Thoughts for the Day

(Photograph of Gordon Wilson)

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’ ...

‘When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

‘But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Many churches, particularly those of an evangelical persuasion, have times of testimony within their worship. These can be very moving. A person might praise God, describing how God had healed them after months of suffering; or they might speak of the time they were in a car crash and were unexpectedly rescued. God is blessed for having been instrumental in answering their prayers and saving them. In such testimonies God is often praised for having turned people's lives around.

In today's reading from Luke's Gospel all is doom and gloom. Jesus prophecies the terrible things that will happen to them - notably the Temple will be destroyed, and his followers will be persecuted! But the amazing thing is that Jesus says when they are at rock-bottom this is the moment to testify about God's love and about their hope for a better future.

One of the greatest exponents of such testimony for me was Gordon Wilson, a draper from Enniskillen. A life-long member of the Methodist Church, on the 8th November 1997, a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA left him and his daughter Marie buried under rubble. They managed a few words, and held hands, before she died. However, a few hours after the bombing in an emotional television interview Gordon Wilson expressed forgiveness to his daughter’s killers and pleaded with loyalists not to take revenge for her death. “She held my hand tightly, and gripped me as hard as she could. She said, ‘Daddy, I love you very much'." He went on to say. “I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge," and he said he would pray for her killers. At a time when such attacks often resulted in reprisals Wilson's calls for forgiveness and reconciliation came to be called the Spirit of Enniskillen. Wilson went on to become a notable peace campaigner working between both sides of the conflict, he studied at Wesley College, Dublin, and was invited by the then Taoiseach to become a member of the Irish Senate in recognition of his work between the two combatants, despite him being from Northern Ireland.

Lord Jesus,
we praise You and bless You
for Your work in offering us salvation.
May we testify to your involvement
in our life and in our world,
recognising Your hand at work
in our positive and negative times.
Encourage us to be patient in times of trouble
and to accept that Your plans exceed our expectations.
Then may we continue to testify to Your love for us.
Amen.