Past. Present. Future.

Back in the 70s, International School, Ibadan (otherwise known as ISI) put on a production of 'Jonah-Man Jazz'*, a popular 60s dramatic cantata. It was Sunday School, but not as I knew it; and I absolutely loved it!

I’d attended several rehearsals and knew there was no way I was going to miss the actual performance. I therefore quickly pre-empted my mother's cries of, "You're going out again!" by reminding her it was "Biblical"; the equivalent of saying God would approve. I was tempted to add the word 'prophet', which would probably have guaranteed me a new outfit, but I quit whilst I was ahead!!

Did He approve? Who knows?! I personally haven't heard riffs like that outside of Ronnie Scott's, but it was definitely all kinds of spiritual. Suffice to say, whenever I hear the name Jonah, I find myself singing:

'When Jonah sank into the sea

He closed his eyes and prayed

“Oh Lord I’m very sorry

That your word I’ve disobeyed

“If you will only come and save me

I will do as you command

“Instead of treading water

Let me tread upon the land”'

You see, God - in His infinite love and wisdom - asked Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh hoping they’d repent of their sins. But the latter thought the mission a waste of time and took a 'cruise' in the opposite direction. Result? He was accused of being a jinx; thrown overboard during a storm; and swallowed by a humongous fish.

Conflicted and causing unnecessary complications and chaos; as are many of us almost 3000 years later.

We hum and haw, take forever to make decisions about the cut and dried; all the while knowing right from wrong, but not doing it. Tolerance vs racism. Fairness vs partiality. Civility vs discourtesy. Decency vs lewdness. You get the picture.

'Go down, Jonah, deep in the ocean.

Go down, Jonah, far from the shore.'

The chorus mimicked the crew and inadvertently, God too. Sadly watching us feign indifference rather than face our fears; floundering in a miasmic sea until we finally grasp what He has longed for us to realise all along.

That we can tread water, see the sky, and breathe. That with grace, justice, truth, kindness and mercy are worth fighting for and wholly achievable.

Last week, Amanda Gorman* - young, black, vibrant Harvard graduate - stood at a once inaccessible lectern. She spoke and warmed the bitter cold by reaching seamlessly into the past, looking nonchalantly askance at the present, and embracing the promise of the future with every fibre of her being.

Ahh...it is time. To shake off our inertia. To follow suit.

*Jonah-man Jazz, Michael Hurd, 1966, Novello

*National Youth Poet Laureate