8 minute read
Considering grace
Considering grace
Fifty years on from the start of the Troubles, Ruth Sanderson delves into a new book, commissioned by PCI, which tells the stories of Presbyterians whose lives were significantly affected by those events.
Fifty years ago, Northern Ireland was plunged into the violence which shaped the following decades. Today, more than two decades after the Good Friday Agreement, many lives here are still being shaped by the memory, and the ongoing reality of the Troubles. It’s hard to know how to commemorate such an anniversary – nothing seems quite appropriate – especially since our imperfect peace is still a work in progress. Instead, this has been a time for reflection on things learned, actions taken, words spoken and unspoken. Crucially, it’s a time to begin to consider how the trauma of the past 50 years not only shapes present-day Northern Ireland, but also its future.
Back in 2016, the Presbyterian General Assembly approved a proposal by the Council for the Church in Society’s ‘Dealing with the past’ task group (now the Council for Public Affairs). This was to commission a research project charting how Presbyterians were affected by, and responded to, the Troubles. The result of that project is a new book, 'Considering Grace: Presbyterians and the Troubles' (Merrion Press), which tells the stories of 120 Presbyterians and ‘critical friends’ of the Church.
Most of these stories have never been told before.
“There’s always been a fear that if you tell your story it becomes part of sectarian cannon fodder; that you are reinforcing division,” says Rev Tony Davidson, minister of First Armagh Presbyterian and one of the main drivers behind the book.
Author of the book, Dr Gladys Ganiel, agrees: “Nationalists and Republicans have been better at telling their story. The impression I get is that people from the unionist community almost thought that the nationalist community have already won the narrative war, so they are reluctant to tell their stories too.”
Gladys is a sociologist at Queen’s University Belfast, with areas of interest including the Northern Ireland conflict, evangelicalism and Christianity in Ireland, amongst others. She and her research colleague, Dr Jamie Yohanis, conducted interviews which formed the basis of the book. This was somewhat of a self-selecting process – local ministers put forward members of their congregation who they felt had a story to tell. The book is split into nine categories of testimony; from victims to first responders, ministers to those who left Presbyterianism. From Willie Frazer to Seamus Mallon – the aim is to give as wide a gamut of experience as possible.
The book is not an easy read – I read it with a lump in my throat – as the tragedy of the Troubles spilled out of every page; memories reliving terrible times as though only yesterday. Yet it is an extraordinary piece of work. Not just as a historical record of people’s experiences, but also from an empathetic point of view. It lets us experience not only how that awful time impacted on all sorts of people, in all sorts of ways, but it challenges our own response. How would we react? How have we reacted? How has the past 50 years inevitably shaped us? What’s our own story?
“It’s an important book for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,” says Tony, “For ministers and elders – there’s a whole issue around pastoral work. How we dealt with the past and how we are dealing with it in the present as well.” It also gives a window into the Presbyterian experience for those from other backgrounds. “We need to be understood and I think we have found a way to do this. People complain about the re-writing of history – the only way to deal with that is to tell your own stories.”
At this 50-year juncture, it is becoming more important than ever to try and make sense of what happened in this country, and time is now of greater importance. “Churches have the capacity to write down stories while people are still alive,” says Tony. Perhaps the passing of time is an important factor in people being able to talk about what happened here. It may have been too painful, too raw to discuss until now. “Ironically, it all has to do with the future,” he says.
Gladys agrees: “We are developing study and reflection resources to go with the book and we want the Church to use the book and the resources as the impetus to do something positive for the future.”
We live in extraordinary times – these stories are being read in the context of political wrangling and increasing civil unrest in Northern Ireland. Fifty years on, they echo as a warning – a warning not to go back down the road we were on.
Several things strike me as I read the stories. One was the importance of interfaith relationships, not just from clergy’s perspective, but from quiet peacemakers and victims. Local churches played a huge role in building relationships with neighbouring Catholic chapels and uniting around the Bible. Clergy from both traditions met together, prayed together. Victims talk of how they remember the local priest coming to see them, Catholic neighbours in sympathy. These instances stick with them. I am struck by the many references to Rev David Armstrong, who in 1984 was forced to resign from PCI because of his work with the local Catholic church. His children were spat on, his family received death threats, his church was picketed. In the end, the pressure was too much and he was ordained into the Church of England.
Another figure who crops up again and again is Rev Ian Paisley. Almost all references are negative. Many saw the threat of the Free Presbyterian Church as one of the reasons that Presbyterianism was inhibited from reaching out more across faith divides. As the experience of David Armstrong proved, if one was to extend the hand of friendship to Catholics, the Free Presbyterians would protest outside your church. If you refused to take an Orange Order service, major ructions were caused. At the same time, there are examples of when the Orange Order acted as a moderating influence which, it could be argued, helped prevent revenge attacks or kept some young men from joining paramilitary organisations.
Another fear, especially in rural congregations, was of losing church members to the Free Presbyterian Church. Such a fear, it’s suggested, inhibited the Church from being as radical as it potentially could have been. Many are critical that, instead of PCI working with one voice, it was left up to individual clergy and lay people within the Church to take a stand, often unsupported by the wider Church. The courage of those engaged in this work cannot be understated. They faced opposition from within their own congregations, from members of the Orange Order, and from those outside.
