Skip to main content

Exclusion Zones

Here is my Thought for the Day for last Friday morning, which you can hear in it's live form, trimmed of the bits in italics in order to fit the 2 1/2 minutes, here, at both 26 and 86 minutes (in between thoughts about the late, great Burt Reynolds).
Ten days ago fire devastated the old Bank Buildings in Belfast. Thankfully no-one was killed but it caused millions of pounds of damage and put Primark employees’ jobs at stake… It quickly became clear that it would also have a massive impact on the businesses around it, but most people were astonished that the pedestrian exclusion zone around the unstable shell of the building will probably be in place for around 4 months, causing disruption to traffic and commerce… leading to understandable demands from surrounding business owners for the empty shell to simply be demolished, despite the outpouring of affection for the grand old building in the wake of the fire… Difficult decisions need to be taken in the near future, and there will be massive cost implications for individuals, businesses and the city as a whole… no single insurance company is going to be able to wave a magic wand and make everything instantly alright with a wad of cash…
Whilst the news of this exclusion zone was breaking over the past few days I was actually over in Glasgow, another city which has had a similar experience with the Glasgow School of Art going on fire for the second time in 4 years. I was at a workshop writing resources for those who have to preach and teach and lead worship and one of those present lived just across from the fire with her 2 young boys... and she told us of her personal experience of living within the safety cordon... 
One of the Bible stories which were looking in the workshop involved people who had a personal exclusion zone or safety cordon around them… those suffering from various skin complaints which in Biblical times were all grouped under the catch-all of leprosy… For fear of contamination of others they were forced to leave their homes and families and live at a distance… Even today it is occasionally necessary to isolate individuals from others… When I was a hospital chaplain I had to engage in all sorts of infection control procedures in such cases… But in times gone by they were not isolated for treatment, they were simply isolated… And in the story we were looking at, 10 of them encountered Jesus, but they knew the rules, so keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’
And it left me thinking about those in our world who feel that they have a personal exclusion zone around them… not for infection control reasons… at least not medically… But those who for various reasons feel excluded or isolated or have somehow excluded themselves… And we may wish that some people simply didn’t exist… but they do… Who ARE those that we avoid for one reason or another? And what is the cost of that exclusion not only on those individuals or groups of people, but also for us and for society? Maybe what is needed is not exclusion, but healing mercy…
Selah
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that ...
2 comments
Read more

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65
3 comments
Read more

Living under the Empire... (2) Where is Babylon?

We were driving back from school last week, talking about books that we had been reading and my younger son, Ciaran, asked me "Where is Babylon?" I have to confess that my history is better than my geography, and I said that it no longer exists as an inhabited city, but its ruins were to the north west of the current capital of Iraq, Baghdad. When I checked however, I discovered that it is actually about 50 miles south of Baghdad and the modern town is the administrative centre of the province of Babil... But just as the modern city is but a shadow of the historic capital of 2 ancient empires, first under Hammurabi in the 18th century BCE and then the "Neo-Babylonian" empire (under Nebuchadnezzar etc) in the 6th century BCE, so the earthly Babylonian empire/s was/were fleeting in comparison to the enduring metaphorical idea of Babylon. The original Empire under Hammurabi was probably the ultimate origin of some of the early Biblical stories, including the ...
1 comment
Read more