Him would have preferred the disciples to go hungry. Their desire to see the innocent suffer prompted Jesus to remark that if they had known what “I desire mercy not sacrifice” meant, they would not have condemned the guiltless. (St Matthew chapter 12 verse 7.) The ordinary people of Ireland are not guilty of the money manipulation of the banks nor were they complicit in the St Patrick’s Day massacre of Anglo Irish bank’s shares. These enormous debts should not be laid to our account. As to those responsible for the economic meltdown, they may appear to go free but are answerable to a higher court. There they need the services of the only Advocate who has made the ultimate sacrifice for sinners so they had better be good at their history lessons and put their trust in the Saviour now.

Economic reality overtook us this week when the bailiffs arrived! They were the representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Nemesis has finally caught up with us. The Bankers valuations of their own assets, which we have tacitly accepted for so long, will be scrutinised and found wanting. The Government will bring forward its budget proposals as it continues to live in denial – (it was rumoured that some of the Cabinet thought “De Nile” only referred to a river in Egypt!) The people, currently venting their anger in our traditional way of writing to the editors of the local press, are frustrated at the lack of anyone being brought to account for our bankruptcy. The Garda investigation into the bankers’ misdeeds is proceeding slowly as tonnes of shredded paper is being examined for clues. Our UK neighbours have expressed willingness to give us a dig-out causing some to hear the low rumble of the State’s founding Fathers rotating in their graves. What has the Bible to say about all this? Despite the efforts of many to edit out the fact of the Fall, it happened! We are not the people we should be. We are not the people we could be. “In the world you will have tribulation” said Jesus in Saint John’s Gospel – and that was to his followers! Now, as a result of man’s basic optimism, continuous efforts have been made to thwart this tribulation. All sorts of self help devices have been put in place in an effort to govern sinners. These range from democracy to dictatorship and everything in between. Some have lasted longer than others but the only certainty is that they will fail. Saint Paul writing to give hope to the believers in Rome recognised that God was behind this state of affairs – in order to create something better. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Saint Peter also wrote about God’s promise – “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” Christopher Idle encapsulated these thoughts in his hymn: – Come and see the shining hope that Christ’s apostles saw;

on the earth, confusion but in heaven an open door,

where the living creatures praise the Lamb for evermore:

Love has the victory for ever. The full number of the children of God may soon be here – ensure that you are in that number through faith in Christ.

The photographers command before a photo-shoot took on a new meaning this week when our Minister of Agriculture, Brendan Smith, took credit for a consignment of cheese from the EC. This act of benevolence, which is intended to alleviate poverty in the distressed areas of Europe, is something we have benefited from since 1987. The Minister smelt something good, got onto “Morning Ireland” and announced this particular piece of largesse as if the Government had churned the whole thing themselves.  Alas for Brendan the trap sprung and before you could say “camembert” his moment in the sun turned mouldy. To try to make political capital for something which had been going on for over 20 years added to the feeling of being cheesed off with the Government. It was rumoured that the cry, “Let them eat cheese” (paraphrasing Marie Antoinette) was heard emanating from the departing Merc as they took Brendan back to his Cavan constituency! Fortunately there are no big cheeses in the Bible! In fact the Person it’s all about – Jesus – invited His followers to die to self. In case they missed the point he inverted the world order and said that “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and the servant of all”. (Saint Mark chapter 9 verse 35). When the disciples wanted to know what a servant looked like he took the lowest place and washed their feet. (Saint John Chapter 13). In case anyone still did not get it Jesus offered his followers a cross. Saint Luke records the incident, “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. It may be easy to dismiss some of the things a politician says but the trouble with Jesus’s sayings is that he modelled them with his life. You cannot walk round this Man. You need to face Him – preferably in this life!

