Thought for the Week
Sunday 20 May 2012
Ascension
I am writing this on Ascension Day and also the day that the Olympic Torch will begin its journey from Athens, flown in its own seat in a custom-made box, to begin a 70-day, 8,000-mile torch relay across Britain before reaching the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, London, on the 27 July for the opening ceremony of the Games. One is reminded not only of the symbolism of unity and hope but also that we, like it or not, are inextricably linked with one another in the sufferings and the struggles we face: too closely financially linked, some may fear, after all the economic uncertainty of Greece in the last week.
Ascension Day dramatizes Christ leaving his disciples, passing the torch over into their hands, it is a light they also must pass on to others and they will not only share the light but also share the struggle. Yesterday we held the Memorial Service for the remarkable war correspondent, Marie Colvin. Her courage was to witness from alongside and pass on the human story at the heart of the conflicts she covered. In her words this meant "going to places torn by chaos, destruction, death and pain and trying to bare witness to that too." She did this wherever she was: Iraq, Sri Lanka, Libya, Syria, East Timor and it meant returning to Homs in Syria even though she knew the danger. In this church packed with journalists and many others like myself who had felt we knew her and the places and people whose stories she had told, we sensed that this was not someone who had left us but that we were being handed a torch. Outside, the flags of all the Olympic nations were being put up, encircling St Martin's pavilion, and on the railings The Whole Earth Project - dramatically pointing to the ecology of our world in crisis and the cry of our neighbours, our world. The torch is handed to each one of us: we are inescapably linked with one another. We too are called to bear witness and to rediscover the human story at the heart of our world.
The Revd Richard Carter
