Today is U-day. It’s almost as though we are about to learn a new alphabet. Its first letter is U.
We awake to a land with a new monarch, a new prime minister and a new perspective. It is well that we can say we worship God who makes all things new. U stands for unity and it is unity that we must now prize. It is already part of our national name, as is the case with the USA, and the meaning of unity must now be part of our membership of a new kind of world, with a global understanding of democracy that is not confined to one continent or economic power.
Such momentous change is unsettling. It takes time to digest. It cannot be swallowed at one gulp. We must recognise the need to have time to settle and to be forbearing with one another. Given that, the word ‘unity’ can be productive of better things than prosperity at any price.
MURMURATION
We all like to see what has become known as a murmuration of starlings. Innumerable starlings come together to form patterns in the sky. They don’t collide. It is as though some supreme hand controls their congress and their destiny. At the other end of the scale are magpies. Nobody likes them. Nobody feeds them.
Birds were important to the Romans – and indeed to everybody else. Not just because of the eggs. Not just because of the homing instincts of birds like pigeons. Birds could give signals to generals or admirals about the best time to start a battle. There were in fact officials in charge of the information forthcoming from such birds. The augurs were important people in Rome, almost as important at the birds themselves.
Divination did not end with the Romans. Activities of a business or sporting kind attracted wagers. Horses gained reputations in races. Classic races – the thousand guineas, the two thousand guineas, the St Leger the Derby, the Oaks – came to be dates in the calendar every bit as important as the religious festivals. Stringent rules about fillies and colts governed the entry.
Since the future is entirely unknown, it arouses curiosity in all and sundry. Those who go beyond seeking information about the outcome of, say, sporting events may go on to influence the process leading up to the contest.
Christianity has had to live with this appetite. It has made clear its interest in the future – of the Temple, for instance, or the new Jerusalem. Soothsayers like Nostradamus in the 16th century were followed by magazine publishers and editors galore. Astrology continues to find a place in some newspapers.
The Christian Gospel contains assurance about the destiny of God’s creatures. This does not mean Christian believers have a knowledge of the future denied to others. It assures believers that death is not the end of the matter, that attempts to discern future trends and events are misleading.
If you have a comment on this post please send an email to Revd John King at johnc.king@talktalk.net Edited extracts may be published. To forward this to a friend click on the chain icon below.
Comentarios