The section which explores the testimony of victims is astounding. There are many reactions within it, various degrees of reconciling what has happened to them. A view is often expressed that the ‘Church’ didn’t do enough, but once again, it was individual clergy who made the impact.
Two things struck me. The first was how it was often those left behind who demanded no bitterness, no retribution, no retaliation; who took an astonishing higher ground. I believe it was these people who saved Northern Ireland from becoming an even worse place than it was. It was these acts of grace by many which stood as an example to wider society and to a wider world. While extremists bayed for vengeance, it was often the appeals of widows which spoke louder than all of this. It was children who were guided by parents still grieving for a spouse, who espoused goodness, grace and godliness.
The other thing which comes across was the importance of prayer throughout the entire conflict. Victims describe praying to the Lord in hospital beds, in mourning, in desperation. Others describe the importance of prayer in bringing communities together. Ministers weeping through prayer as they conduct yet another funeral of someone’s son, brother, husband, wife, sister, child. The toll of trauma on a nation’s shoulders. The enormity of sadness of the situation often too much to bear. Some of those interviewed have stepped away from faith, some still struggle with it. Yet all have ongoing dialogues with God about what happened to them.
It appears to me that this book is hugely important as a way of educating the next generation in Northern Ireland.
Tony tells me, “For some younger ministers, the Troubles will be pure history. When we were having consultations on this, many said, ‘Just move on; we shouldn’t revisit the past’.
“Until one young man told one of the focus groups that there was a crack in the ceiling of his family home. He hadn’t known until recently that the crack was caused by a bomb. He made the analogy that the younger generation still live with the cracks which were made by the Troubles. We must remember that it’s not just those who lived through the Troubles who still reap its consequences.”
“You can never really say that it’s just history,” adds Gladys. “People may not recognise the transgenerational transmission of trauma. When you read the book, you have to realise that. We are in a political vacuum, we haven’t had a government for nearly a thousand days. You don’t want to be alarmist about it, but we could be sleepwalking back into the Troubles. The book should remind people how terrible it was. We need to get creative and get working so that we never go back.”
Tony adds, “There’s a high level of suicide in Northern Ireland, it’s clear that there is ongoing trauma – you can’t deal with trauma unless you know where it’s coming from.”
Karen Jardine, PCI’s Public Affairs Officer, adds, “This book is very focused on the Troubles, but there is no congregation which hasn’t experienced trauma in some respect. Those same issues around pastoring still stand.
“As someone who was leaving for university when the ceasefires took place, then coming back, I have been thinking about what these stories mean to me. We have a chapter about quiet peacemakers – but who is the next generation of quiet peacemakers? Maybe we didn’t think we’d need the next generation but it’s very clear to me that we do. Can this resource, these stories being told, encourage people in that way?” “I hope another generation is inspired to make peace,” says Tony, “because this doesn’t happen automatically. It’s the easiest thing in the world to avoid and just live in your little grouping, and sometimes churches can make that easier. You have to have a particular effort and inspiration to make your way across that divide.”
We forget sometimes, that peacemaking is about being active, about being the hands and feet and mouths of God in a situation. It takes an effort. It takes enormous courage.
The book’s title, 'Considering Grace', comes from its opening story – a testimony from Rev Terry Laverty. His brother Robert, an 18-year-old member of the RUC, was shot dead by the IRA. For the teenage Terry, the devastation of that event led him on a journey with God – anger, rage, incomprehension. He railed against God, and one day after shouting at him, the words of Psalm 88 came into his head: “You have taken my friends and loved ones from me. Darkness is my closest friend.” He found comfort in these words, understanding them as permission to be angry with God. Terry now believed that God understood his anger – and had been with him all along.
This is a common theme in the book. Many are angry with God, many cannot understand what he has done. But many found God in the chaos of tragedy, felt his presence and guidance through the most difficult of circumstances. What is sure is that God grieved with each victim, and felt every blow inflicted in our Troubles. He has been there through it all, and he continues to be there in these times of uncertainty.
Terry Laverty, although he understands that many victims never recovered from their loss, experienced the healing balm of forgiveness. He writes: “I want to encourage anybody who is struggling as a result of violence and trauma to consider grace; to consider the hope that Jesus offers, to consider that there is a possibility of living without bitterness and walking on as somebody who is amazingly and wonderfully free.”
Considering Grace – Book and resources
'Considering Grace' will be launched on Tuesday 5 November at 12.30pm at the Assembly Buildings Conference Centre, Belfast.
There will be other regional launches throughout November. For more information and to pre-order your copy (£12 plus postage and packaging) please go to: www.presbyterianireland.org/consideringgrace
The study resources, which will be available in the new year, have been developed by Dave Thompson of Confluence Facilitation. Dave, and Gladys Ganiel (author of the book) have piloted stories and questions raised in the book with six different focus groups in five locations in Northern Ireland. Based on focus group feedback, one resource is tailored for use in congregations and other small groups; the other is tailored for trainee and young ministers and will be used at Union College.
