When the Costa Concordia hit the rocks on the Isola del Giglio last weekend it drew a few parallels with the sinking of the Titanic.
Pride drove the Titanic to travel at full speed through the iceberg danger area as a record fast crossing was attempted.
Pride brought the Costa Concordia to within 200m of the shore to celebrate their famous “sail-bys” giving the passengers a thrill to remember.
Both cruise liners were symbolic of their countries attitudes.
The Titanic was thought to be unsinkable so half the lifeboats were discarded.
The Costa Concordia reflected present Italian difficulties. Her Captain’s behaviour resembling the former Prime Minister Berlusconi who’s carousing contributed to the delay in Italy adopting corrective financial measures. In the same way Captain Schettino was distracted from his task and delayed giving the order to abandon ship causing loss of life.
The ship was designed to maximise revenue at the expense of safety. Limited to a 30m width (in order to navigate places like the Panama Canal) the only way the cruise ship design could go was up so more and more decks were constructed. This made her top heavy resulting in graphic pictures of her plight being published in the media all week.

The honourable sea-faring tradition of the Captain being last to leave the sinking ship didn’t appeal much to Schettino who cleared off a couple of hours before the last survivor! His recorded dialogue with the local coastguard, who ordered him back on board, will go down in the annals of maritime history as a prime example of dereliction of duty.

What has the Bible to do with any of this?

Pride, greed and the desire to save ones own skin at the expense of others are fairly common human trends and are certainly easily identified in Scripture.
Take those who surrounded Jesus for example. The Religious of the day, the Pharisees, who were proud of their tradition and greedy for the rewards it brought them.
At the same time they needed to be converted – changed on the inside.
Jesus hadn’t much time for such frauds, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” St Matthew Chapter 23 verse 25.

But it was when under the threat of immanent death that we read of the dying thief on the cross wanting to save his skin. “Save yourself and us” he shouted at Jesus – St Luke chapter 23 verse 39. But that would have been a dereliction of Jesus duty. He was there to atone for our sins so that by faith in His sacrifice we can be forgiven and accepted into God’s household. He is our substitute as John called him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” St John chapter 1 verse 29.
Thank God that Jesus did not desert his calling and has become the only hope for drowning sailors or those of us on shore as well. Trust Him.

The Governments search for additional income has led them back to the Nation’s pensioners. They present an easy target with Revenue able to get together with the Department of Social Protection and obtain details of the State pension payments. This led to 500,000 files being examined and 150,000 letters issued. Out of that total 115,000 have been asked to pay up and 20,000 are to get a refund for paying too much! Those being asked to pay may have a liability for the arrears accumulated over past years so there is a sting in the tail. Whoever said that nothing was certain except death and taxes never spoke a truer word! There has been a protest from some that having worked to earn the pension they thought the benefits were tax free. Alas its income and income is taxed. There is no escape. There may well be a coterie of ex Bankers and Developers who have been able to squirrel away some ill gotten gains in oversea banks but they present a much harder target for Revenue. The money trails usually lead to some well known islands and their owners have now embarked on bankruptcy tourism to defend their stash. Regarding the latter those previously staunch Republicans have shown a sudden attraction for the UK with its more benign bankruptcy laws! Greed ruins patriotism! What has the Bible to say to all this? In Jesus’ day the tax gatherers were able to extract as much tax as possible from the people aided and abetted by their Roman masters. There was little that was just about the system. Never the less Jesus did not attack the system but converted Matthew one of the tax men! Another incident recorded by St Matthew recorded in Chapter 17 verses 24/27 refers to the annual Temple tax due by each person over the age of 20. St Peter was asked for the tax by the collectors and agreed to pay. Because the Temple was God the Father’s house Jesus the Son and those he brought into the Father’s family are exempt. Jesus said this to show that, with the coming of the Kingdom, believers were no longer under the Old Testament law but now are under the law of Christ. But he paid the tax. Although abolished this revenue stream was too good to ignore and re-emerged in the form of “Peter’s pence” which continues in some churches to this day! For those entering Christ’s family the price has been paid in full. As St Peter said, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” Salvation is a free gift to be accepted by the empty hand of faith but you had better pay your taxes!

