Tuesday 18 October 2011

Occupying Toronto, Part II


Today I heard God speak on TV.

A television reporter was standing at the Occupy Toronto encampment in St. James Park and wanted to find someone to answer the anchor desk's question about how these campers could afford to stay in the park for days on end. 
The reporter pulled in the nearest protestor.
Here's the short interview with young “Elijah”.
Reporter: “How can you afford to do this?”
Elijah: “I quit my well-paying job as the operations manager of a woodmilling shop.  I moved out of my apartment . We’re going to stay here until world peace is achieved.” He looked into the camera, raised his hand in the peace sign and said, “Welcome to freedom.”
Again, I admit, the naivete is breathtaking, but...

Elijah is the name of a Jewish prophet who lived many centuries ago. He is honoured by Jews, Christians and Muslims. He is famous for conducting an outrageous experiment to show his contemporaries that there is only one God worth recognizing, the God who created us and wants justice and mercy for all of humanity. He tells the people to to stop giving honour, time and money to false idols. 
The folks who are occupying world cities are speaking out against the false idols of wealth and power. They are calling us all to love justice and mercy, to share power and to lift up the poor.

Jesus said to the rich man who wanted spiritual salvation, “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor”. Like all the other preachers who explain this bible story, I’m sure Jesus didn’t really mean what he said (!), but a few people take his words seriously.
Some of them are camping out in our cities and marching through our streets. Instead of scoffing, we should cheer them on and help them find their way.
We oldsters who watched in amazement as the Berlin Wall was torn down, we know that the unimaginable is possible.