Introduction: Identity
Derek Poole

Comment: What's in a Name?
Janet Morris

From the Director
David Porter

End Game of the End Times
David Porter

We Will Not Have Home Rule
Alywn Thomson

The Lost Field
Tony Davidson

Divine Assumption
Alan Wilson

Walking the Tight Rope
William Storrar

Certificate in Biblical Peacebuilding
Lynda Gould

Liberal Evangelical Post-Unionism and ECONI
Esmond Birnie

O God Our Help in Ages Past
Christopher Catherwood

Transformation
Lynda Gould

< Past Issues Archive

THE LOST FIELD: A Reflection on Genesis 13
One of my favourite movies is 'The Field' based on JB Keane's play. Richard Harris plays the part of the central character, the Bull McCabe. The film describes his evolving relationship with a field. He clears the field of stones so that it becomes green and fertile. However the field is leased from a widow who chooses to sell it to an American. The Bull McCabe is incensed and tragedy follows.

Richard Harris's portrayal of the Bull McCabe in one sense reminded me of Abram with his white flowing beard. Yet his behaviour is the very opposite to Abram. Whereas the Bull is prepared to kill to keep his field, Abram is prepared to give away his best field. Whereas for the Bull the land belongs to him and his family, for Abram the land belongs to God. For the Bull the land is paramount, for Abram relationships are paramount.

The story in Genesis 13 is about tension, land and conflict but also about reconciliation, generosity and good relationships. God wanted a friend. He chose this pagan Iraqi, Abram. He led him out of his home city Ur through Haran and into the promised land, Canaan. Abram had a disastrous flirtation in Egypt, where he nearly lost his faith and his wife but acquired increased livestock and riches. He returned to Bethel, realising that he must share the land with the Canaanites and the Perizzites who were still living there.

Lot, Abram's nephew was part of Team Abram. Due to increased prosperity separate work forces had emerged. More animals required more pastures and more water. The two groups had to share their resources. Soon Abram's servants and Lot's servants were bickering about their supplies.

Abram recognised the problem

In Northern Ireland we have a centuries old relational problem concerning the land. The peace process has been the catalyst for more and more people to acknowledge the problem. However trying to sort it out has brought into the public domain the pain hidden for years beneath the surface. The emotions involved in dealing with conflict are so strong that to deny the problem is always a temptation. However that was not Abram's approach. He recognised the problem and he tried to talk it out. Jesus encouraged his followers to sort out conflict quickly.

Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matt 5.23-24)

When Abram talked to Lot his first words were ... 'We are brothers' (Gen 13.8b). They were neither accusatory nor patronising. The first words in a conflict situation are vital, as is tone of voice. In conflict situations instead of focusing on the problem we need to establish the relationship. In Northern Ireland there is much that divides our communities but there is also much that we have in common. I have lived for a few years in Scotland and for eight years in Republic. I have ministered for the last five years in Mid-Ulster near where I grew up. I admit my identity is confused. Nevertheless I know this - I am Northern Ire(land)ish.

A few years ago after paying a pastoral visit to a farmhouse on top of a hill near where I grew up, I looked down over the area. It was a beautiful bright January day. I looked at the rolling hills and the good farmland and I realised I belong here. I am part of this. Some of the farms belonged to Protestants, some to Roman Catholics. As I stood there I realised 'we are brothers'. We share this small part of God's world together. For generations we have lived side by side. Our ancestors went to the Moy Fair together to buy horses. When it rained, it rained on us both. When it was frosty, it was frosty on us both. When BSE crisis struck it affected us both. The frost, rain, snow and disease did not discriminate between Protestant and Roman Catholic fields. We can fight together and leave it to the few who are left to share the spoils, or we can learn to live together. We are relatives.

Abram recognised diversity

We might have expected Abram to say, "We must stick together". But Abram said, "Let's separate". He realised that in this situation of conflict the one hope for the relationship was that they should separate. They needed what the Americans call 'time out'. In N Ireland we have to recognise that we have our differences. We need to avoid solutions to problems that impose a banal sameness on our people and on our churches. We have to learn to appreciate instead of fearing difference, to celebrate difference instead of hating it. The result of the conflict for Abram and Lot was not ideal, but it did work.

Abram made a generous offer

Abram's offer is really quite stunning. In a patriarchic society where age took precedence we would have expected Abram to say to Lot, "I am taking this good land here and you go that way." Instead Abram forfeits his rights and says, "If you go to the left, I'll go the right. If you go to the right I¹ll go to the left." He lets the younger man chose.

