Rain, Rain, Go to Spain         Word on the Week              21^st October 2023.

Rain, Rain, go to Spain and never come back again!   This, or something like it, was an unexpressed wish of many as they splashed through storm Babet yesterday.    There is something of a random nature about where these Atlantic storms will make landfall – for this one it was the South Coast of Ireland and mainly the town of Midleton.

Babet has been likened to a slow moving train of rain to hit Ireland.   The results were disastrous.   Flood barriers, where they exist, have proved inadequate and occasionally do more harm than good!   Good drainage is hard to maintain at this time of year with fallen leaves blocking outlets.

Met Éireann’s three colour system yellow, orange or red seems to have been lifted from the child’s game where those searching for the hidden one were prompted by the leader shouting out the colour appropriate to how near they were to the hiding place!

Red was always the closest as with Met Éireann where it spells danger.  A national flood warning service is being developed.   This will forecast the amount of rain falling in under an hour illustrating the severity of the downpour.

The monitoring of high water levels in river systems and the analysis of weather data since 1991 shows a need to adjust the base figures to allow for stronger winds and higher temperatures.   The state has produced its latest advice “Be Winter Ready”.   Let’s hope they take to heart their own advice!

On the home front, with the land already saturated, we had to cope with surface water flowing from the fields into the farm yard.   One place the waters meet is the hen-run where the inflow is faster than the outlet!   The rising waters reached the henhouse and I am glad to report there were no losses!

The good news is we will not have a global flood!   God’s covenant with Noah makes it plain there will be no repeat.   The rainbow in the sky marks the fulfilment of the promise.    The promise is to all living creatures including those who commandeered the rainbow for their flag! (Genesis 9 verses 8 to 17).  The Apostle Luke speaks of the end times in Luke 17 verses 26 to 30)

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Jesus also said,Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.   Jesus offers grace for this type of rain!

O Jerusalem                    Word on the Week                     14^th October 2023.

Once again the attention of the world is centred on Israel.  The Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu – mortified by intelligence lapses – has seized the opportunity to threaten the Hamas terrorists with extinction.  

Their breaching of Israel’s Southern boundary occurred all too easily and the killing of civilians went ahead without any intervention.   Indeed, Hamas were able to capture over 100 hostages which they threaten to kill – one for every Israeli raid into Gaza.

Israel has assembled a large army on the Gaza border and Netanyahu has promised a response that will “echo across the generations”.   This has commenced with the air force pounding Gaza day and night.   Taking cognisance of the international community, warnings precede the attacks which are allegedly targeted on Hamas posts.

More recently Israel has ordered that Palestinians leave Gaza, which is the same area as Co Louth in Ireland, in order that they can get at the Hamas.  Where the Palestinians are supposed to go is not stated!

In recent times Hamas have gained political power over the Palestine Liberation Organisation so any hope of the two state solution happening has gone.   Hamas has been indoctrinating the Gaza schoolchildren with hatred of Israel with the goal of Israel’s extermination.    These views are echoed on Israel’s Northern boundary by Hezbollah so Israel has most unpleasant neighbours!

Making proportional responses in warfare has always been a problem for Israel.   At least three times in the Pentateuch the limitation of “an eye for an eye” has been invoked.   Israel has always been tempted to take two eyes in retaliation (Deuteronomy 19 verse 21)!   

The problem is that Israel is still locked into the Old Testament.  The Apostle Paul ‘s great desire was for his peoples’ salvation (Romans 9 &10 verses 1 to 4).   He saw it as a veil over their eyes which would remain until it is removed.  Sadly, it has remained to this day but when it is taken away there will be a turning to Christ for salvation (2 Corinthians 3 verses 14 to 18 & 4: 1 to 6).

It was the hardened hearts of those in Jerusalem that caused Jesus to lament over the city.   He could see both their rejection of Him and their fate (St Matthew 23 verse 37 to 39).    There will be a day when the Jews are converted (Romans 11 verse 26).   May you know God’s mercy dear Reader and not be left behind (Romans 11 verse 30).

