Easter VII 28.5.06 Christ Church  Morningside  Our real character I wonder if you followed the astounding account of the two Australian miners who were trapped below ground for two weeks earlier this month?  It was the stuff that stories are made out of – and in fact that’s exactly what is going to happen – I gather that the two miners who survived their ordeal are being wooed by several international media companies to sell the exclusive rights to tell their stories.  Good luck to them, I say, considering what they have both been through I don’t begrudge them a single penny of what they will get. The crisis began at the Beaconsfield mine in Tasmania on April 25 when a mine-shaft collapse occurred.  The news report a few days after was pretty brutal in its starkness: “Of the 17 people who were in the mine at the time, 14 escaped immediately following the collapse, one was killed, and the remaining two were found alive after five days nearly a kilometre below the surface.” What happened was that there had been a small earthquake in the Beaconsfield region which caused the collapse of an unstable part of the mine.  A gold mine (infact mining is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world - I think I’ll be looking at my gold wedding ring a little differently from now on).  The ironic thing was that the men who were trapped and the man who was killed were at the time of the accident working to shore-up the walls and roof of the mine-shaft to stop a possible collapse.  Brant Webb and Todd Russell – the two who survived – were saved because they had been working in a metal cage which was about four feet high and eight feet wide.  The two waited in this cage for five days before they knew they had been found.  And even after they were found it was another nine days before the men were finally freed due to the very difficult conditions in the mine.  This is how the newspapers described the events of the next few days: “The cage was partially filled with rock, and the men were partially buried under some rubble. Webb seemed to have been knocked unconscious for a short time, and Russell's lower body was completely buried.  When Webb awoke, the two were able to free themselves and each other from the fallen rock by cutting through their clothes and boots, which were stuck in the rock, using Stanley knives. The miners were able to survive by drinking groundwater, seeping through the rock overhead, which they had collected in their helmets.  Webb also had a muesli bar with him, which he offered to cut in half and share with Russell. The men initially agreed to wait 24 hours to eat it, but they continually extended the time, until they decided to eat it on 29 April (four days after they had been buried). They then ate small pieces of the bar at a time, to make it last as long as possible. However, Russell later lost a large portion of his half of the bar when it fell out of his pocket. On April 29, [the rescuers] began blasting a new tunnel, detonating at least six large explosive charges to form the tunnel. The blasts dislodged rock inside the cage of the telehandler, which Webb and Russell attempted to clear, although as the blasts came closer, rock was dislodged faster than they could clear it.  Russell recorded the date and time of each blast on his clothing, so that if they died as a result of the blasting, the rescuers would know that they had been alive prior to a particular blast. Both Webb and Russell also wrote letters to their families on their clothing.  The two men sung The Gambler by Kenny Rogers (the only song they both knew) in order to keep up their spirits, as they waited for successive blasts to occur in the tunnel. At one point they could hear rescuers talking, and shouted at them to be quiet so that their singing would not be interrupted. At 5:45 pm on April 30, 2006, Webb and Russell were found alive after being trapped underground for five days, being detected by thermal imaging cameras and a microphone. One miner found a direct route to the trapped miners, across the rubble in the side shaft, and was able to get close enough to the basket of the telehandler to shake Russell's hand. In one letter to his wife, Russell wrote, "It's not much of a room we have up here."  Russell asked for the previous Saturday's newspaper because he said he would be looking for a new job, after joking about losing his current one for lazing about.” The two men were finally brought safely to the surface on May 9th, fourteen days after they had gone down the mine to work.  And the rest of the story we will no doubt be able to read for oursleves or watch the movie, when it comes out.   Gripping stuff, as I said, but why tell this particular story?   I think it’s true to say that often a person’s real character shines thought when they are under extreme pressure or stress, most especially when they are in pain or close to death.  Some us have been privileged to witness this for ourselves at Christ Church these last few weeks through the lives and deaths of four people closely bound up with the life of this congregation.  Lives lived in the face of pain and death, but lives lived with courage, dignity, grace, love and faith.  And the two miners showed this in spades – especially in keeping their sense of humour.   A person’s real character shines thought when they are under extreme  pressure or stress. What we are and who we are very often comes to light when all of the things that we usually hide behind or cocoon ourselves with – our homes, our families, our jobs or status, our money, our position, our self-esteem – are taken away.  Pain, stress, tragedy or death – all of these have a way of stripping us bare, quite literally.  And then it’s just us, the real me, who is left… And, as I said, it is precisely in or at this moment that who we are and what we are is most clearly to be seen.             You see this very clearly in this morning’s gospel reading from John.  Let me explain: The gospel reading is set in the context of the Last Supper – the very last meal that Jesus shared with those he loved before he was crucified.  And it was on this night, the night when Jesus knew that his time had come, that the end his earthly ministry was in sight, when the shadow of the cross was already looming large over him that he spoke these words: “Holy Father, protect them in the name you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one…” “…and I speak these words… so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.” “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” “Sanctify them in the truth…” How and what Jesus says, or is reported to have said, is significant: First of all he prays these words – prayer has been called ‘thinking God’s thoughts,’ in touch with God’s life and energy.  And so Jesus isn’t just saying what he is thinking, he is praying the thoughts of God to the disciples He doesn’t pray for himself but for those he loves – an act of selfless love He asks they may be made and kept as one – he prays for their unity He asks that they might be protected, not from the world, from life, or living, but from the evil one, the one who destroys, confuses and disunites, just for the sake of it He asks that their joy may be made complete. And he gives them something tangible to and remember him by – the Eucharist, the sacred meal Christians have been celebrating ever since A person’s real character shines thought when they are under extreme pressure or stress. And again, a few short hours after this meal, Jesus hanging on the cross doesn’t think of himself but prays for those he loves, forgives those who are killing him and places himself into the hands of the Father – trusting, hoping, believing… And what kind of questions does this raise for us?  What kind of questions does this raise for you and for me? Who or what do I shelter behind?  What clothes do I wear, what titles do I use, what status do I claim?  How do these things help or hinder me/you being/becoming our true selves, made and loved in the image of God? When all is said and done, when all of the things that I hide behind or dress myself up in are taken away, then what kind of person am I really And what do I pray (do I pray?!), and for whom do I pray – am I really trying to think God’s thoughts or just looking to have my own thoughts confirmed? A person’s real character shines thought when they are under extreme pressure or stress. For looking at ourselves in this way – in the cold light of day, indeed through the eyes of another – is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of freedom and the beginning of true joy.               Simon Justice                                       28th May 2006 Home