There is a massive ship stuck sideways in the Suez Canal. The Ever Given is the length of 308 sheep all in a line and it has formed an immovable barrier diagonally across the Suez which is only about 154 sheep wide. It will be the future of Pythagoras and Trigonometry questions in GCSE exams, but for now, it's got the whole world in a bit of a pickle. Freight can't get through. The ships are either stuck in solidarity and frustration with the Ever Given or taking the long way round. The very long way round.
They're having trouble getting it out. The images of the tiny little digger trying to dig it out are causing much hilarity around the internet and have led rise to a whole river of memes - some of them terrible - some of them bring a little chuckle - some of them describing the frustrations of the year of the pandemic in all its frustrating glory. One of my favourites is this one (I don't know its origins but whoever made it inspired me!).
And so a swift move into the second news story of this blog. The Government's obsession with the British Flag. It became increasingly apparent this was coming when the AstraZeneca vaccination vials which the Government apparently tried to get labelled with the Union Jack and it has escalated this week with all Government buildings having to be adorned in red, white and blue. It's kind of like a 'flags will solve everything' manifesto. The flags are that little digger that has been set to work to try and solve the stranded UK with all its problems. It's not going to work.
In a year where we have seen focus on flag and nation perpetuating the divides that exist in the world, in the US elections and the storm on the capitol, in the abuse of flags in far right protests against the Black Lives Matters movement, in the focus on protests saving statues which have in some way helped to lead to the legislation going through parliament where you can get a longer sentence for breaking a statue than raping a woman, why are we insisting on putting flags up everywhere? How is the insistence on a flag confirming our identity going to solve the problems with injustice and the handling of the pandemic and the consequences of that? We all know that the flags won't change anything, just as we know that digger isn't going to be able to dig that ship out alone.
That little digger tells us that at least they are trying, even if the task seems impossible. The flags give a sense of self-importance - the person standing in front of the flag and the building on which the flag flies represent something - power? control? identity? It distracts us for a moment....
But then our eyes turn back to the problem in hand. The ship is still stuck, the worlds shipping traffic is having trouble getting through, the country is still in a mess and the way ahead looks tough.
Branding isn't going to to change the world, action will. Do we really want to get that ship moved? Know that it is going to take a lot of time and more than just a digger. Do we really want our country to be a better place? There are far better things we can do than put up flags. It doesn't matter what something looks like, it's what is in the heart.
Arguably Jesus' greatest political speech was the Sermon on the Mount where he turns the norm upside down, the values of those who are listening are challenged and he presents a new way. The Sermon on the Mount has no flags and has no element of power or control in any way we might imagine. Jesus presents a new way of living, a new form of identity that lifts the poor and the marginalised to their rightful place. It challenges the established unjust culture of the day and presents a better way.
As we walk into Holy Week and look again to the cross, we see that political manifesto lived out in the greatest act of subversion the world has ever seen. Not showy, not grandiose, but in a painful death designed to humiliate those who hung on the cross. It's not the flag that's going to make the world a better place. It's not the flag that is going to move that ship. That digger is no way big enough. It's in the example that Jesus gave when he began to roll out the way ahead, taking sin and evil to the cross, giving us the chance to begin again. And it's the actions we take in response to that. It's in acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God.
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