As a Nation we are famed for long memories and while the Bible states that 1,000 years are like a day in God’s reckoning we might say the same of our collective memory of the 800 years English rule. The National Library houses the Papal Bull of 1155 granting Henry 11 the right to claim lordship over Ireland. Rather like some parts of the State papers released this week under the 30 year rule the Bull may be a forgery! However Bull or no Bull Henry was able to get the Irish Kings and Chieftains to sign up to his Lordship and the rest, as they say, is history. That is up to a defining moment during Queen Elizabeth’s State visit this year when she bowed her head before the memorial to the dead who fell in wars – both fighting for and against the English. Documents may be forged but deeds have an indelible language of their own which testifies to a deeper truth. That one very public act of contrition achieved a great deal of healing of relationships between our two countries paving the way to build constructive memories in the years ahead.  What comment can we glean from the Bible to take us into 2012? It is much easier to destroy a friendship than restore it. The Bible attributes this to our sinful nature. The truth is that sin separates. It divides families, communities and even nations. It is present in us all. Isaiah puts it simply “your iniquities have separated you from your God”. Repentance is the first step towards restoration. This involves a 180 degree turn in our thoughts, words and deeds. It is a God given grace which He may or may not grant. The heart needs to be renewed. This is God’s work, we cannot do it. Ezekiel, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, writes, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Chapter 36 verse 26). One thing we can do is follow the promise God gave to Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”. As we go into 2012 take the invitation of Jesus as your own; “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out”.  His death in the sinners place makes it possible. Make this your first prayer for the New Year and with that relationship in place forgiveness can flow to others and healing take place.

Carols come in three main groups, Tradition – “The Holly and the Ivy” Myth “The Snowman” and Biblical “Joy to the World”. The latter is belted out by every supermarket sound system with scant regard for the words but what a great melody! It’s attributed to Lowell Mason in 1836 with more than a nod in the direction of G F Handel. But the words composed in 1719, when Isaac Watts at age 45, make David the Psalmist sing like a Christian! This is his interpretation of Psalm 98 written at a time when the extermination of Christianity was predicted and persecution of Christians was widespread. Watts, like true believers in the West today, saw through the antics of those opposed to God to the fulfilment of the universal availability of the Gospel of God’s redeeming love in Christ. The first two stanzas predict the flow of redemptive history breaking out of its Jewish mould to encircle the world. Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing. Verse 2 Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy. Clearly Watts rejoices in verse 1 at the fact of Jesus coming to earth with the invitation for people to open their hearts to receive Him. In verse 2 he sees the Saviour, conquering sin and death, now reigning at the right hand of the majesty on high. Creation rejoices at His salvation. Verse 3 No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found. Verse 4 He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love. The last two verses have the second coming of Jesus in view. In a Biblically illiterate world the 3rd verse is usually omitted as few people would have heard of God’s curse on the ground as one of the results of the fall and cannot anticipate its joyous reversal when Christ comes again. The last verse points to the righteous rule and reign of Christ in the new earth when the “Thy Kingdom come” request of the Lord’s prayer is completely fulfilled. St John writing in Revelation Chapter 11 verse 15 catches the completion of salvation – “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” and Watts has us sing it out!

This week there has been much talk by scientists operating the Large Hadron Collider about finding a “god particle”. Great excitement was generated about this particle which they think exists but up till now has managed to remain invisible. One of the investigating groups of physicists thought their experiment gave a grain of credence to their idea resulting in euphoria. So what’s it all about? Apparently we know quite a lot about stuff, matter or mass, like what it’s made up of, but what makes it stick together has remained a mystery. Peter Higgs working in Edinburgh back in the 1960ies reckoned there is a special particle which, like super glue, holds it all together. You might call it the Creator particle but the scientists, who mainly claim to be atheists, have called it the ‘Higgs boson’ after one of their own. Believing as they do in the Big Bang they have built this 17 mile tube which they send particles around in opposite directions so as to replicate the Big Bang. When they collide and bits fly off in all directions they hope to catch a glimpse of the “god particle” that held them all together. A kind of reversal of Creation to find out how the God, whom they don’t believe in, did it. What does the Bible have to say about all this? The Teacher in Ecclesiastes says, “there is nothing new under the sun” and back in the beginning of Genesis we read of men building a tower at Babel (which literally means God’s gate) to reach the heavens. Their quest to reach God by their own efforts failed, God creating confusion, and scientists have been trying to rationalise that confusion ever since. Job had a hard life and wanted to know why one misfortune after another happened to him. He never did get an answer but he gained an insight into the vast difference between the Almighty’s ways and his thoughts and ours; “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” Job Chapters 38 to 41 spell it out for us. The point is that God has made a way whereby mere mortals can know Him. That way is through His Son who came into the world to save sinners. The ‘Joy to the World’ that we sing isn’t about a ‘god particle’ but a Person who we can know. Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (St John  17:3). This eternal life comes to those who bow the knee to Him and acknowledge the great God He is – the Creator and sustainer of all that is – and not simply a sort of super glue! Don’t be blinded by science, look to Jesus who will reveal Himself to you and one day in the not too distant future, in the second Advent, will make all things plain.

