Second Sunday of Advent, 6th December 2020
Eldroth and online
Those voices who cry in the wilderness, by definition often don’t get heard. But in this hard year which our whole world has been enduring, one redeeming thing is that there were moments when we paid attention to the voices crying in the wilderness of our times.
Remember Li Wenliang, the doctor at Wuhan hospital who warned colleagues on social media in late December last year about a mysterious virus that would become the coronavirus epidemic. His voice was forcibly quietened by the authorities who had him arrested for “spreading false rumours”. He was forced to sign a police document to admit he had breached the law and had “seriously disrupted social order.” But this voice crying in the wilderness is the voice which eventually the whole world community heard, and came to understand the validity and value of his warnings, even as he sadly died of the disease. [1]
And as the epidemic struck in our society and the poorest, as is always the way at such times, began to suffer greater deprivations than usual as jobs ended and welfare assistance came slowly if at all, and often inadequate to meet their most basic needs, a voice from a most unlikely source began to cry in this social, political wilderness: the voice of England footballer Marcus Rashford, advocating for food to be provided to children nationwide who, if still at school, would be receiving free school meals. Initially derided by some in power, criticised for interfering in matters of government beyond his scope, Rashford’s cries gained such traction that the government extended free school meals for children during the summer holidays. One MP said of Rashford, “He has the sort of principles and moral values that most people hold.” [2]
Most people - ordinary people - in today’s society can feel ourselves un-listened to, under-valued, misunderstood. Perhaps the most remarkable reversal of this came with the weekly Clap for Our Carers, that round of applause which millions joined in with each Thursday evening for ten weeks, whole communities clapping, cheering, and ringing bells to thank NHS workers for their role during the pandemic, and extending that appreciation to all key workers, including healthcare workers, emergency services, armed services, delivery drivers, shop workers, teachers, waste collectors, manufacturers, postal workers, cleaners, vets and engineers. The event began with the small voice of a young mother-of-one Annemarie Plas who suggested the idea to her friends one day in March, and her cry in the wilderness for ordinary hard-working people’s everyday efforts to be recognised became the voice of the people for a precious few moments in our history. [3]
These voices cried out in hope that, being heard, they might help make the world a better place: Dr Wenliang hoping for action to be taken to protect people against a deadly virus; Marcus Rashford hoping for action to be taken to put food on the poorest children’s tables; Annemarie Plas hoping for a show of appreciation for society’s skilful, dedicated, poorly-paid and usually overlooked workers.
There’s a long tradition of voices crying in the wilderness in our scriptures. Think of Noah calling his family in to build that ark to save them, Moses calling his tribe together to begin a journey to a promised land, the voices of the prophets - still so relevant today - calling for justice for the poorest and restoration to those who have lost everything in life. The early disciples of Jesus were voices like this, speaking out in the teeth of the beast of the Roman Empire of the new reign of love released by Jesus. Jesus himself preached and spoke mostly on the fringes, to the common people, a peripheral message which spoke of God seeing their plight, hearing their cries, and answering in grace.
And today we’re reminded of perhaps the New Testament’s best-known wilderness voice: that of John the Baptist. Like many wilderness voices his sounds odd, disquieting to us at first; only when we feel its spirit, only when we sense its hopeful vision of a world redeemed by one coming to save us, do we warm to the Baptist’s message. Because of this great tradition, scripture calls us to bend our ear to the voices crying in the wilderness in our time, and to live in response to the hopeful aspirations they inspire.
For a season in my life I was involved with Church Action on Poverty, a UK Christian campaigning organisation, bringing concerned Christians together with people in poverty themselves to find solutions to deprivation in our country. I got to know and campaign alongside a man called Matt, from one of the most deprived council wards in Britain, chronically disabled through injuries sustained at work, who more than anyone else I’d met - MPs, welfare experts - knew what he was talking about when it came to the poverty experienced by those who physically cannot meet society’s expectations of being able to help themselves, but who need the help and understanding of others. His was a voice in the wilderness, but through Church Action on Poverty Matt one day sat face-to-face at a table at Westminster with the government welfare minister of the time discussing the finer points of welfare policy, with a view to the minister making changes. [4]
That was some time ago, although the circumstances have not improved for people like Matt and society is more divided than ever between the haves and the have-nots. When the churches of Okehampton in Devon, where I lived at the time, set up a foodbank in 2010 in response to the closure of a local food-processing factory, it was a rare and unusual thing. Today foodbanks are everywhere and the Trussell Trust are now inviting supporters to join their campaign for what they call a Hunger Free Future: “speaking out against hunger and destitution, shaping the conversation and campaigning to drive change, for good.” These, I suggest are the voices crying in our wilderness today. [5]
May God help us to be attentive to the voices crying in the wilderness of our times: the voices of the poor and oppressed, and all those usually ignored; the voices of those whose truths are hard to face but may just contain the fruits of a better life for this earth and all who occupy it. May God give us courage to open our ears to words which challenge our comfortable ways; help us find in our hearts the willingness to follow the path of peace and goodwill. However strange that journey may seem, may we trust God to hold us in his grace as we travel with him.
Notes
[1] Emma Graham-Harrison, The whistleblower doctor who fell victim to China's coronavirus. Guardian, 6 February 2020.
[2] Wikipedia: Marcus Rashford.
[3] Jayne Cherrington-Cook, Lockdown Legends: Annemarie Plas, founder of the UK Clap for Carers. Yahoo News UK, 18 May 2020.
[4] Church Action on Poverty. See also my 2016 / 2019 talk, Forgive anyway!
[5] John Davies, Takeaway food with a difference. Church Times, 10 June 2011. Trussell Trust: Hunger Free Future.
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