Many of you will know the story of Joni Eareckson Tada. She was involved in a diving accident when she was 17 which left her as a quadriplegic. That was 43 years ago. Over the last decade she has suffered from chronic pain and in June this year she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her advice to female readers is, “Go get a mammogram!” Joni has written 35 books and in the latest “A Place of Healing” she gives us an outline of her “Theology of Suffering”. Some of us will be familiar with the Romanian, Josef Ton, who wrote of his experiences of suffering at the hands of the KGB. His “Theology of Suffering” which later formed his doctrinal thesis, was the more usual experience of someone being threatened with martyrdom for his faith. In Joni we have the more difficult to handle experience of an accident, with no apparent sense to ease the pain of the “WHY” question. Because Joni is a Christian she followed the instructions of God’s Word and after her accident had a special prayer service where she confessed her sins, was anointed with oil and had hands laid on her in prayer. God answered, not by healing her body but by drawing her more closely to Himself and showing her how she could glorify Him through her disabilities. In a recent interview she gave this answer to the question of how her relationship with God was deepening. In John 14 verse 12, Jesus says, “Anyone who has faith in me will do … even greater things than these.” We tend to think Jesus was talking about miracles, as if Jesus were saying, “Hey guys, look at these miracles! One day, you’ll do many more miracles than me!” The thing that Jesus was doing wasn’t necessarily the miracles. He was giving the gospel; he was advancing his kingdom; he was reclaiming the earth as rightfully his. When Jesus gave that promise, he was saying, “I’m giving you a job to do, my Father and I want the gospel to go forth, and I promise you’ll have everything you need to get that job done, and you’ll do an even better job than me.” Jesus ministered for three years, and at the end, he had a handful of disciples who half-believed in him. After Jesus went to heaven and the Holy Spirit came down—my goodness, Peter preaches one sermon and thousands believe. That’s the greater thing that God wants us to do. That’s what I have been seeing this past month. Every x-ray technician, every nurse, every doctor’s secretary, every clinician, every person I meet in nuclear medicine and at the MRI—it’s amazing how many opportunities I’ve been given to see people hungry and thirsty for Christ. I knew that was true before, but there seems to be something special that is accompanying this diagnosis. I’m just so amazed by people asking me, “How can you approach this breast cancer with such confidence in a God who allows it?” And I’m being given the chance to answer. The greater thing is not the miracle; it’s the advancement of the gospel. In this Joni shares the joy of Jesus – “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12 : 2)

Among the many strange nautical species that run aground on the coastline of the Isle of Skye the HMS Astute must rank as the strangest. This 2 month old baby weighed in at 7,800 tonnes and is reputed to have cost £1.2 billion. Pity Cdr Andy Coles as this sub is controlled by a platform management system – untouched by human hand! This fly by wire technology has been designed to deliver high tech troops onto foreign soil – unseen and unheard. To do this the sub is required to navigate in shallow water which explains why the vessel was in the narrow Kyle of Lochalsh. The sonar equipment will need some fine tuning before venturing into the Kyle again! The Bible has quite a lot of subversive material, much of it surrounding the person and work of Jesus. He was recognised from the outset by Satan who was out to destroy the Messiah. Sadly those who should have recognised Him, the religious authorities who were living in anticipation of his arrival, failed to do so. But those of every class who recognised their need of a saviour had their spiritual eyes opened and followed him. However all seemed lost when the fickle crowd changed their cry from “Hallelujah” to “Crucify him”. Pilot asked the question at his trial, “What is truth” thinking that the answer might be in a proposition instead of a person. Jesus is the truth. The dying thief recognised this fact and committed his life to him. His accomplishment of dying in the sinners place to make a complete atonement for sin, opened a way of deliverance for the believing sinner to be with his saviour God for time and eternity, and was totally subversive. It went under Satan’s radar. It went under the authorities’ radar. They were spiritually blind. Many today are still blinded by Satan and cannot see the relevance of putting their faith in the one who, as Saint Paul put it, “loved me and gave himself for me”. Cdr Coles may not have lived up to his vessels name, “Astute” but for those astute enough to admit their culpability before a Holy God and commit themselves to him the words of Jude’s doxology are packed with timeless meaning. “Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

The news this week has been dominated by the thrilling final act of rescue of the 33 Chilean minors trapped 2,300 feet down the copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert. All 33 were in remarkably good shape only Mario Gomez, the eldest, remains in hospital with pneumonia. It has been a huge triumph of human resourcefulness and engineering brilliance to bring the men back alive from the bowels of the earth. Irish engineering played its part in the rescue. The Irish drill used in the bore holes sucks out the drilled material through its hollow core and sends it back to the surface. This minimises the chance of rock fracturing as the drill passes through it. Whilst the rescue is of heroic proportions it should be remembered that Chile lost 35 miners in accidents last year. Clearly mining is still a very hazardous business for the men who go down the shaft. The fragment of the old children’s song comes to mind; “Don’t go down the mine Daddy”. Even with all the safety precautions, mining is not a good career choice! Where was God in all of this? Jimmy Sanchez, was in no doubt about God’s presence. “There are actually 34 of us,” the nineteen-year-old miner wrote in a letter sent up from the mine on Tuesday, “because God has never left us down here.” Jimmy was only echoing the words of the Psalmist, If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” Psalm 139:8 Certainly He was much prayed to – along with every other saint in the calendar! So how are we to pray? When the worst seemed certain, Jesus pleaded with God to avoid it. It was not a prayer confident of bright tomorrows: “Take this cup from me. But not my will, but yours be done.”(Saint Matthew Chapter 26 verse 39) It was grounded in the realism of prophesy which was about to be fulfilled. God was working out His purposes in the miners rescue just as He was working out His purposes in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Only, in the case of Jesus, it was our rescue He had in mind. As Saint Paul puts it in the opening paragraph of his letter to the Galatians, “Who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever”.  It has been a great rescue there in the Chilean desert but the greatest rescue of all was made at Calvary – and whether we are working below ground or above ground we need to call out to Jesus, the only one who can rescue us for time and eternity.