Personal Pronouns                    Word on the Week          7^th October 2023.

Perhaps one of my most satisfactory joys of leaving childhood was to put behind me what I learned about pronouns.    In some ways I was glad I was not a Frenchman with their attributing either masculine or feminine gender to words.   One less thing to remember!

If you live long enough it seems like things come round again and pronouns have become important!    It appears that personal pronouns have become fluid.  No more are they to be anchored to biology!   This new use of pronouns was introduced at the South East Technological University this week where one lecturer raised an objection to its compulsory nature.

However, the Taoiseach adopted a conciliatory tone and said “everyone should try to use people’s preferred pronouns and try not to take offence if people make mistakes.”  When he was asked if refusal to call a person by their preferred pronoun was an example of unlawful discrimination he commented that we need to be a little more relaxed about these things.

Perhaps he felt he was encroaching on the Enoch Burke case where Burke was imprisoned for disobeying a court order not to attend the school premises.  Burke on the other hand believes he is in prison because he refused to use the pupil’s preferred pronoun but rather stay with the biology.

In any event the Taoiseach added if someone uses the wrong pronoun deliberately to offend then the law would act.   So we had better watch how we use our personal pronouns in future!   

Let’s go back to the beginning.   We were created male and female in God’s image.   The start was good but then along came the first test which we sadly failed and brought about the fall (Genesis 1 verse 27 & 2 verse 17).

Names are important in the Bible.  They often describe the person’s character. In the case of God, He reveals Himself to Moses, first by reference to his forebears then by calling Himself “I am” (Exodus 3 verse 14).

When Jesus walked the earth He was consistent in how he wished to identify Himself.   He continued the “I am” identity which made him one with the Father, a fact recognised by the Jews who tried to stone Him rather than recognise Him (St John 8 verses 28/9).

Names are important in a fallen world.   Your identity is part of who you are.   You may not always be pleased with your identity (or the colour of your eyes) but it soon becomes part of you.   To fight against the body you have been given is like the pot calling the shots against the Almighty (Isaiah 45 verse 9).

The remedy is to take up Jesus’s invitation to come to Him for rest for the soul (St Matthew 11 verses 28 to 30).

MV Matthew                     Word on the Week                     30^th September 2023.

The ship, under its new name, ‘Matthew’ sailed into Irish waters this week.   It had come from the Dutch island of Aruba in the South Caribbean as the MV Honmon to Willemstad in the Dutch protectorate of Curaçao on August 18th from where it sailed to Georgetown in Guyana on the north Atlantic coast of South America to collect a cargo.

The cargo was cocaine, procured by a Colombian drug cartel for sale in the European market.   So far 2.2 tonnes of cocaine have been recovered, partly hidden on deck in a ship’s life boat.   The vessel is 189 meters long and has a cargo capacity of 64,000 tonnes, so there is plenty of room for more of the stuff to be found!

The MV Matthew had failed to stop when requested by our Navy’s offshore patrol vessel the LE William Butler Yeats despite her firing a couple of shots across her bow.   It was left to a team from the army Ranger Wing to abseil down from a helicopter and secure the vessel.   She is now undergoing inspection in Cork harbour by the authorities.

Just prior to these events two men purchased a trawler in Castletownbere.   They were inexperienced sailors and with stormy seas ended up aground on a sandbank off Blackwater, in Co Wexford.   Their objective was to rendezvous with the MV Matthew and distribute the cocaine via harbours in these Isles.   The two men have now been rescued by helicopter and duly arrested.

The audaciousness of this enterprise is breath-taking.   And this is not by any means the first cargo ship to cross the Atlantic with a drug cargo.    The market continues to expand as addiction spreads and the resultant misery in terms of human suffering increases out of control.

What seems to be in control are the global gangs which locate in various places and control a portion of the drug trade.   In these locations the governing bodies cannot control them and with the purchasing power the drug money at their disposal buying ships becomes feasible.

