Thursday, June 26, 2008

Fishers of People

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Palestinian Fishermen Today



A man wanted to start a new company, so he began poring over C.V after C.V. He selected ten people with great qualifications, hired them, and put them to work.

He could tell pretty quickly, however, that his company wasn't going to succeed. Two of the people he hired were always arguing about the right way to market their product. Three others spent all their time devising strategies but had no idea how to implement their plans. The others bickered with one another over product placement, accounting techniques, and goals and objectives. The man fired all of his employees and decided to start over. He asked himself the question, “What have I done wrong?” Perhaps he should have taken his example from Jesus.

When Jesus began recruiting disciples, he looked in rather unlikely places. Instead of in the synagogues, he looked in boats along the seashore. Instead of in the inner court of the temple, he recruited from the tax collector's booth in the outer courtyard. Instead of in the cultural centre it was of Judaism, the city of Jerusalem, he looked in the backwoods province of Galilee, derided as "Galilee of the Gentiles" by many of his contemporaries. The ragtag group of fisherman, tax collectors, political zealots, and others became a team of committed followers. Sure, they were sceptical at first. No one leaves a reliable job to pursue the poorly defined scheme of a wild-eyed madman.

Most of us enjoy stories about naïve amateurs who make bizarre mistakes. We chuckle knowingly over the man who complained about the performance of his new powerboat, only to have the marina staff discover that he’d launched the boat without taking it off the trailer, or the woman who mistook the CD-ROM drive on her computer for a retractable cup holder. We may laugh but the truth is that we have all been in similar situations – even in some eyes Jesus.

The Galilean fishermen, hard at work on their nets, may have recalled stories like that when the teacher from Nazareth asked to use one of their boats as a podium. A bit later they had proof of his ignorance when he told them to cast their nets in the deep during broad daylight. Perhaps then folks joked, "Those that can, do; those that can’t, teach."

Though the men never knew for sure if the huge catch of fish that resulted was a miracle of God or just dumb luck, it altered the course of their lives. Soon they became the amateurs and rookies. "Catching people," that’s how Jesus described their new vocation. They had no training for this new line of work. Indeed, in his other volume, Luke described two of them, Peter and John, as "uneducated and ordinary men"

But they soon learned that Jesus was more than he seemed at the outset. He spoke about forgiveness and acceptance to tax collectors, he answered the questions of sceptics, and he directed fisherman so that they could make a great catch of fish. Having won them over, he promised them greater accomplishments. When we encounter Jesus in our own lives, maybe we sometimes wonder why we were chosen. Surely there are others who could do the job better than I can. Certainly there are more persuasive speakers or or smarter people! But Jesus didn't look for followers among the socially elite, because his ministry was primarily among the common people. Jesus' success as a recruiter is exemplified by the fact that today, two thousand years later, the spiritual descendants of those twelve have grown into a huge multitude, two billion strong by some counts.

All this is well and good, but it’s all in the past – let us bring it up to-date. We can do that by simply asking ourselves the question – “Why did Jesus choose me?” Think for a moment – was it because you had a special talent, a brilliant C.V. that would make you one of the ‘high fliers’ in the business of ‘catching people.’ If Jesus stood here right now and said “Follow me,” would you make excuses that you were not the right person for the job?

The success of a movement that will turn the world upside down by means of a message, a "gospel," would seem to require orators and wordsmiths, not a bunch of unlearned people.

The secret lies in the net with which Jesus’ "fishers of people" will make their catch. It must be made partly of words. After all, the apostles and prophets did an awful lot of talking, and they left among their notes the principle that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Moreover, they came to believe that God provided the words to say, and those words had remarkable power.

Nevertheless, how many people either then or now become followers of Christ solely through hearing or seeing words? Important as words are, the net that God hauls through this world, using former fishermen’s hands, has other knots and strands as well.

In the early 13th century there was a young man, the son of a merchant, who liked nothing better than going out with his friends and spending his father’s money. As his father was a cloth merchant he always had the finest of clothes. Like many young people he had no time for education and, to all accounts, was a little naïve. The only thing he could dream about was going to war and winning his spurs as a knight. With that in mind he bought a suit of expensive armour, way above his station in life.

Well he got his way and one day went off to war. However, things did not go to plan and he ended up captured and imprisoned for two years. This did not damp his ardour and he could not wait for the next occasion.

During his wait he spent his time walking around. Not far away there was an old church in much need of repair. He entered and started to pray. On the wall of the church there was a crucifix and it seems that the Christ was staring at him. He heard the words “Francis, build my church which you see in ruins.” Now what Jesus meant by the church was not the building but the organisation which was at that time becoming very decadent and corrupt. But I have said, Francis was very naïve and so set about on his own to collect stones to repair the church single handed.

