The 'Old Bones'

The ‘Old Bones’

Well! At a certain time in your life, the ‘old bones’ are not really up to a night on the ‘the stones’ – (that’s old London speak for sleeping out on the streets), I know I would probably struggle to actually get up again, after a night in a tent outside St Paul’s, with Occupy London, a marvellous patchwork of people saying ‘enough!’.

What an inspiring renaissance of peaceful civil disobedience – so well organised and so ordered - the canteen doling out cups of tea, apples and hot meals; the solar panels; the art tent; the dedicated techie teams sending out updates, virtual maps, and tweets; the charming young people in the information tent; gentle but firm instructions ‘please do not use duct tape on the cathedral; and handily placed ‘official’ notice boards for everything - from the daily activities, to a description of how decisions are reached (carefully and democratically, even if it takes extra time).

The steps are awash with discussion, explanation and dialogue - even an atheistic Jew like me can see the relevance to the spiritual; throwing those who worship money out of the Temple. And I heard it on the grapevine that the refurbishment of ‘the glory that is St Paul’s’ saw only small change from The Bankers - what a shame given that this wonderful heritage is on their doorstep, surely a perfect chance to pay back something from Mammon to God.

Many years ago the then Canon of St Paul’s, Canon John Collins, was one of the visionary Christians who fought tirelessly to end the injustice of Apartheid. His name continues to be honoured by the charity set up in his name, The Canon Collins Trust, an inspiring example of enlightened leadership from St Paul’s Cathedral.

Some of the present church leaders at St Paul’s have worked with Occupy London and have shown respect for everyone’s efforts – but they are disappointed that this weekend they have had to close the Cathedral [Editors note - this blog was written on 23rd October 201], the first time since the Blitz, but the crisis overwhelming us is another war between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’, between selfishness and fairness, between the wonder of our common humanity and the worship of the self. The future of our planet depends on these choices.

On my wanderings I saw Bruce Kent, another set of ‘old bones’, and a Christian leader, one of the founders of CND, who took a brave stand at another time of crisis - the threat of nuclear war. He is still going strong, after many years of civil disobedience and activism.

We ‘old bones’ may not be up to sleeping out, but we must salute and support the young, they are our new leaders in this old battle - between greed and the greater good.