The naming of the ship Matthew is interesting.  When Jesus called the tax-collector there was little doubt his reputation was in tatters (St Matthew 9 verses 9/11).   The ship’s Iranian captain appeared to have head and neck injuries, was air lifted to hospital, made a fast recovery and is now in Garda custody.   It will be interesting to see if the captain wishes to emulate the Apostle and transfer his allegiance from drug-smuggling to Christ.

Let us pray he may be the first of many.

Stardust Fire                    Word on the Week                     23^rd September 2023.

It was St Valentine’s night, February 14^th 1981 and the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, was packed to capacity.   A fire broke out which was to claim the lives of 48 young people and injure over 200.   It was tragic.   

Such was the scale of the disaster that initially it was attributed to arson or terrorism.   Gradually the investigation reached the conclusion that the fire developed from poor safety practices and building code violations.   The 5 exit doors were chained and locked to prevent access to the nightclub.   The toilet windows were barred with steel bars for the same purpose.

In 2009, four relatives of those who had died were successful in establishing an inquiry which duly found there to be no evidence to support the arson theory.   These findings enabled the owners, the Butterly family, to pursue a claim for compensation against the city because of the arson finding, and were eventually awarded IR£580,000.

This year, following multiple reports, a legal enquiry under Michael O’Higgins SC has been established and meetings began this week.   These have brought into the light the 5 locked exits and barred toilet windows which pertained while approx. 800 patrons were in the nightclub.

Initial pleadings have produced accusations and denials as to who instructed the locking of the doors.    The community, who lost loved ones and have had to live with the scars of that fateful night, want answers.  

Who instructed the exits to be locked?   As with any disaster there must be those who know the truth.   The owners and staff who were on duty that fateful night have had to live with their consciences for 42 years.   So far the problems of guilt and shame have silenced those who are guilty.

Michael O’Higgins has a mammoth task to elicit the truth.   In addition to the fatalities there have been about 25 attempted suicides in subsequent years all relating to the fire.   There needs to be some acknowledgement of wrong, some admission of guilt to ease the troubled conscience.

It is not as if all the rest of humanity is guiltless.   The Apostle James puts the bar at the highest notch.   He says to sin at all is to be guilty of breaking the entire law (St James 2 verse 10).   That is why we need a saviour.   And that is why Jesus came.   Noel Richards hymn says it clearly: –

You took all my guilt and shame,
When You died and rose again;
Now today You reign,
In heaven and earth exalted.                                                                                                

The relief of sins forgiven brings with it the peace of the Lord (St Luke 7 verses 48/50).

Rugby                               Word on the Week                     16^th September 2023.

In case there is someone who doesn’t know, the Rugby World Cup has got under way.   This is a world-wide event with Ireland lining out against Tonga tonight.   All games are being played in French Stadiums.    These are located in various cities culminating in the final in Paris on Saturday 28^th October.

The game was invented, so the legend has it, in the playing fields of Rugby school, England, when a player picked up the ball and ran with it!  A couple of years later in 1846 the students wrote down some laws which, with few changes, continue to this day.

The major rule prohibits passing forward which, in itself, requires considerable discipline.   I recall a friend from overseas, who was new to the game, marvelling that in order to progress forward you had to pass the ball back!  He was quite astonished that such an illogical game could have been invented!

Over the years the game has become faster and the players heavier.  It is said that a Mother’s heart misses a beat when her 7-year-old son announces “Ma, I am going to play rugby!”   However, the first few years it is touch rugby – a modified version of the game that is played, which is less likely to cause injury.

In fact, there has been a crackdown on cases of head injury in recent times.  We now have a mandatory sending off for examination by the medical staff.   They carry out a Head Injury Assessment (HIA).   The rules vary between Rugby Associations but GRTP (Graduated Return To Play) is strongly enforced.

Rugby is very much a team game.   Players rely on each other to assist them!   To do this team members must turn up extra fast and without hesitation join in the fray.   To play well one player must have faith in the other to be there when he is needed!    You should see what this looks like if you tune in at 8.00 pm tonight!

