The big question – would the opening ceremony be able to hold a candle to the mighty spectacle that was Beijing 2008 – was answered with a resounding affirmative.

It was a triumph of history, sentiment and subtlety over the wonders of technology. This was creativity on a grand scale which combined well with British eccentricity to overcome the essentially boring mandatory parade of athletes as 204 countries take their turn at waving their flag.

It was also a geography lesson par excellence with unheard of places getting their moment in the sun along with the multitudes from the big nations.

Here was unity on a grand scale. Here was the world displaying harmony through sport. No more the boycotts of past games. Terrorism, a thing of the past. Not even a whiff of the doping and bribery that so often marred previous Olympics. This was a night to savour the ideals of the 5 rings representing the five inhabited continents linked in sport. Their colours replicated in the national flags with no nation omitted. The motto – Faster, Higher, Stronger, melding into the tangible trophies of Bronze, Silver and Gold in our imagination.

The flame or, in this case, the flames went up from each country to finally join into one symbolic blaze and just when we wondered how it would end we got Paul McCarthy singing his poignant masterpiece “Hey Jude” – a triumph of love over broken relationships.

Can the games match the opening?

What does the Bible have to say to all this?

The Olympics were around in Bible times. St Paul, who knew a thing or two about discipline and self control, used the races to illustrate both the endurance required in the Christian life and the relative merits of the victor’s crown.

This is what he had to say to the church at Corinth; “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (Chapter 9 verses 24/25).

I expect our own Irish medal hope, Katie Taylor, is familiar with these verses as she does not fail to commend Jesus Christ her saviour to others. I expect the next verse; “I do not fight like a boxer beating the air” is a truth which her opponents will have cause to remember for a long time! 

McCarthy’s song caught the essence of it. Trust in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice reconciles broken relationships for time and eternity. Put your faith in Him.

In the good old days bank robbers were easily identifiable. They wore a mask and carried a gun. The nature of their business was evident. They wanted the money – as much of it as they could lay their hands on.

Modern bank robbers have one thing in common with their forerunners, they too want the money – lots of it, but there the comparison ends.

Our much loved Quinn family had the “Midas” touch for years. Growing out of humble quarry work and specialising in buying businesses which were inefficient, his empire grew across Europe.

Reckoning he knew a thing or two about banking he decided to buy the bank that had been so good at financing his schemes. Borrowing heavily from the Bank to buy its own shares seemed a good ploy until the global downturn came and the Bank itself was discovered to be toxic.

Damage limitation is now the order of the day for the Quinn family as they try to hold onto some assets by putting them beyond the reach of the receiver. Unfortunately this did not please those wanting their money back and prison has become a reality for at least one member of the family.

Across the water in the UK bank robbing is more sophisticated. Known as “Casino Banking” the robbers are running the bank! The Financial Times correspondent wrote, “The trading in the complex financial instruments central to the crash is now seen for what it is, a socially useless and financially dangerous way for small groups of people to make themselves absurdly rich”. Barclays Chief’s declared income was in the region of £100 million over the past five years indicating that he had found a way to beat the recession! Brought before Members of Parliament on the Treasury Select Committee, he was asked if he knew the three founding principles of the Quakers who set up Barclays. ‘I can’t, sir’, spluttered the embarrassed Bob Diamond. ‘Honesty, integrity and plain dealing’, the MP retorted.

The Bible would agree with these principles which were taken from a book written in 1678 by the Scottish Quaker Robert Barclay. The full title was An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, and it had a formative influence on the development of business ethics in the global economy.

Barclay got his inspiration from the 10 Commandments for the first two virtues. “You shall not steal” requires honesty and “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour” prohibits telling lies. Jesus dealt with “plain dealing” when speaking about the perceived need to put people under a greater constraint by oaths. His followers were not to engage in oath-taking but to “Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No” anything more comes from the evil one”.

What Jesus is emphasising is that we are not in neutral territory. “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” writes St John in his 1^st letter chapter 5 verse 19. We need to know the Word of God and we need to know the God of the Word. Only then can we get equipped to resist the temptations of modern day living.

In Ephesians Chapter 6 verses 10/17 St Paul spells it out. Take his advice.

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less…..
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. 

So wrote John Donne in the 16^th Century. If the illustration is shifted to Ireland and Michaela McAreavey’s death the symbol becomes a piece of Ireland being washed away and the Island becoming diminished.

Because we are related to every other member of the human race every death diminishes us. Donne’s poem says it in general terms. In this case we can be particular and apply it to a Bride strangled on her honeymoon in an idyllic island in the Indian Ocean.

Whatever secrets were hidden in hotel room 1025 most of them were washed away by the bath water by the time forensic examinations were carried out.