This week I opened an account with a new server for my emails. No one knew the address but I discovered 10 emails waiting in it. They all showed the sender as me although I had not sent them. Each had a caption of a sexual nature. After the initial moment of freezing I set about to get rid of the stuff. There seemed no way unless each was opened then it could be “binned”. Each picture displayed those parts of the female anatomy that even our first parents, in their state of rebellion against God, had the wit to cover. It induced a guilty feeling that made me want to keep quiet about it. Presumably this was similar to the feelings of abused people who remain silent. It is this silence that I believe to be the devil’s weapon. It’s in the silence that guilt grows and illogical thinking takes over. The recipient of such material tries to sweep it under the carpet, conceal it, only to find that it will reappear to bite you. The trouble with addiction is that you don’t have a gauge that tells you when you’re hooked. The astonishment of the accused when the Garda tell him the number of pictures on his computer testifies to that fact. By then it’s too late the serpents bite has fastened on the victim. He is helpless. What remedy does the Bible offer? The Psalmist knew all about being silent and concealing his sin. He graphically describes it in psalm 32. “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” Then the Psalmist breaks the sound barrier and speaks first to the prophet Nathan then to God. “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Some try to impose rules to overcome addictive urges but St Paul writes that “they lack any value in restraining sexual indulgences”. Colossians Chapter 2verse 23. Encouragingly we read of a greater power that can and does bring release to the sexually immoral; “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11. Sadly these adult addictions defeat many today but they can be overcome by real Christian fellowship where people are not afraid to be open with one another and through prayer and the power of the Gospel to bring freedom to the modern captives: 2Timothy 2:25 – “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

My father told the story of when he worked in Nigeria between the two world wars the currency was almost worthless. The basic coin had a hole in the centre and was used as a washer by the building trade. In fact when buildings were being taken down the labourers were paid in that currency – the faster they worked the more coins they collected as their pay!

The euro is beginning to have certain similarities to the Nigerian coin, except it doesn’t have a hole in its centre! Its hole is in the bank balance sheets of the Mediterranean countries plus Ireland – a far more vulnerable place to have it. Basically the massive lending from the banks of the stronger European countries to the weaker ones during our years of profligacy has left the latter exposed to national default. As these countries are financially related to each other the default of one of the larger ones could produce a domino effect with the banks collapsing all around Europe.

Whilst it is too soon to start drilling holes in our euro, if the meetings of the heads of state taking place this coming week show as little progress as they have done we could be returning to the Irish punt – with 50 punts buying a German sausage! What light can the Bible shed on all this? St Peter writing to Christians reminds them of something much more precious than material riches: – “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot”(1 Peter 1:18-19).

Jesus sacrifice completed the most important transaction any individual will ever make and not a cent leaves our hands. The writer of Hebrews puts it, “Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him”. Trust in Jesus death on your behalf and turn away from relying in uncertain riches. To those who were putting their trust in the wrong place St Paul writes, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1Timothy 6:17). Remember there are no pockets in shrouds, trust what is everlasting.

According to the press Ireland is lagging behind with its implementation of surrogacy laws. Children are arriving in Ireland to find their pedigree is flawed. They have emanated from a surrogate mother who they are unlikely ever to meet but who, in some cases, has imparted her DNA to the child. Just when we were coming to terms with children not knowing who their father was, we are now confronted with the 21st century problem of them not knowing who the mother was either!

Because of cost considerations India is the preferred location of the carrier. The price there is less that half the $80,000 it costs in the US, even after taking into account the expense of travel. Various loan options are available on the internet providing the funds to boost this €2 billion industry. Interestingly India forbids gender selection but you can presumably get a bargain by designing twins or even triplets. With wombs for hire same sex couples can have children – lots of them. On the downside there is no maternity or paternity leave available for the happy couple and the psychological risks have yet to be fully assessed.

