ST PAULS AND  HOLY CROSS
Who would have thought it?  If anyone five or six months ago had said that two unfancied clubs would meet each other in the FA Cup final this month, who would have believed it?  (Apologies to those of you who have no interest in football.)  No Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool: the rich and powerful sides all gone – and before the semi-final stage!  But it is true.  Sometimes the unexpected is the reality!
And it happens in every sphere of life … the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and the extra-ordinary political change in Eastern Europe, which happened so quickly – and amazingly with so little violence – took so many by surprise. We in the western world need to take note.  I came across this quote recently: “The affluence and arrogance of the western world tempt us to think that everything continues as it is – but it will not.”
(Peter Kimber, retired Deputy Chief Executive of the Scottish Examination Board)
Do we hear what the “panic” in the financial markets might be saying to us?  Or our collective inability to face up to the real issues of global warming?
“Who would credit that a crucifixion, three hours of darkness, a torn curtain, a huddled group of bewildered women, a frightened soldier – an empty tomb – a mere passing event in an obscure part of the powerful Roman Empire, 2000 years ago, was actually the turning point of history!” (I read.)  The unexpected is the reality!
And we face the choice: “Either we worship at the shrine of human cleverness, or at the empty tomb of Jesus Christ” (as the quote already cited concludes).  The first will pass utterly away – the latter is eternal!  Now is that scaremongering or reality?  It really does matter.
With my greetings, Jim