Abram was really God's friend. As we spend time with our friends we become like them. So Abram was becoming like God. It is in God's nature to be generous. Remember how Jesus Christ gave up his home in heaven and came to earth. Paul in his letter to the Philippians wrote this:

...who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant. (Phil 2.6-7a)

When the Lord your God brings you into he land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give you - a land with large flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig and vineyards and olive trees you did not plant - then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord ... (Deut 6.10 - 11)

In Luke 12 v13-21 Jesus addresses the issue of land rights. Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me". Inheritances in those days were generally not cash inheritances but land inheritances. This was a question about fields, land and identity. Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Jesus refused to take sides. He pointed out how the man's question betrayed his values. So instead of answering it Jesus tells a story about ultimate concerns. It is commonly called the parable of the rich fool.

In the story a farmer has a bumper harvest. In verse 17 Jesus tells us 'he thought to himself'. Ken Bailey in his book Through Peasant Eye (p64) points out that this was an extraordinary phrase for that culture. It was not customary for farmers or business people to talk 'to themselves'. Such a decision to buy new land or build new barns was normally discussed in the community. At the city gate hours would be spent looking at the arguments for and against such a decision. That very night he dies alone in his field. What is the point of owning all this land and having bad relationships? Such a person is a fool for he has forgotten that the fields are a gift. Isaiah warns:

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. (Isa 5.8)

Abram must have had a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye as he watched Lot disappear into the Jordan valley. Though they separated he continued to have contact with his nephew. In chapter 14 when Lot was a prisoner of war Abram rescued him. Abram did not lose a nephew; their relationship just took another form. Abram must also have been concerned about the land. After all God had promised it to him but now he had lost the best part of it. At this time Abram would have felt weak and vulnerable, in need of reassurance. So God comes to him again. He tells him to look around him, to walk the length and breadth of the land for I am giving it to you (13.17). When Abram was prepared to share the land then God gave it to him.

Isn't it true what Jesus said: "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the land" (Matt 5 v5)? At the end of the film The Field we discover that the Bull McCabe did not own the field. The field owned him. He was its slave. He was prepared to murder for that field. The hero of the film has mutated into its villain. If Abram was to inherit the land he had to learn as God's friend that there were more important things than fields. As he gave up his right to the land he was set free. The promise of the land would not be a burden to him. He was waiting for a greater land. He was set free to serve God.

In this poem written during July 1998 I reflect on my own identity and attachment to fields.

THIS PLACE IS HOME

Lord I belong here among the hills, the hedges, the seoughs and oaks,
There is a cozy familiarity with the lanes, the grass, the trees, the folks.
"Your Granny taught me at school in Salter's Grange,"
"Your Dad sold me a motor car; it was top of the range."
Grandfathers and great grannies lived bred and died in this place,
They fixed a recurring pattern for each succeeding race.
They tamed the land; they tilled it; they put down roots;
They planted seeds; they watered; and enjoyed its fruits.
Their blood still runs deep in granddaughters and great grandsons.
Their footprints still traced in hovels, bungalows and mansions;
The words, the movements, the phrases are easily decoded.
Yes, this place is home and I'm not easily deroaded.

Lord what am I doing, living, pastoring and preaching here?
The hills, the hedges, seoughs, lanes and oaks I fear.
They know who you are, there's no fig leaf to cover your family tree
It's bare, exposed for every Billy and Paddy to see.
The hedges have matured and become a maze in which we are lost.
The seoughs have become a dark hole into which our memories are tossed.
The lanes go round and round in circles leading a merry march to nowhere.
The hills and fields have mutated into territory we refuse to share.
They hem me in, I cannot breathe, I suffocate
I wonder what to say; how to pray. Is it too late?
The words, the movements, the phrases are too easily decoded.
Yes, this place is home but it's become dangerously outmoded.

But this is your place, you live here, Lord.
You made the flower and thorn, the river and the ford.
You hear the march and the dance, the flute and the didleedee;
You taste the cakes, the tray bakes and wee cups of tea.
You see the flags, the bowls, the Gaelic games and rugby.
You are watching the Seiner, the PUP and the RUC;
It's a mess; it's untidy, but you are in the midst of it.
One day you will reach down and lift us out of the pit.
You are in the chaos of history inhabiting this place,
I can see your footprints, the marks of your grace.
At your nimble, graceful feet we bow,
Lord this place is yours, redeem it now.

Tony Davidson - minister of First Armagh Presbyterian Church, and a member of ECONI's Central Co-ordination Group.