Spare a thought for the surrogate child with no nationality, no passport and no legal parent. What has the Bible to say to this brave new world? The Bible has encouraging news, not only for the barren woman but for the surrogate child. There is another form of family which the Bible recognises. This arises when someone realises that they are a sinner and they are awakened to the fact that they can do something about it. The Biblical remedy is to pray to God that He might reveal Jesus as the sinbearer who personally carried their sins on the cross, cleansing the believing one so that they might live a new life. The common term for this is being born again or born from above. It places the believer in a new family with new brothers and sisters where God can truly be addressed as Father.

St Paul writes to the Galatian church, recognising the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophesy’s that the barren will rejoice over her spiritual children and that these children will be more numerous than the one who has a husband – Galatians 4:27. This is good news not only for the childless Christians but for the believing surrogate children who can now have an identity in Christ and a family of fellow believers.

We have been conditioned by the media, helped perhaps by more than a little personal bias, to take the word of a Prime Time Investigator over against the word of a Priest. Our prejudice was helped by Fr Kevin Reynolds laughing dismissal, made to the RTE Investigative reporter Aine Kavanagh, of the charge of the rape of a Kenyan woman during his time serving in Africa. The image, caught by the camera, evoked strong memories of the hideous display of callous disregard for his victims by Fr Brendan Smith who was involved in paedophilia some years ago. This case could not have been more different.  Not only was there not a scintilla of truth in the allegation but RTE showed disrespect for Fr Reynolds by ignoring his request for a paternity test until repeated request from his solicitor could no longer be ignored. However by this time the programme had been broadcast, Fr Reynolds, now disgraced, had been stood down and Kavanagh, in what seems to be an attempt at bluff, wrote to him saying she had a “creditable third-party source” who could testify that he was the father of Sheila and had contributed to her education. To date no third-party source has been produced although some of RTE’s “big guns” have attempted to defend their colleague’s reputation. The fulsome apology, ordered by the court, and both broadcast and printed in the press this week, may go some way to mitigate the damage to Fr Reynolds reputation. The damages awarded to the Plaintiff, will be of little consolation to him although it may encourage RTE to be more ethical. The writer of Proverbs states, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold”. So if you have the choice between wealth or a good name – choose a good name. An early Christian hymn about Jesus contains the lines: – “He humbled himself  and became obedient to death—  even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place  and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,  in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,  to the glory of God the Father. Jesus’s name is not simply referring to his reputation but much more. He has all authority in heaven and earth, in his name repentant people are healed, forgiven and transformed enabling even those at present opposed to him to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The inauguration of Michael D Higgins as our 9th President was the crowning event of the week. The people had spoken to the tune of over 1 million votes in his favour and with this comfortable mandate he addressed us who are “fragile as an economy and wounded as a society”. Paraphrasing James Connolly, the Republican and Socialist leader, Michael D reckoned that Ireland was “a work in progress, a country still to be fully imagined and invented”. His analysis of our current ills focussed on the crass materialism of recent years which valued the worth of a person in monetary terms rather than their “fundamental dignity”. The antidote he prescribed was to turn to an older wisdom that, “while respecting material comfort and security as a basic right of all, also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured. The prayer service which preceded the installation concluded with the singing of John O’Donoghue’s poem Beannacht, a poetic eulogy as to how nature herself eases the pain of life’s trials and replaces grief with blessing. What has the Bible to say about all this? Scripture would concur that we humans have a fundamental dignity although we may not always agree upon its source. It does not come from our ability to stand upright instead of travelling on all fours but in the fact that we are made in the image of God. Indeed the invisible God became visible in Jesus Christ; “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3). It is refreshing to listen to a new President pointing the way forward in more spiritual terms than we are used to. The older wisdom is a pleasant prospect when viewed from our empty cupboard of ideas! However we have here a largely undefined wisdom although the source may well have been hinted at in O’Donoghue’s wonderful poem to the healing properties in nature. The Bible attributes wisdom not to nature but to Jesus: more particularly to his death for sinners on the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God….. Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. It’s not the age of the wisdom that matters but its source. Let’s hope that this presidency will embrace it and impart it over the next 7 years to God’s glory.