Since we are in France I was reading one of my favourite Frenchman’s works.   He is Blaise Pascal the scientist from the 17^th century.   His sensational conversion experience took place when he was age 31.   For his remaining few years he devoted himself to Christian writing including this analysis of faith.

He wrote with astounding clarity, “in faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.’ Blaise Pascal.

Or as Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.   Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (St John 8 verse 12).

Christian faith is itself a gift from God (Ephesians 2 verse 8).

Back to School                 Word on the Week                     9^th September 2023.

Here comes the sun – schools must have resumed!    What cruel fate has decreed that the resumption of schools and colleges would be marked by gloriously sunny weather!    It does not always occur – it just seems like it does!

School or college was once the place where life skills were taught, identities formed and eventually a world view gets constructed.   Among the many views in circulation today the Christian view is seldom present.   JB Philips saw this coming many years ago and in his Bible translation of Romans 12 verse 2 coined “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”

The text comes after the most thorough working out of the Gospel in the previous 11 chapters of Romans.   The Apostle recognised from personal experience that the danger of silencing Christian witness was very real.

Isaiah put the Christian witness so well in Chapter 43 verse 1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”    He is our creator, He formed us in the womb.   He is also our redeemer who saved us and gave us an identity as his sons and daughters.

Each of these aspects of the Christian faith is under attack in our contemporary Western World.   The chances are that the attack will start at school and certainly be present at college.   When it comes to the work scene the breakdown of morality is being fuelled by many things including the misuse of the smartphone which produces its own porn addicts.

It is into this culture that we are called to operate.   Some of us have found it hard and ceased from the work of witnessing for Christ.   All of us find it difficult to start a Christian conversation.    This world has never been a friend to the grace of God.

To assist at witnessing Andy Bannister has written ‘How to Talk about Jesus without Looking Like an Idiot: A Panic-Free Guide to Having Natural Conversations about Your Faith.’    Andy writes from a background of much experience.

The writer of Hebrews has a heavenly perspective.  Having quoted from the past sees the hero’s as encouraging us in the present to follow their lead (Hebrews 12 verses 1 to 3).

The Swallow          Word on the Week          2^nd September 2023.

In my daily pre breakfast excursions with Tess the Pugaleer we have been accompanied by the melodic twitter of the swallows who are massing on the other side of the hawthorn hedge.  The latter has been allowed to grow an extra two feet as part of the farm wilding so we can pass close to the roost un-noticed.

Using the binoculars, you can distinguish the metallic blue body and white front.   The tail has two streamers which extend its vee shape and distinguish it from the Martin as they seem to feed together on the abundance of insects that are blown out of the trees in the spinney.   The dark red throat is another feature although it is hard to see.

In fact, the swallow is best viewed in the evening sun light as it roosts on the electricity wires illuminated by the low sun revealing its beauty.  Perhaps their favourite resting place is the reed bed.   There both insects and water are available.    There is also mud with which they make their cup shaped nests on the stable rafters.   They use the same nest annually.

In the migration to South Africa the birds cover approximately 200 miles daily.   The chicks are required to grow up fast to stick the pace and those from a second brood have an extra hard task to get into shape for the flight.   Its vital piece of equipment is its beak.   This has a wide gape which when wide open, it uses to scoop up insects in flight or quench its thirst by skimming the surface of a pond.  

When God created the swallow he gave it a great GPS system!   To have such a small bird (7.5 inches in length) span the globe and find its way back to the exact location, in the stable it left, is truly astounding.   The Psalmist has the swallow nest in the temple where he teams up with the sparrow where they join in the singing and both appear to be welcome (Psalm 84 verses 3/4).

Jesus speaks of a broken world where the death of his followers through persecution is a present reality.   Then he says not to be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.   He teaches that we are to fear God not man.   To illustrate this Jesus cites the sparrow which is almost worthless yet not one of them fall to the ground without the will of God.