Anyone who knows anything about “free speech” knows that it is not free – it comes with a large price tag! In many cases the price is not paid in cash but imprisonment or martyrdom. Of course some would transgress the boundaries of moderation and use extreme language so it has become necessary to introduce the “incitement to hatred” offence to our statute book. Incitement to hatred seems to be absent from the language of the Manifesto 08 advocating democracy, human rights and the rule of law in China. Indeed these freedoms are enshrined in the Chinese constitution and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which China subscribes. However Liu Xiaobo got an 11 year jail sentence for his part in writing the Manifesto and this week he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! The jail sentence was passed under Chinese criminal law where Liu was found guilty of leading a group which spread rumours and slanders presumably found in the Manifesto and his 700 essays. The internet has contributed to the circulation of these documents and although there is currently a news blackout in China on the awarding of the Nobel Prize, we now live in a global world where even the ‘great wall’ cannot keep information out. What does the Bible have to say? Some of the proverbs in the Book of Proverbs were written by King Solomon, who would have had absolute power. Yet he penned the lines: – “With patience a ruler can be persuaded and a gentle tongue can break a bone” Quiet persuasion and a refusal to be provoked may win surprising victories. Jesus is perhaps the best example of this. Isaiah’s prediction, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” came true at His trial. Respect for authorities, even when they are acting unjustly, recognises that they have their power from God. Biblical limitations arise when freedom of speech is threatened and the Gospel is hindered. We have Saint Peter’s reply to the threat: “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts chapter 5 verses 28/9). Three lessons can be made: Patience is a strong persuader Silence when false accusations are being made Non-violent disobedience when proclaiming the Gospel is at stake. The Gospel imperative caused Wesley to pen these words: “Preach Him to all and cry in death behold, behold the Lamb.”

This month will reveal the inside story to Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The launch of the movie anticipates Facebook reaching the 500 millionth user. The film is to be called “The Social Network” with the tagline “You don’t get to 500M friends without making some enemies”. It’s the curious tale of a social outsider who became the gateway for social interaction. All this has happened completely ignoring the usual channels through which power flows: wealth, authority, age, experience. Mark is part of the generation sociologists are calling Millenials. The movies tagline wryly refers to a number of lawsuits he has accumulated from fellow Millenials! His youthful indiscretions and mishaps, though they lost him friends, also made him into the world’s youngest billionaire at age 26. Basically Zuckerberg desperately wants to belong to a group and has invented what has become the largest group in the world! The trouble is that it is high on networking and news but low in discussion and relationships. What does the Bible have to do with all this? The most important things the Bible says are our relationships; first the vertical with God and second the horizontal with our fellow human beings. The lawyer’s words recorded in Saint Luke’s Gospel chapter 10 verse 26 were commended by Jesus and summarise the law for us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbour as yourself.” The lawyer must have been pleased with himself in getting it right but perhaps his pleasure faded when Jesus added “Do this and you will live”! Like many of us it’s not our understanding of what Jesus says that’s difficult, it’s the putting it into practice that is the hard bit. In case the lawyer didn’t get it the illustration of a loathsome Samaritan looking after a wounded and robbed Jew – even to the point of long term care would have been something he would have balked at. Relationships in Scripture come with a price tag! The initial price, the big one, which seals our relationship with a thrice holy God has, for the one who trusts in the work of Jesus on the cross, been already paid. It cost us our sins. It caused Him to become a sin offering. He made a way for love to flow between us and God. We turn away from our sins and, by God’s grace trust, in the influence of the Holy Spirit to forge these helpful relationships between us and those we meet. The challenge is not simply to love our friends but like the Jew and the Samaritan, love our enemies. These relationships require a much more hands on approach than those operating in cyberspace can produce. Emotion, eye contact, the tone of voice cannot be transmitted over the airwaves. We need to copy the Father. (St. Luke Ch.15v20). “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” And that’s something you cannot do on facebook!