There was CCTV in the hotel but this only created confusion when another couple were mistakenly identified as the McAreaveys’.

There was no CCTV in the police interrogation room and the truth of the confession which the police obtained did not stand up to examination in court.

The case for the prosecution collapsed this week with a not guilty verdict by the jury. This has caused ripples across the land with the Taoiseach adding his profound sympathy.

It would appear that the murderer will go free.

What does the Bible have to say to the matter?

One place where “Man IS an Island” is Judgement Day. All are guilty and there will be no miscarriage of justice. There will be 100% attendance in court!

As the Hebrew writer puts it, “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 (Chapter 9 verses 27/8).

Make Christ your advocate. He has never lost a case. Trust Him – he is God’s love gift to humanity. Then instead of the funeral bell watch out for the trumpet blast!

Scientists at Europe’s CERN research centre believe they have found one of the basic building blocks of the universe — a subatomic particle called the Higgs boson. The Director General of CERN told an audience of scientists that the discovery is a milestone in mankind’s understanding of nature and has opened up exciting prospects for further revelations in the field.

This statement from Reuters news reminded me of my favorite childhood book – “The Wonders of Nature”. In it I read how tadpoles turned into frogs and this led to the creation of a pond in our back yard where the theory was tested and found to work!

This has been a great week for a generation of physicists who have believed in the boson for half a century without ever seeing it. Instead of a pond in the garden the scientists used the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest physics machine, which cost €4 billion to build and began operating only two years ago – it is still running at only half-power.

The experiment involved sending protons along its 17 kilometre tunnel from both ends creating millions of super-fast proton collisions in the middle. These were observed for statistical aberrations only explainable by the Higgs boson particle. Since it is invisible scientists could only look at its effects, as it holds matter together. Without it, there would simply be a void. With it, matter holds together therefore the name “God particle”, coined by publishers with an eye to selling a book, is not inappropriate!

What does the Bible have to say about all this?

St John in his Gospel introduces us to Jesus “the Word”, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made Chapter 1 verses 1/3.

This same Word we are told in Genesis Chapter 1 spoke creation into being. The intriguing thing about this information is that it is not physical.

Creation was ex nihilo (out of nothing).

The non-materiality of information contained in sub-atomic particles points to a nonmaterial source – a mind, the mind of God.

The Word comes first. The information to create is in the Word. And the Word created the universes – Colossians Chapter 1 attributes it all to Jesus. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

We praise God for every advance in our knowledge and by His grace look forward to that day when all will be made plain.

Till then, as the letter to the Church at Colosse says, “we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully as I am fully known”.

Prepare for that day by turning and completely trusting in Jesus for life in this world and the next.

This quiet animal is seldom in the news unless, like humans, it has been accused of something wrong! It was with a sense of relief from all the reports of human ills that I seized upon an article in today’s paper on our native nocturnal species. Written by a local naturalist its secret life was revealed.

Apparently our badger is different from our English neighbour’s badgers. The latter come from central Europe whereas ours are of Italian or Spanish origin.

According to the researches of University College Cork we have 84,000 and the average family size is 3.9 badgers. That would be about right for the family resident in our garden who are regularly visited by our collie, Holly. She has enlarger both entrances to the sett, perhaps hoping to catch a sight of that 0.9 badger!

We also have a badger hotel in a field appropriately called “Badger Burrows” The underlying rock is tufa, a calcified limestone, ideal for tunnelling and gives good drainage. These tufa dwellers have co-existed with us for many years without a trace of tuberculosis. However this has not prevented annual culls in selected areas of up to 7,000 badgers.

These shy animals come out at dusk and shuffle around grubbing for food. Our local family has enjoyed digging out wasps nests that are concealed in the grass banks of the farm road. The grub filled nests are a delicacy which their sting proof noses can enjoy.

I am sure they would be partial to truffles – C.S. Lewis evidently thought so as he named his heroic badger “Trufflehunter” in Prince Caspian, in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Badgers made there way into the Bible. They were valued for their skins which were used in the Tabernacle as part of the coverings. The Tabernacle was where God met with his redeemed people. It was replaced by Christ in whose Name there is now redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

So don’t be like the badgers that shuffle around in the dark but put your complete trust in Christ. “He (Jesus) rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians chapter 1 verse 13/14)

An air of respectability has grown up around the two best know American belief systems that have crossed the Atlantic. Indeed the contender for the US Presidency is a Mormon and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are now well established in Ireland.

The latter were in the news this week for all the wrong reasons.

A child abuse case in California was successfully taken against an abuser in one of their congregations. Unusually the victim did not settle for an out of court cash settlement. This led to the revealing of the flawed procedures JW’s have used for many years. They are:

1. The 2 witness rule whereby the victims story is dismissed unless it can be collaborated by a second witness. The likelihood of this ever happening in cases of child abuse is almost zero.

