Along the Track is in its eighteenth year, believe it or not! Over those years I have received a variety of emails in response to particular editions but I always know I will receive many, many emails if I write about either forgiveness or anger, especially the latter. It seems to bring out very deeply held and strongly felt emotions. Whatever I write or suggest is always wrong! So why not avoid it? I could say that anger is all the rage, but I won’t. But there is a lot of anger around.

Ancient stories, often very familiar to us, can teach us very up to date and relevant lessons. The story of the building of the tower Babel in Genesis starts this way: "Now the whole world spoke the same language, using the same words." The people propose to build a mighty tower right up into the sky, a building that would make them famous and fill future generations with wonder and amazement.  They begin with great enthusiasm but after they have been building for a while, there is an intervention from on high. The people wake up one morning to discover they can't understand each other's words any more. God has given them a very mixed blessing - the gift of many languages. The tower project has to be called off because people can't work together. But even so, the unfinished tower is remembered by the name they gave it, Babel.

“Some years ago, I was visiting a school early in the year. I noticed a small boy in tears by himself in the playground at recess time. This lonely little person was talking into a stick, pretending it was a mobile phone. A teacher appeared from nowhere, took him by the hand and helped him to join others his age who were playing together. When I passed by ten minutes or so later, he was playing very happily. That small, almost instinctive action made an enormous difference to that little boy. …”

“The significance of Palm Sunday is often forgotten. It is all about fear. Jesus of Nazareth, this itinerant preacher from nowhere arrived at the gates of Jerusalem in a parody of imperial pomp. Instead of a stallion, he rode up on a borrowed donkey. In place of an army, he had a bunch of people throwing down their cloaks and palm branches as if he was someone important. And he was. …”

“Thus begins one of Dickens’ most enduring novels, the Tale of two Cities. It is not a bad description of our own times. We are faced with huge challenges, deep divisions among people and a full out assault on truth. Despite those challenges, these times can be filled with opportunity, hope, ingenuity, imagination, courage and daring because they call on us to think differently, to live differently and come together in new ways. …”