This year it has been a particular joy to be involved with these groups, as the two communities have mixed well, an outsider might not recognise that there are two groups, so well have they integrated. That's a joy.
One of the things about my life that has become normal, but that every now and then I am reminded of, and remember that it's not normal, is that I am living a very international life. It's not unusual for me to be out with a group friends, and for each of us to be from a different country. I have slipped into this odd little international, multi-cultural world...just off the Lower Shankill. On the Friday of the retreat, I was leading some worship, and as I looked around the room, I realised that I was the only one from Northern Ireland. The 25 or more people gathered together in that room were from a variety of places, but we were all here, united in this place at this time for a common purpose. The worship of the God who brought us all together.
People from South Africa, England, America, Canada, Costa Rica, Greece, Egypt, Argentina, Lebanon, Israel and Japan surrounded me. It made this verse from Isaiah come alive to me:
"On this mountain, the Lord will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all nations; he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth" Isaiah 25 6-8
God is not the God of one nation. He is alive in the nations today, working in each of us, in every nation, tribe and tongue who calls this planet 'home'. This fact cannot be denied. We are called to live together here, to see our shared humanity and to recognise the spark of the divine in each of us. One day, EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, in EVERY nation.
This evening was a beautiful reminder of our unity. That no matter how many conflicts riddle the Earth, how many nations go to war against one another, there is a higher power that unites us. Jesus Christ.
Some of the two groups together in our DTS classroom a few months ago
Don't worry... I wasn't alone for long! A fellow Northern Ireland-er joined me the next morning... :)
