A Contemporary Revelation 21 of Birmingham:
Given at Sanctuary in the City on 2 February 2005
I saw a vision – it was last Thursday at eleven o'clock in the morning.
I was standing on the top floor of the Rotunda, looking down over the city; and the cold winter sky broke open above my head and the Spirit of God breathed on my eyes and my eyes were opened.
I saw Birmingham, the holy city, coming down out of heaven, shining like a rare jewel, sparkling like clear water in the eye of the sun and all the sickness was gone from the city, and there were no more suburbs, squats and sink estates; no inequality between those that lived in Saltley and those that lived in Harborne.
I saw the canals running with the water of life
as bright as crystal as clear as glass
and the children of Birmingham swimming in that water.
And the Spirit showed me the tree of life growing in the centre of Centenary Square.
I looked and there were no homeless people, no more women working on the streets
No more needles in the alleyways; HIV and AIDS were things of the past
There was no racism
No gay bashing
No stabbings and brawls
No more religion
No more nationalist graffiti
No more piles of waste and refuse
No more drunken fights along Broad Street on a Saturday night
Because there was no more hate!
And I saw women walking safe at nights
Saw the men were full of passion and gentleness
That none of the children were ever abused
Because the people's sex was full of justice and of joy
The water of life flowing in the canals was not still and dank but rushed and bubbled
It rushed out to the Somalis in Sparkbrook, the Irish of Digbeth, the Pakistanis of Birmingham's balti quarter
The water flowed out to white estates and to Afro-Caribbeans in Handsworth and to asylum seekers living in every part of this city.
And this water of life touched all the races and peoples in Birmingham because in this new city, they had all come home
And in this new city their differences were beautiful and joyful and drew the races together in a multicoloured dance and feast, because each saw something missing from themselves in the other
I saw an old woman throw back her head and laugh like a young girl
And when the sky closed back, her laughter rang in my head
For days and days
And would not go away
And the power at the heart of this city wasn't a brand, a multinational, a shopfront or a committee
It wasn't a grand leader with a pr machine behind him and a gun in his pocket
No, the power that drew all this city together and from which the waters of life flowed, was no power at all.
Everyone was looking at a beaten man, hanging on a wooden cross on a rubbish tip in the centre of this pure city…and they all realized that this power was a dangerous kind of love that gave, and gave and gave without needing anything in return
This is what I saw, looking over the Bullring
Looking up from the city of death
And I knew that then there would be a day of resurrection
And I believe
That there will be a day of resurrection
Richard Sudworth
2nd February 2005
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