Words for Worship

Ministry Today

It’s sailed through

a fleet of films.

 

It has seen off  

the second part of

Frodo and more rings

than a mobile phone.

 

It has surpassed

the latest pottermania

with its flying ford Anglia  

and slug spitting spells.

 

And what is it –

the name has to be

Bond – James Bond.

 

And with the appearance

of the film

‘Die another day’

we see our

‘oh so British’ hero

cruising into

his fortieth year

on the silver screen.

 

For doesn’t it make you

feel old

to think that

Dr No was

in cinemas

in 1962.

 

That , of course,

featured – Sean Connery

the man who put the shhh

in schotland.

 

Now although you imagine that

Bond would be well past

pensionable age,

the crusader

for martinis

shaken not stirred

is again riding high.

 

This time, it apparently involves,

North Korea

an invisible car

and more one-liners

than a carry-on film.

 

But possibly thinking that

the formula

is getting a bit tired,

Mrs Broccoli

has been looking

for new scripts.

 

So with time hanging

on my hands –

here is the

St Luke’s Bond Script.

 

As the famous theme tune

dies away,

we see James Bond

parking his helicopter Ferrari

on the roof

and abseiling down

to M’s office.

 

There he hardly has he time

to unbutton

his dinner jacket

when she asks –

do you know about

the Messiah project?

 

Yes –

he says –

its research

to extend human life

possibly indefinitely.

 

Of course

he scoffs –

it’s all fiction.

 

No its not –

exclaims the dame

in every sense

of the word –

Q section has found

the one essential ingredient

that missing.

 

And whoever offered eternal life

will be able

to gain

world wide mastery

in return

for the secret.

 

Therefore,

I want you to go

with a Russian agent,

the lovely Natasha,

and Felix Leiter

to bring it back.

 

Where is it –

asks Bond warily.

 

Ah that’s the problem-

its in Judah.

 

Our hero blow out

a long sigh.

 

Judah is notorious

for its

ruthless military dictatorship,

vicious rebel movement

and a general lawlessness

that makes it

ultra unsafe

for westerners.

 

Undaunted nevertheless,

he pecks Moneypenny

on the cheek

and checks the test match score

on his video watch –

ah he sighs –

England is beating Australia again.

 

Well this is science fiction.

 

Bond dons

his frogman outfit

which always wears on

a croak and dagger

operations.

 

Then swims up

the Thames

to Heathrow

to catch his plane

to Moscow.

 

Once in the Russian capital,

our intrepid hero

just has time

to sing the tenor part

in the opera

‘bond is good enough’

before its off again

to the republic of Judah.

 

After a long flight

our spy trio emerges

to survey

the dilapidated air terminal building.

 

It clearly shows

the signs of strife

 

For it is pitted marked

with bullet holes

and is infested with

weary troops

slung about

with automatic rifles.

 

Once clear

of the heavy security

the intrepid team

are met

by the secret service station chief.

 

Taking Bond aside

he explains that

the secret to eternal life

was held by one person alone.

 

But he is living in

one of the most notorious areas

of the city.

 

To get them there,

our man in Judah

has arranged

a fleet of land cruisers

and a local militia body guard.

 

Bond thanks him

and they set out

in the gathering winter gloom.

 

At first,

the highway

is broad and deserted

except for armoured vehicles

and huge portraits

of the president.

 

But soon they are

snaking through

shattered blocks

of houses

adorned with

flags,

Graffiti

and murals.

 

Each a eye stabbing statement

to the hatred

and bloodiness

of the civil war.

 

Just as Bond was

becoming very uneasy

they stop at

a half abandoned tenement

and under heavy armed protection

they are rushed up

a rancid staircase

and into a freezing room.

 

By now

the steel dusk

had turned to night

yet the scene

that meets them

speaks of light.

 

For they see

a young couple

with a baby

in a Red Cross food box.

 

The child lays sleeping

yet somehow radiates

peace

and hope.

 

The local guide whispers quietly

to the visitors

that his people

believed that

this child only

offered the way

to live forever.

 

The spies oddly believe

this fact just

by the serenity that

the child emanates

even into

these miserable surrounds.

 

And for minutes together,

they stand basking

in a growing internal calm;

a growing sense of good;

a  growing sense of

something beyond themselves.

 

You could say stood in worship

 

Suddenly, the radio crackled

and a guard shouts out –

it was no longer safe there –

we must get out.

 

At that Lieter wakes

from his reverie

and remembers his gifts.

 

He reaches

into his parka

and produces

three of the most precious objects

on the planet’s surface –

three passports

to the USA.

 

The husband

looks at them hungrily

but his wife

quietly declines.

 

No he says

her son was born here

and it is this poverty

that he would bring peace

it would be in this war

that he would bring hope

it would be in this midden

he would bring life.

 

There was no time

for argument,

because the henchmen

are pushing 007 roughly

out and down the stair

as a dull explosion

could be heard

in the distance.

 

Then it’s full speed

to the airport

now spitting MIG fighters angrily

into the snow-filled sky.

 

Once Bond and his comrades

are safely airborne.

 

They discuss

the odd turn of events.

 

Leiter is saying,

he could have been

a president of a drugs company,

a professor as Harvard,

a senator even.  

 

Natasha asks

in amazement –

Why did he stay

in that God forsaken country.  

 

Turning away from the window

Bond replies wisely –

but that’s just the point –

it isn’t God forsaken anymore.

 

 

Well that’s the story –

not necessarily

a block buster

but strangely familiar anyway.

 

The next task

is to give the film

a name.

 

Now I thought of

‘Dr Yes’

as Jesus turns

no one away

no matter

what they have done.

 

Then I considered on

‘his majesties secret service’.

 

For once Jesus has said ‘yes’,

then we are all called

to his life-long

royal service.

 

Or we might call it

‘you only live twice’

for that

above all

is what Jesus gives us;

life in this world

and eternal life in

the world that is to come.

 

But in the end

I thought that

only one title

would really spell out

God’s guaranteed plan

for each us here .

 

And that title

has to be –

My word

is my Bond.

 

Amen  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bond - James Bond