It’s not every week a new nation is formed. For a brief moment this week, the world looked on as the Republic of South Sudan declared independence from Sudan. The print and broadcast media gave us a brief glimpse of jubilant South Sudanese citizens dancing and singing. And then the world moved on and we all went back to scrutinising Princess Kate’s wardrobe from her travels through North America.
While there is much potential for this new nation to rise and prosper (due to its oilfields), it does face many challenges in the days ahead. According to Wikipedia (the great hive-mind of collected knowledge), ‘South Sudan is at war with at least seven armed groups with tens of thousands displaced’ and with a great many atrocities committed in the name of fighting rebellion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan). In addition, Sudan has also been blacklisted as a state sponsor of terrorism (which is why all of the petroleum only seems to go to developing countries) and if you thought the state of health care in Mudgee is bad, consider the fact that in South Sudan, one in every ten children will not make it past the age of five, maternal mortality in the country is the highest in the world and in 2004, there were only three surgeons in South Sudan with one area having only one doctor serving 500,000 people (something to consider the next time we sit in the waiting room at the Medical Centre).
Interestingly when Jesus appeared on earth 2000 years ago, he too talked a lot about a new Kingdom (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15). The new kingdom would start small, but finish big (Mark 4:30-32). In this new order, God’s will would be done (Matthew 6:10), members of the kingdom would have authority over demons (Luke 10:18), the blind would see, the lame would walk, the deaf would hear, lepers would be healed and the dead brought to life (Luke 11:4-5). With Jesus, the Kingdom of God has come, through Jesus, the Kingdom of God will grow (Matthew 28:18) and when Jesus returns one day, it will be complete (Revelation 21:1-4). Until then, we live in hope.
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