2. The local congregation Elders must report each occurrence to the JW’s Branch Office who then apply the 2 witness rule ending the proceedings.

The Court did not like these procedures and awarded the victim, now aged 26, (who had resisted the temptation of an out of court settlement so these matters could be brought out into the open) compensation of $7 million and punitive damages against the JW’s of $21 million.

If the verdict is sustained on appeal it is likely this case will open the floodgates to further trials. As always considerable courage is required in both the victim and the victim’s family who may be dis-fellowshipped and cast out of the organisation.

What does the Bible say about these things?

Early in the Bible a rule was introduced for capital offences requiring the evidence to be confirmed by two or three people. Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 6.

The JW’s misinterpretation of the text has led to it being used to silence cases of abuse leading to the Court awarding the highest amount of punitive damages ever made against a religious organisation.

In the trial of Jesus the witnesses gave false testimony but could not get their made-up stories to agree! In the end the High Priest took matters into his own hands in order to pronounce the “guilty” verdict. St Mark chapter 14 verses 56/64. The Religious were in a struggle to preserve their way of life. If Jesus had been allowed to continue doing miracles everyone would believe in him and the Romans would step in and their jobs would be gone. St John Chapter 11 verses 45/48. As one of them put it, speaking wiser words than he knew, “It would be good if one man died for the people”.

It is Jesus substitutionary death for repentant sinners that is the only hope for JW’s, their victims, you and me when we meet him on judgement day.

Trust him – he loves you.

As one commentator said the morning after the fateful defeat by Spain – “No-one died!” True supporters of the game would not have been comforted by this as they recalled Bill Shankly’s immortal words, “Football is not a matter of life or death; it’s far more serious than that.”

To have progressed through all the qualifying stages was no mean feat. Hopes ran high perhaps blinding us to the strength of the opposition in our Group. The only thing we had in common with our Spanish masters was the refrain Olé, Olé Olé – Olé, Olé. It had lifted the nation back in the campaign of 1990 but now the Spaniards reclaimed it.

All we were left with was “The Fields of Athenry”. It’s hauntingly beautiful melody alleviated some of the misery of the evening in Gdansk. Fortunately the words, which evoke memories of famine, starvation and deportation on a prison ship, were largely indecipherable. For many the prospect of exile to Botany Bay may have seemed a better option than facing the Italians next week!

But it’s not the end of the world it just feels like it!

The disciples of Jesus knew all about disillusionment. Their Leader lay dead in the grave and with Him lay all their hopes and dreams.

As one of them put it, “We had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel.” St Luke Chapter 24 verse 21.

What he didn’t understand was that these hopes had been realised and that the one he was speaking to was the risen Christ!

Redemption had been completed. “It is finished” St John Chapter 19 verse 30 was the victory shout of a conqueror not the “I am finished” of a failure. These words, uttered from the cross, proclaimed forever that salvation was completed. Christ had conquered. The rebellion and disobedience of his people had been atoned for. The way had been made for repentant sinners to become part of that multitude in heaven and earth that follow Jesus.

As the poet put it:

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

Followers of the Irish Soccer Team may have to wait for some time before their day returns but need not hinder them from looking to Jesus, whose time is now. Put your faith in him.

We had a good example of something we all do from a member of our parliament this week. He had fiddled his tax and confessed before it became public. Except it wasn’t his tax, he himself was tax compliant, but his limited liability company (of which he is the sole director and CEO) that had the problem.

It really wasn’t done to defraud the Revenue, he always intended to pay the VAT back, but was a temporary arrangement to keep his 60 builders at work. It was the banks who wanted him to stop work on an apartment block before it was finished.

As he had taken deposits from the future owners he used the money to finished the building but the bank then took the money he obtained as sales were completed leaving nothing to pay the tax-man’s €1.4 million bill. As the recession bit deeper the last 10 apartments didn’t sell so there was nothing left in the kitty.

Then there were the sub-contractors and the problems over the workers pension contributions to be taken into account. To cap it all another of his banks got a €19.4 million judgement against him which prevented him (mercifully) from getting any more work.

However on the plus side he was elected to the Dail last year and was a substantial benefactor of Wexford Youths Football Club.

Paying tax has always been looked upon as an irksome chore. “Pay As You Earn” was invented to make the employer extract the money at source and avoid the hassle of dealing with taxpayers direct. For the self employed the tax return becomes a battleground for the conscience which is often defeated! Witness the reluctance in paying the recently imposed household charge.

Interestingly our builder/member of the Dail asked the rhetorical question, “Who’s fit to be a public representative? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I tried to be as honest as I could”.

