Anglican Students’ Federation Annual Conference, June 2005

Hope, Justice and Peace

‘But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

This text belongs to what is popularly regarded as deutoro Isaiah- the second part of a trilogy of writings in Isaiah (1-39; 40-55; 55-66). I will not bore you with the theological/ biblical debates regarding the authorship of the books. However there are certain very strong themes that characterize this section: Hope for a different future- following years of humiliation; power of God; redemption – about a God who frees His people, who overturns the status quo; the suffering servant. Chapter 40 begins with – ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people’.  These core themes tease-out the theme of Is. 40:31.    

I thought I should read something on eagles. In knowing about them I believe that we can begin to hear the message the text is conveying to us.  This will enable us to contextualize the reading of the text and appreciate its message more closely.

The are more than 50 different species: collectively are seen as the living symbol of power; freedom, and transcendence; the biggest among them weigh more than 20pds and have wings that spread eight feet across; they have such a powerful vision that sees twice as far, they can see even the most camouflaged of preys. You will know that America has made the bold eagle its official bird, as a reflection of ‘the power of the nation.’ At the end-spectrum of the family of eagles are vultures.

It is the metaphor of such a bird that you’ve chosen as a theme for your conference. But more importantly, the three metaphors contained in that verse talk about a relationship with God, the attainment of the impossible and overcoming natural weakness as a consequence of that relationship.

As you celebrate 45 years, it is important to remember why ASF was formed in the first place, and on whose shoulders you stand.  This is important to know lest the disease of amnesia afflicts you. Duet. 8:12-18 (READ) talks to the inherent danger of forgetting once one has acquired prosperity. It stands as a warning that as you celebrate, avoid succumbing to the ‘silence of forgetting’.

The idealism that drove those forebears was informed by a theological discourse of liberation:

Jubilee texts such as Isaiah 61 and restated by Jesus in Luke 4:16-18, Exodus and its liberation theme, under-girded the belief that in Jesus the future is present. They saw Christian community and others of goodwill as the transformation agents. You should remember also that this was against the backdrop of an apartheid society justified and legitimized through scripture.

However, reality soon taught them that life does not respond to 10 minutes solutions; and that the nature of the task demanded self sacrifice, including paying the ultimate price, for their commitment. However they continued, in the spirit of the words of Paul, to ‘rejoice in our hopes of sharing the glory of God” (Gal. 5:2).

This places on you a very high responsibility. The challenge to be eagles of hope in our time has taken specific meaning and urgency.  Isaiah 58:2-9 (Read) 6&7 ...the kind of fasting I want is this: ‘Remove the chains of oppression, and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear and do not refuse to help your own relatives’.

And of course Jesus in Matt25: 35 picks  this theme and says, ‘It is the basis/the ticket of entry to heaven; the key that opens the gates of heaven. The call is that we should live a life that gives life to others, a life that brings hope to those in despair. Jesus reminds his listeners to break the yoke so that freedom is embraced as permanent feature. Burdens on the weakest of society should be removed. You are called ‘to be poured out’ for the hungry and the disadvantaged. Isaiah 5:18 warns those who acquire land by dispossessing others of what is rightfully theirs. It talks to actions that are undertaken with serious negative consequences for others.

You must refuse to join the chorus of those who think the poor have themselves to blame to be poor. Isaiah also cautions us against those who look at evil and call it good. Those people who live in a world of reversal of values – those who operate with twisted moral logic. Yes, those who believe that they are the only people who matter and spend their lives manipulating and trampling on others in order to make it to the top.

The challenge before you at this time is to find ways to take this moral obligation forward. The measure of our success is to the extent to which we never cease to encourage the right and that which offers life and hope. It invites us to be vigilant, to bring action, ‘to cry out, to demonstrate, to bring pressure wherever injustice exists; wherever inequality is the norm, wherever rights are withheld, wherever misery is allowed to prevail’. It says we are to dethrone all cultures of privilege: against women and against those who are different from us. The very existence of those conditions reduces our own humanity.

The task is daunting. It necessitates that we become ‘relentless eagles of hope’. Strengthened by the relationship we have with God, we refuse to succumb to discouraging elements of the seeming hopelessness of the condition of those who have less than we do. Being those ‘eagles of hope’ we forever stay restless with any condition that dehumanizes others. If not, we risk being vultures – feeding on the misfortune of others. Instead of being bearers of good news and purveyors of life, we become source of pain and death.  Again Isaiah admonishes us to void allowing our lives to be controlled by the logic of death.

Being an eagle is to fly high; it those who dare the future – with its risks, threats and danger. Discouraging voices from within, from friend and foe, continue to be an ever-present threat to the achievement of those heights. The thought of the magnitude of risks and dangers involved become foreboding. But those who want success, like eagles, should “live as on a mountain”, as Marcus Aurelius said.  You become, in the words of Wilfred Peterson

In conclusion if you want to soar the skies do not spend time with chickens.  Chickens see before their feet and are preoccupied with the immediate. And definitely cannot see from the sky. As you chart your future in the new millennium, may you continue to embody the restlessness associated with the idealism that has sustained ASF to the present time. In doing so remember we are called to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic.