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Address by Glenn Jordan to Young Adults
Address given by Glenn Jordan to Young Adults from the Diocese of Down and Dromore as part of the St Patrick's Day celebrations in Down Cathedral
1 Chron 12:23-38
The history books of the ancient Hebrews record that it was a time "when all Israel became alarmed (1 Sam 4:1). The source of that alarm was the deeply disturbing and violent political divisions in the land. Saul, the great natural leader in Israel, had died, and the young untried King David had set up his fledgling administration in Hebron. Saul's former army were not pleased.
A civil war was engineered. A puppet king was installed as a rival to David. And we know from the biblical accounts that the country was bitterly divided. Many died in a needless and futile war. Just as it seemed that peace was about to be achieved the brutal, calculated murder of the chief peace negotiator plunged the nation into deeper darkness. Many suspected, wrongly, that David had ordered the murder. Their suspicions were virtually confirmed when some violent hotheads, acting without a mandate it seems, murdered Saul's son, the puppet King, and laid his severed head at David's feet.
All Israel watched. Throughout the nation ordinary people held their breath; their tentative, barely uttered hopes for peace appeared to be dashed once again by those who sought political advantage by violent means. The country was about to be catapulted into the awful abyss of chaos, about to be torn apart by internal strife, while her enemies waited in the wings like hungry jackals to devour the remains. Disaster seemed inevitable.
In a dark and tense time, when ordinary people cried out for direction and leadership, we read of a small group of people who dared to be different.
In the book of Chronicles we find recorded that there were men of the tribe of Issachar, not obviously aligned with David's kingship, who nonetheless made their way to Hebron and accepted David as king. This was a magnanimous gesture of community leadership, completely out of line with contemporary practice.
The words Scripture uses to describe them are the words we need to be descriptive of our generation in our day. The bible says, they were "men who understood their times and knew what Israel should do".
Here were individuals sensitive to the movement of history in their day. Sensitive, I believe, to how God was acting in their times. They knew that something different was required. But knowing this, and acting wisely on the knowledge as they did, is the difference between those who shape history and those who are victims of history.
Come with me now on a journey through the centuries to the early decades of the 5th century. The year is 411, somewhere in the Eastern part of England.
The known world faces unprecedented catastrophe. The Roman empire is about to collapse. It was a turbulent, uncertain time. Christianity, that once mighty bulwark against barbarian hordes is losing her political protector and will shortly be overrun.
Here we meet a young man in his early to mid 20s, already a victim of this creeping societal collapse and the encroaching darkness. He had been kidnapped by daring marauders from pagan Ireland. Snatched from the comfort of his father's villa, and brought to the wilds of Connaught. For six years he lost his identity and his freedom. Treated as chattel, he was subsequently traded to a County Antrim farmer. Few of us can even begin to imagine to misery of his life among strangers whose language he didn't understand. The loneliness, the hopelessness, the enduring bitterness against those who had interrupted his settled family life.
Until his escape and long dangerous journey back home.
Who would deny Patrick the comforts of home after his experiences in Ireland. No-one except perhaps the disquieting, disturbing Holy Spirit. For God was moving in Patrick's time to bring a whole island under the sound of the Gospel, and humble Patrick was obedient to the call of God, returning to a new, lasting and voluntary captivity among the heathen.
Patrick himself describes it in these words:
"And there I saw in the night a vision of a man, whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the letter, which were, 'the voice of the Irish'; and as I read the beginning of the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice they were beside the Wood of Voclut, which is near the western Sea and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: 'We ask thee, holy boy, come and walk among us once more'. And I was quite broken in heart, and could read no further, and so I woke up. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord gave them according to their cry."
For the men and women of Issachar as for Patrick, they could never have seen the far-reaching implications of their simple obedience. For them, it was no more than a recognition of God moving in their day, and a willingness to move with him where he lead. Men and women prepared through simple faith and obedience to shape the history of their times.
We stand today at a similar crossroads. Politically, socially, religiously much is uncertain and insecure. The engine of secularism rumbles on and the church appears to be but a speck in its path.
We need shapers of history today. Men and women like us, who, by personal integrity, courage and prayerful attentiveness to God will provide leadership in communities, in churches and in the nation. Women and men who are not ashamed of the Gospel, and who will fearlessly engage with their culture to see the Kingdom of God advance.
So we all face a challenge this St Patrick's day. No doubt in Israel, and in Patrick's Ireland there were those who despaired of ever finding solutions. Those who hid in the trenches and bemoaned the lack of true leadership. They exist in our day too. We have more than enough people who snipe from behind the lines, too few who will enter the battle. Tonight is your opportunity to respond again to the call of God on your life. To hear God speaking of the role he wants you to play in this church, in your community, in your country. How will you respond?
We share a long heritage that goes much further back than 1916 or 1690. Tonight we stand on the shoulders of the men of Issachar, and of St Patrick. Let's not for the want of courage, shame their memory.
One final thing. The Bible records that Issachar became known as a place where you could find peaceful solutions to problems and disputes. For generations afterwards people would say, "if you've a problem, you'll find a solution in Issachar" (2 Sam 20:18). May this generation of God's people become known as a those who understand the times we are living in, and who can provide wise leadership in solving the problems that beset our society.
By God's grace.
Further information from:
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Church of Ireland House
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