While it is always good to hear Scripture being quoted the context in which the words were said needs to be taken into account. They were uttered by Jesus to the men who were accusing the woman who they had caught in the act of adultery.

When spoken by the builder it is as if they were said by the sinful woman as she tried to justify herself!

In reality, saying sorry is often ambiguous. He was sorry apartments were not sold; sorry he was found out before the Revenue could be repaid etc.

Repentance, on the other hand, as shown in the Bible by that other tax cheat, Zacchaeus was followed by action in repaying those he had wronged four times over (St Luke Chapter 19 verses 8/10). Jesus recognised the faith that prompted the action and proclaimed that salvation had come to Zacchaeus that day.

Being found out is painful but can be the best thing that ever happened to you if it leads to repentance and faith in Jesus the only one who can justify a sinner.

Few can resist telling the story of their brush with monarchy. It might have only a glimpse of the monarch passing in a car but there seems to be some innate attraction to the institution which is the secret envy of republicans and a source of quiet pride in her subjects!

My own engagement with Her Majesty was more of a near miss! Some of us had been climbing on Lochnagar, a mountain on the Queen’s Balmoral Estate in Scotland, and were returning to the car park at the head of Loch Muick. I cannot remember how we got separated but the others went down the wrong track and arrived at Glas-allt Shiel, a royal hunting lodge, where the Queen and her party were having tea on the lawn. They were invited to join in which they gladly accepted! A case of the right road being the wrong one for the rest of us!

There will be a right British knees up over the next 4 days during which the Queen at age 86 and Prince Philip age 90 will probably wish they were at Glas-allt Shiel at the head of Loch Muick! However, with the stamina they always display, they will do their stuff in a right royal way.

Of course, over the years, the power has been drained from the monarchy. The Queen is largely a figurehead, subject to her parliament and regularly threatened with cuts to her income that would confine her to Buckingham Palace. However there is a subtle power which is unique. It appears in places like the honours lists as many clamber for a piece of the fame which creates its own attraction of a hierarchy coveted by the ambitious.

There is also something untouchable in the royal line. If you are not born into it you are not a candidate! There is nothing you can do about it. The heir to the throne is not elected, bought or earned. It is a birthright.

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” The Magi’s question, recorded in Matthew chapter 2 verse 2 left King Herod in no doubt but that a new royal line had been formed. His reaction to Jesus Christ’s arrival on earth was in complete contrast to the Magi. Herod saw Him as a threat and wanted to do away with Him. The Magi believed He was the Messiah and wanted to worship Him.

The world is still in these two camps today. Do you want to get rid of Him or do you want to praise Him as your (new) birthright? There is no middle ground.

The hymnwriter catches a glimpse of King Jesus: –

“You seed of Israel’s chosen race,

You ransomed from the fall.

Hail Him who saves you by His grace,

And crown Him Lord of all.”

Not that anyone would these days but her schooling was marred by it. Now at 26 as a Pop-star with the most twitter followers, she was at Harvard University recently inaugurating her Foundation aimed at tackling bullying.

During her teens she recalls, “I was called really horrible, profane names very loudly in front of huge crowds of people, and my schoolwork suffered at one point,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to class and I was a straight A student. There was a certain point in my high school years where I just couldn’t focus on class because I was so embarrassed all the time. I was so ashamed of who I was.”

Whilst a trip to the Principal’s office may sort out physical harassment we now have 24/7 mental harassment by text messaging.

Bullying is usually carried out by a pack of cowards who can extend their school-time chorus of abuse by texting their victim in the evening, at weekends and even on holidays. It’s one thing to say, “Switch your phone off and ignore the emails” but knowing that profanity-laden messages about you are being broadcast to others multiplies the stress.

Bullies not only do damage to others but are damaged people themselves.

The “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke’s gospel records Jesus’ words, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.” The passage concludes with the “Golden Rule” Do to others as you would have them do to you. Chapter 6 verses 27/29 & 31.

Bullies and those they bully need to hear this as the ultimate solution.

Turning the other cheek assumes that you have the choice of non-retaliation. If this is not present boundaries need to be introduced to first check the abusive behaviour.

How we view each other needs to be revised. When Lady Gaga was thrown into a trash can the boys who did it left her in no doubt as to what they thought of her.

Conversion to Christ changes how we look at each other from checking out the biceps and brains to seeing others as uniquely made in the image of God.

As St Paul wrote,

“From now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” The old way of thinking has been replaced making reconciliation a possibility. Or as St Paul put it “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2Corinthians chapter 5 verses 16-18).

It all starts with trusting Christ instead of self and a commitment to follow him for the rest of your life.