Suffering and Hope
Easter 6, 5 May, 2002
Fr Neville Connell
Assistant Priest, St Peter's, Eastern Hill
In the late 1930's in settlement in South Africa, a small African boy watched a tall white man at the door of his home. The white man greeted the boy's mother, and raised his hat to her! The white man was Fr Trevor Huddleston CR; the boy was Desmond Tutu. Fr Huddleston became a sign of hope for Desmond, who saw on that day a different white man from usual. One who treated his mother with dignity, as a person. Desmond Tutu, 1ater Fr Tutu, Bishop and Archbishop Tutu, himself became a sign of hope to millions of people, not just in his own country. His hope above all was that the evil of apartheid would be destroyed and that South Africans would be one people, his "rainbow people of God" as he describes them. Archbishop Tutu's hope was founded on Jesus Christ; in the strength of Jesus he was enabled to bear the pain and suffering of the long struggle for his people's freedom.
In September 1940 a young Swiss Protestant pastor-to-be signed a contract to buy a deteriorating house in a tiny, crumbling village called Taize in south-eastern France. He had a vision of a community of brothers living there and serving the local people, and also being a sign to them and the wider Church. Taize was chosen because it was an area where Christian faith and practice were at a low ebb, in what was then Vichy France. Jewish refugees found their way to the house, and were then sent on to Switzerland. Inevitably the Gestapo were informed, but Br Roger Schutz, the young pastor-to-be, was able to escape to his home country Switzerland. His vision bore fruit while he waited out the War in Geneva. There, three young men joined him and the Taize Community was to take shape. In 1946 they returned to France, to the house in Taize, and something quite remarkable began which has been a sign of hope to so many people of all Christians traditions, especially the young.
In our Second Reading today, St Peter writes, "Reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander you when you are living a good life in Christ may be proved wrong in the accusations that they bring. And if it is the will of God that you suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong." (1 Peter 3:15-17). Or as earlier translations put it: "who calls you to account for the hope that is in you". Instinctively, St Peter knew that suffering and hope are two sides of the one coin.
Let us ponder for a moment the world in which we live today. There are so many conflicts. The Solomon Islands are at present wracked with division between island groups. This is a great tragedy for us as Anglicans, because we are the major Christian tradition there. Yet, our Melanesian Brothers, the Melanesian Sisters, the Sisters of the Church, and our Franciscan Brothers have been signs of hope, acting as mediators between warring groups, just as Abp Tutu did in South Africa. The Brothers have been asked to be the people who collect the weapons when the time comes. And working quietly at a higher level for reconciliation is our Primate, Abp Sir Ellison Pogo, who has been under immense strain. Even the religious habit is a sign of hope in Melanesia, as the young Sisters enter trouble spots, as was Abp Tutu's soutane.
However, what of the Middle East, and that which we call the 'Holy Land' especially? There seem to be precious few signs of hope to be seen at present. Christians are now few in number there because of emigration. But we must not assume that there are no signs of hope, even if they are only flickering at present. Much the same could be said in our own country in regard to reconciliation with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, apparently.
Yet, whether the tragedy is far away or near, we are involved, because we pray. When I was ordained deacon in 1965, we prayed for South Africa at Mass the following Sunday morning – as we prayed for those in Vietnam, including a young man from that Parish. And we prayed day by day until the 1990's before South Africa saw the end of apartheid, with almost no bloodshed.
Let us ask ourselves, "What is my hope, for myself, my community, my nation, for the wider world?". In the end it is all one, because we are all children of the same heavenly Father. We are still in the season of Easter – the sign of hope for all people. Jesus, Son of God, died a hideous death and was raised to New Life, as a sign of hops, of power to overcome evil through sacrifice. Sacrifice and hope are two sides of the one coin. We are called to be signs of hope, to be Easter people of love, joy and peace in our own communities. Quietly, undemonstratively; with courtesy and respect as St Peter puts it, but faithfully.
In our Gospel Reading for today, "Jesus said to his disciples: If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever, that Spirit of truth..." (John 14:15-17a). The Spirit will give us truth as vision and insight to see the world as Jesus sees it – to be loved. Vision and insight to see the face of Jesus in the other – the poor, the hungry, lonely, despised, suffering, the friend – and the real insight, in the enemy. And to be the face of Jesus to them; to be signs of hope, of New Life.
Br Roger of Taize has written, "Neither misfortunes nor the injustice of poverty come from God; all God can do is give his love. And so we are filled with astonishment when we discover that God looks at every human being with infinite tenderness and deep compassion. When we realise that God loves us, that God loves even the most forsaken human being, then our hearts open to others. We are made more aware of the dignity of the human person and we ask ourselves: how can we prepare ways of trust on earth? However powerless we may be, are we not called to communicate a mystery of hope to those around us by the lives we live?"
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