Â鶹Éç

Available for over a year

Good morning. 'Unjustifiable acts of violence' for which 'there can be no excuse' were carried out by Britain against Mau Mau rebels in the 1950s. So said King Charles in Kenya earlier this week on his first state visit to a Commonwealth country since his coronation. The President of Kenya welcomed the King's courage in facing up to these 'uncomfortable truths' - but others have said the King did not go far enough. What is needed, the critics say, is an apology, and compensation. And yet the King may well have been advised not to apologise - last week the UK's High Commissioner in Nairobi warned that a royal apology would take the king into 'difficult legal territory'. The question of apologising or not apologising can seem to raise hackles, not just in this case. On the one side it may be said that I can't apologise if I didn't do it - I can be sorry that you got struck by lightening, but I can't very well apologise for your misfortune. On the other side, however, it would be said that the atrocities were exactly not like lightening - they were committed by British forces and the King is the representative of Britain. If anyone can apologise, he can. There's a longer debate to be had here, but I wonder whether we might be better starting from a slightly different angle - after all, we all know that the right words by themselves are by no means always the answer. Any four year old can tell you that simply saying 'I'm sorry I bit my sister' is not guaranteed, by itself, to make things right. In Matthew's Gospel, preaching the sermon on the Mount, Jesus has a striking illustration of the utter importance of addressing grievances: 'if you are offering your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, and go, and first be reconciled to your brother.' The striking bit is that even if you are doing something as solemn and important as 'Offering your gift at the altar', you are to drop everything - and how embarrassing would that be - and attend to overcoming the grievance. But how? Jesus doesn't say, but from what we know about him, I think we can be sure he's not suggesting that we consult the most expensive lawyer we can afford to craft some tightly worded liability proof quasi apology. Reconciliation is not a matter of some formula, but is rather a process - and the best way to start the process, in the spirit of Jesus, would be to ask for forgiveness. Apologies can sometimes seem straightforward transactions. I make the apology. You accept it. All done and dusted. But the feelings of people, of peoples, really just don't work like that. The King has gone to Kenya in a spirit of friendship and a spirit of contrition. It seems like a good way of starting on reconciliation.