13 September 2024

We watched ‘On the Waterfront’ recently – the 1954 black and white film starring Marlon Brando as the boxer, Terry Malloy, working on the waterfront with the longshoremen in a critical situation of union violence and corrupt leadership.

Those who stand up to the corrupt leader, curiously nicknamed Johnny Friendly,  are unceremoniously slain until Edie Doyle, the murdered Joey’s sister, begins to seek justice. It is her love for her brother that shames the local priest, Father Barry into action and her love for Malloy which gives him courage to make a stand.

What struck me more than the celebrated Marlon Brando,  was the presence of the priest and his remarkable speech at the most critical moment in the film. One of the workers, Kayo Dugan,  whom he persuaded to stand up for justice, has been murdered. His body lies on the dock. The workers surround him. They are not inclined to follow in his footsteps.

‘Every time the mob puts the crusher on a good man, tries to stop him from doing his duty as a citizen? It’s a crucifixion. And anybody who sits around and lets it happen, keeps silent about something he knows has happened, share the guilt of it just as much as the Roman Soldier who pierced the flesh of our Lord to see if he was dead. Boys this is my church!’

The church is not in a building but it’s  here on the waterfront and Christ is here  too. ‘Christ is in the shape-up, he’s in the hatch, he’s in the union hall, he’s kneeling right here beside Dugan. And he’s saying to all of you, ‘If you do it to the least of mine, you do it to me.’ And what they did to Joey and what they did to Dugan and they’re doing to you. And you, you, all of you! And only you, only you with God’s help have the power to knock ‘em out for good.’

This  is not so much a speech but a very powerful sermon based on the Matthaean text. His visual aid is the dockyard and his incarnational theology is powerfully explicit by his presence there. The hostility of the workforce, suppressed by their union boss, is palpable. Eggs, tins and stones are thrown at the priest standing by the murdered worker. The men have forgotten that ‘every fella down here is your brother in Christ’!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  18 August 2024 I am concerned  that when smaller charges are subsumed into larger units, ministry is reduced to  ‘needs must’ and this will prejudice the smaller rural units. They require ministers to have more time to stand and stare, to build up relationships which may or may not lead anywhere  and to work with all ages and all community agencies. The value of this work may be lost without a specialist dedicated to the task. Here are six  areas of specialist training: 1. breaking down the division between secular and sacred – in the rural charge this is much more diffuse and more in keeping with the true nature of the Gospel where God is at work in all places and all people 2. integrating  young and old – in the rural charge people are not so self-conscious of these age differences and work together in community events and initiatives 3. embracing  the pace of the natural world and nature’s discrete  modus operandi – results are not immediate nor immediately recognisable, G
Read more
  15 August 2024 David Fergusson, Regius   Professor of   Divinity at Cambridge University, and Kirk minister has just produced a series of essays on theology, philosophy and the Church. One is entitled, ‘Mapping the Church – Current Challenges of History and Mission’. In it, he tackles the issue of mission in the Church. He begins by acknowledging that mission is a constituent part of the Church’s work not least in handing on the faith to those who are coming after us. But he points out   that the ‘Five Marks of Mission’ which have been embedded into our current thinking are not comprehensive. ‘The church has many functions,’ he writes, ‘the glorifying of God in its worship, the education and nurture of its people, the pastoral care of the sick and the dying, and the bearing witness to the gospel in the life of the world.’ Mission is one of several aspects of being the Body of Christ. He recognises that there is a mistaken view in some quarters that by focusing our attention a
Read more
  10 July 2024 The Revd. Will Pearson-Gee was an Army Chaplain rising to the rank of   major in 1999. He is now the rector of Buckingham where he said that some of the services for which he is responsible were ‘overflowing with widows’. So Kaya Burgess has reported. He has been so concerned about the lack of men in church that he raised it at the Church of England Synod in York. ‘What resources has the church developed to help people think about and practise evangelism among men?’   Two facts justify his concern. Firstly, 59% of worshippers in the Church of England are women. In some kirk congregations, this would be an under-estimate. Secondly, the British Social Attitudes Survey found in 2019 that at every age men were less likely than women to say they had a religion, went to church or believed in God. In his address to the Synod, Will Pearson-Gee argued that men who became Christians were more likely to bring their whole family with them. He also argued that the language of
Read more