When a dog collar is a prophetic statement!

In some cultures to tear your clothes is a sign of grief, a symbolic way of showing that the fabric of life has been ripped apart by circumstances. It is a gesture of both recognition and resistance. The clothes we choose to wear make a statement, they send out social signals of who we are, how we feel about ourselves, and the place we inhabit in the lives of those around us. To rip up our clothes in public isn't such a common protest in a culture which either pays silly money for designer labels, or pays silly money for  the ultra cheap.

So when an Archibishop of the Church of England, cuts up his dog-collar on a prime time Sunday Morning TV programme, we know we are seeing something extraordinary. Archbishop Sentamu spoke with passionate. prophetic bluntness about the regime of Robert Mugabe, the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe, and called for people to pray, march and protext. As he cut up his dog collar, which is a public sign of his identity, he vowed not to wear it again till Mugabe is gone. Just as the Mugabe regime has cut up people's identity and taken it away, so the Archbishop of York in word and action, criticises, judges and names the political and economic evils that poison the life of the people of Zimbabwe.

I have nothing but admiration for this man, for his moral courage and the way he brings his own cultural heritage to his vocation as Archbishop. He is in the tradition of great lovers of Africa such as Aggrey of Ghana, Trevor Huddleston, Alan Paton, Desmond Tutu in speaking truth to power, and symbolising in action the hunger for righteousness that should drive those who follow Jesus and who pray and work for the Kingdom of God. In a culture saturated with political spin, verbal evasiveness and moral ambiguity, and with many politicians and cultural voices being heard in the stereophonic tones of self-preservation and self promotion, there is something ethically bracing and culturally hopeful about an Archbishop whose moral outrage is given theological force at vocational cost.

I for one salute the integrity and righteous anger of the Right Honourable and Most Reverend John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. The pieces of that ruined dog-collar take on sacramental significance, signs of that grace that will always confront the world at its worst.

Go see this gracious act of prophetic protest over here at a paper I don't often read!

Comments

[Endlessly Restless]

I also approve of Sentamu actions and included a reference in my blog yesterday. In my view, when we protest it should about important stuff, not froth and trivia.