The destructive power of criticism

A friend and I experienced an enjoyable day of cricket at the Headingley ground in Leeds recently. Yorkshire were involved in a hard-fought Roses match against their old rivals, Lancashire. Honours after the morning's play went to Yorkshire, who took several Lancashire wickets. It looked for a while as though Yorkshire were placing themselves in a very handy position for victory.

The early part of the afternoon, however, saw a Lancashire fight-back, with Yorkshire struggling to take the final few Lancashire wickets. At a time when the relatively young Yorkshire team needed some encouragement, a chap sitting a few rows behind us began to moan and complain in a rather loud voice. He obviously felt that he knew far more about cricket tactics than the Yorkshire captain, and could bowl far better than most of the Yorkshire bowlers! On and on he droned.

My mind went back to a meeting earlier in the week, where we had been looking at a passage in the Old Testament book of Exodus. The first part of the book relates God's miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. But it didn't take very long for the people's joy to turn sour. The writer tells us, 'The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron' (their leaders).

In our discussion on this passage we agreed that grumbling and complaining can be a very destructive force. It's so easy to be negative about things, but rarely does a complaining attitude bring about a positive outcome. I have experienced the destructive nature of such negativity on occasions over the years, and even, sadly, within the church. Yet we are told quite clearly in the New Testament letter of James, 'Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged'.

I playfully suggested that one way to reduce complaining would be to say that if anyone complains they should stand on one leg to do so! I think that might cut down the amount of complaining which goes on, though I'm not sure that the idea would catch on. Of course there are going to be times when we can quite rightly point out things we don't agree with, but I think that if we start by seeking out the positives, and try to be as encouraging as possible, it would make a great difference.

Sadly, Yorkshire ultimately lost a close match. Perhaps if my "friend" in the crowd had been a bit more encouraging to the players it might have helped them do better?

Triumphant Grace

Last weekend, Sue and I attended an antique and collectors' fair at Keddlestone Hall, Derbyshire. As I was browsing the contents of one of the stalls, I came across an old photo-postcard which has the image of "Alan Benson, Missionary to North China". The postcard had been signed by Alan Benson. There was a pin-prick at the top of the card, perhaps indicating that at one time a prayer supporter of the missionary had pinned it on a wall or board. I paid the requested £2 and determined that when I got home I would try to discover more about Alan Benson.

The internet was the obvious source for information, and I duly discovered a rather remarkable story...

Alan Benson did indeed serve as a missionary in China. In August 1940 he was arrested by the invading Japanese army, and accused of being a spy. He was presented with a written confession, but he refused to sign it as it was not true. He also knew that if he confessed to being a spy it would implicate others. Benson was therefore subjected by his captors to horrendous torture in order to try and extract a confession from him. He prayed for “grace and strength”; Psalm 71:1 became his constant prayer, 'In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.'

For seven weeks, twelve hours per day he was tortured, and suffered the most terrible abuse. Continually his captors would yell at him “confess, confess, confess!” Remarkably, he prayed for his torturers, telling them that he could not hate them, but that “I will pray for you each night that God will have mercy on you and pardon your sins and lead you to the Saviour.”

Even when he was not being tortured, he found it very difficult to sleep because of the pain he was suffering. On one occasion he asked God to remove the pain. When he rose from his knees he discovered that the pain had gone, and he danced around his cell in celebration!

After seven weeks, the torture came to and end. He was placed in a cell with some Chinese prisoners. They were all instructed to sit facing the wall and not to talk to each other. Nevertheless, Benson did get some opportunities to communicate with his fellow prisoners, and led several to Christ!

His wife had managed to get a Bible to him, and another verse which became special was Psalm 142:7, 'Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.' He was eventually freed, and he wrote a booklet, “Grace Triumphant”, in which he outlined his experiences. In summarising, he wrote, “Looking back over it all, I can truthfully say that it has been worth it all, and in and through it all God has surely been glorified and his 'triumphant grace' has carried me through every trial and testing.”

Alan Benson died in 1998. A remarkable man. I am so pleased that I discovered the postcard and thus revealed this fascinating and inspiring account.

The birth of a Nation

I write this on Friday 8 July, 2011. I wonder how many people in the world realise that tomorrow will see the birth of the world's newest nation state. After decades of civil war with its northern counterpart, and a January referendum in which its 8m inhabitants voted overwhelmingly to secede, Southern Sudan will become the Republic of South Sudan.

No doubt there will be great rejoicing and an amount of optimism as South Sudan takes its place as a nation. Yet at the same time the nation faces enormous problems. It will take a long time to recover from decades of conflict which have taken the lives of over 1.5 million people. As thousands of families have made their way from northern Sudan to the south, so this has put great strain on already meagre resources. Water, food and other resources are in short supply.

Only this week I received a communication from aid charity tearfund, which is launching an appeal to support the people of South Sudan. Amongst the startling statistics are the fact that only about one quarter of the population have access to clean drinking water; less than 10 percent have access to a latrine; perhaps most sobering fact of all is that South Sudan is currently at the bottom of international rankings in terms of infant mortality; tragically, one mother in seven dies during childbirth.

I have found all this deeply challenging, not least in terms of how I should respond. I could make a donation to the work which tearfund is doing in Southern Sudan. I could certainly pray, because prayer does make a difference. I could respond in some other way, perhaps by seeing if there is some way in which I can join others in pressing governments and organisations who can make a difference to do something about the underlying issues of world poverty. One thing I do know, that I can't just close my eyes to the need (like the priest and the Levite did in the Good Samaritan story) - for that is not the way of the follower of Jesus.