Invictus & 67 minutes of doing good

I finally got to see Invictus last night (gotta love home viewing!). While there were several errors and omissions (and yes, I realise that this is a work of fiction, only BASED upon the truth) it was still an awesome movie.

As we were watching, G and I were talking about our memories of that time - voting in the 1994 elections, our hopes and fears at that time, our rising hopes as the Springboks won match after match, and the day we won the Rugby World Cup. That was a truly emotional time - and to be honest, we didn't even know the half of what was really going on. In that regard, it was incredible to watch this movie, which filled in many of the blanks for us.

It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it touched my heart deeply. I feel more patriotic than ever, more proud to be South African, more proud to call this rainbow nation (or butterfly, as Tutu called us) my own.

As someone said - in 1994, we put the World Cup bandage on the wound of our history. In 2010 we took it off. What lies below? What state is that wound in? Is it healed? Is it well on its way to being healed, or is it festering and gangrenous?

I'd like to think that it's healing, but maybe not as fast as we'd like it to. I'd like to think that reconciliation is taking place.

This morning, in church, we watched a video on poverty in Cape Town, with interviews from various people living in squatter camps around the Peninsula. The service went on to focus on Madiba's vision for us all to make this world a better place for everyone - which means uplifting those in poverty.

Given that I live in middle class suburbia, and earn a decent salary, I recognise that my view on whether or not reconciliation is taking place is going to be skewed. I'd like to believe that it's happening, but I can't really say - I'm protected, to a large extent, by my income.

So where does that leave me?

Hoping.

I live in hope that the sacrifice of one unique, incredible human being (and I'm not referring to Christ here) made has not been in vain.

I live in hope that the sacrifice of the unique Son of God made has not been in vain either - for it if is to have meaning, then the people of God need to step up to the plate in whatever way we can to make that hope a reality.