It is said that a frog will jump out of boiling water unless the water is heated up so gently that it never notices that it is in boiling water. I hope that the literal truth of this has never been tested (though I fear it probably has) but as a metaphor it is very powerful. Something which ends up as being completely unacceptable might be tolerated unnoticed if it is ratcheted up gradually.
Changes in society are particularly prone to the boiling frog phenomenon. We can all recognise a cruel totalitarian regime for what it is. But can we recognise a society which is on its way to that destination? Brave voices will often shout out the rising temperature, but well-meaning people can easily dismiss them as cranks. And there lies the challenge. Crank or prophet? How can you tell?
In the Church calendar today we mark the festival of Janani Luwum, who was the Archbishop of Uganda until his death on this day in 1977. President Idi Amin had come to power in Uganda in 1971, but the growing excesses of his cruel regime were called out by few. Luwum bravely spoke out. He was arrested and according to the official account, the car in which he was travelling to the police station was involved in a road accident in which he was killed. But the official explanation did not account for the bullets in his body.
Luwum was a prophet and not a crank. But how can a well-meaning Christian know that the temperature in the pan is on its way to boiling point? The answer is in the commandment that we should love one another (Matthew 22.37; Mark 12.30 and Luke 10.27). As the theologian Paula Gooder explained in her Valentine’s Day post, this has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with actions. If a society is moving away from love, then the pan is heating up and those who point this out are prophets and not cranks.
Grant us, Lord, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
A world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
A world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
A world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
A world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
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