Finally, have experienced the love of God towards him, Francis found he had changed. Shortly after he was walking past a leper colony. Lepers were the one thing that Francis hated, normally he would go miles out of his way to avoid them, but this day he seemed strangely drawn. As he got nearer one of the lepers met him and, instead of running away, Francis walked up and kissed him. Interestingly, Francis claimed that this was the moment of his conversion and not the incident before the cross. God’s love had entered Francis just as he was with all his faults an failings, and now it had been passed on to others.

The net that caught Francis was made of words, all right. Francis had attended church and knew some of the scriptures, but it was the love of God and the spirit of Christ that wove the words together and gave them strength proved the effective agents in this story.

That same net has hauled us, too, into the boat that Peter and the others learned to sail after that great catch in Galilee. Now our lives become part of the way God draws all humankind into the loving embrace that waits patiently while the boats work their way toward shore.

Finally, no night is completely lost that finds us hauled up on shore, face to face with the Amateur who once borrowed Peter’s boat to use as a pulpit, the one who has no day job, really, except to love us. And we have no other job than to love others in return, for that we need no qualifications.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Zimbabwe

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I have no hesitation in forwarding this post which I received this morning.

Dave

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Dear friends,

The people of Zimbabwe cast a brave vote for change in March. Did President Mugabe accept their verdict? No, he declared he would rule until God removed him, murdered scores of his opponents and their families, shut out observers and prepared to steal back power in the run-off to be held this Thursday, 27th June.

Finally, this Sunday, the opposition withdrew from the run-off, calling the elections a "violent sham." Indeed, this isn't an election at all -- it's a one-sided war.

But against the odds, there is hope. Amidst growing international condemnation and pressure, Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition have entered private talks and legitimate government may be possible yet.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously held on Monday that free and fair elections are now impossible in Zimbabwe. The UN Secretary-General spoke out. But it is African leaders, most of all Thabo Mbeki, who hold the key. Even Mugabe cannot cling to power without their cooperation. Today, we're launching an emergency campaign, petitioning these leaders to call an immediate summit, isolate Mugabe, and broker a legitimate government for Zimbabwe. Our call will be published in big newspaper advertisements in South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique this week -- click here to see the ads and endorse their message:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_zimbabwe/3.php?cl=100522815

Last week, 27 year old Abigail Chiroto, the wife of Harare's mayor Emmanuel Chiroto, was abducted with her 4-year-old son by men in uniforms and found brutally beaten to death. Reports abound of systematic and targeted torture, with scores of MDC activists and their families killed. Bodies have been found with their eyes gouged out and their lips and tongues cut off.

Last week Kofi Annan said to Mugabe, "The victor of an unfair vote must be under no illusions: he will neither have the legitimacy to govern, nor receive the support of the international community." Southern African leaders are already calling for the postponement of the election, but there's a real danger that they may not stand up to Mugabe's mockery.

So our campaign will publicly name those African leaders who hold Mugabe's last remaining lifeline -- key allies and neighbours, the states charged by the Southern African Development Community with overseeing this election and Tanzania, which will chair an African Union summit late this week. Robert Mugabe may have saved Zimbabwe from colonialism, but now it's time for African leaders to save Zimbabwe from him.

If we do nothing, Robert Mugabe could succeed in his de facto coup against the democratic process and solidify his deathgrip on a wavering ZANU-PF party and an imploding Zimbabwe, meeting little more than mild protests from his neighbours. His thugs will run riot, and chaos will spill over the borders destabilizing the whole region.

But if we act now, by stiffening the nerve of the neighbours who control Zimbabwe's borders and supply its electricity and goods, enough regime officials will accept the need for change and for Morgan Tsvangirai as leader of the next government.

If we can muster 250,000 voices this week, including a great roar from every country in Africa through a major ad campaign, we can make this happen. Please click here to see the ads and sign the petition, then forward this message to friends:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_zimbabwe/3.php?cl=100522815

With hope and determination,

Ben, Alice, Paul, Graziela, Mark, Ricken, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, and Milena -- the Avaaz.org team

PS: For more information and sources for the facts above, see:

Thabo Mbeki and the emergency talks for a settlement:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4200177.ece

United Nations Security Council declares free and fair elections "impossible":
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2026827820080624

Elections going ahead despite MDC pull-out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7468849.stm

Mugabe: "Only God will remove me!"
http://www.thetimes.co.za/SpecialReports/Zimbabwe/Article.aspx?id=788598

Regional leaders criticizing Mugabe:
Tanzania's Kikwete - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806200336.html
Rwanda's Kagame - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806190003.html
Kenya's Odinga - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806190949.html
Uganada's Museveni - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806120016.htmlABOUT AVAAZ

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Back to Roman Times

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The New Mersey Gateway Bridge is to go ahead. However, when it opens there will be a hefty toll. Not only that, but the old bridge (which is now free) will be made toll.

All this means that there is no free crossing of the Mersey till one gets to Warrington.

Two thousand years ago, when Rome ruled, the only free crossing was also at Warrington!

Thank you Mr. Brown and New Labour for giving us a glimpse of the past!