The lesson is brought home by the fact we are known so intimately that the hairs of our head are numbered!   So we are not to fear in the world but realise we are worth more than many sparrows! (St Matthew 10 verses 26 to 31).   This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.   So we know and rely on the love God has for us. (1 John 4 verses 10 to 16).

Triathlon Tragedy                 Word on the Week            26^th August 2023.

The recent drowning of two participants who were competing in the triathlon in the sea off Youghal brought a sombre note to the event.  The Ironman competition, as the name suggests, requires extremes of physical fitness in those who compete.   It is a mixture of three sports, Swimming, Cycling and Running over set distances in one race.  

The idea of a superman lies dear to the heart of most boys.   We had a number of weekly Boys Magazines where no challenge was too hard for the hero.    I cannot remember for sure but I think in one such magazine he has the common name of ‘Wilson’.   This was part of the idea that his achievements were within the grasp of any of us!

This was followed by the era of Superman where again the hero was an ordinary bloke who could transform into the extraordinary at will.   He performed acts of valour but took no credit for them, transforming back into his normal guy image.

At Youghal the sea was rough, especially near the shore.   This is caused by waves of seawater being forced upwards by the beach, forming crests which break making it difficult to get past them into deeper water.

Once into deeper water swimmers, buoyed up by their rubber wetsuits, had the tidal flow of the water to contend with.   The amateurs among the swimmers would have found the surface turbulence interfered with their breathing, some requiring assistance from the safety dinghies. 

It would have been brought home to them that ‘Iron’ does not float unless by miracle (2 Kings 6 Verse 6)!  Ironmen are also human and subject to the usual human constraints.    Our sympathy goes to those who mourn the loss of their loved ones.   They did however realise the dangers of the Triathlon having signed a disclaimer to the race organisers as part of their entry paperwork.

In Scripture the sea usually represents chaos.   The Gospels record Jesus with his disciples, caught in a storm in the sea of Galilee.   Jesus slept while the storm raged sufficiently to put the fear of death into the men, many of whom were experienced fishermen (Luke 8 verses 22 to 25).   The disciples woke Jesus who rebuked the wind and raging waters and the storm subsided.  

Jesus demonstrated his authority over creation and in his resurrection he showed his power over death (John 1 verses 19 to 22).   This the disciples recalled after he arose from the dead and they believed.   May it be so for those who mourn the loss of loved ones today.          

The 100,000 welcomes which Ireland is so famous for has suffered some reductions to its number in recent days!   It was brought to light when an elderly American tourist was randomly beaten up in Dublin city centre, receiving some life changing injuries.

This was followed by three teenage boys being hospitalised after an incident in Dublin’s Temple Bar area.   They had come from the UK to support their football team who were here to play a friendly match.    It seems the match lived up to its name but the ‘afters’ less so!

In both incidents the culprits were youths who were duly charged with the offences.   The difficulties of policing these crimes is exacerbated by the low numbers of Garda on the beat.  In addition, there has been an increase in the availability of drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

The attraction of crime is not limited to youth.   We had a computer clinch in the Bank of Ireland’s cash dispensers which enabled the withdrawal of €1,000 irrespective of how much money was in the account!   Thanks to the smartphone many were alerted as friends told each other where to obtain ‘free’ cash.   The Garda were required to control the crowds!

These were bank customers, wielding their bank cards to withdraw the maximum from the system.  Doubtless they had a background in fiddling their income tax and inflating their insurance claims.   This was just the latest opportunity to come their way! 

Where is moral rectitude to be found?   Many pursue it by way of self-reformation but it seldom lasts long.   It requires the total transformation that coming to faith in Jesus Christ brings.  It is a new relationship, entered into by a prayer of confession of sin and a genuine repentance, into a new life.

St Paul puts it well in Ephesians 4 verses 28 to 32: “Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.   Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

The Apostle made it plain to these new converts at Ephesus that life must match lip.   It is the same today.   The 100,000 welcomes will then be a reality.