We live in a strange country, where colour dominates much more than we think. For example, it's alright to wear the blue of Leinster but unlikely that the same folks would sport the blue of Linfield or Rangers and of course the reverse is also true. And many of us are happy to wave red scarves or wear red tops showing our allegiance to Manchester United or Liverpool but at home the same red of Cliftonville wouldn't be welcomed at Portadown and of course vice versa again. And the red flags that waved all over Cardiff to celebrate Munster's victory recently were not the red of Wales and wouldn't be seen in the hands of an Irishman on Six Nations day. And while many who wear blue or red to follow their Irish League team here, proudly put on the green of Northern Ireland, there are others who wear red, that would never be seen wearing that green jersey but would happily wear a different green top with another emblem. And those same people prefer to follow the green and white hoops or the red of Munster but not the white of Ulster and possibly the blue of Leinster. Confused? I haven't started yet.
Beyond sport, we have men (and women) who wear orange and probably prefer red, white and blue together but only really like the white of Ulster on its own and also are likely to be keen on purple too. And when they have worn orange for a while, they may also get a liking for darker colours like black, in which case they are then called blackmen instead of orangemen, though to be honest, most of them are white men. Indeed the only blackmen on parade whose colour matches their name are usually visitors from another land and they are always made most welcome. And most blackmen parade on what is commonly called the last Saturday though you can take it from me that it never is the last one because I have lived through many of these and there is always another Saturday that follows the last one. Anyway, it would be fairly uncommon, indeed downright rare to see any green and white hooped tops on such occasions, though some might be spotted at a safe distance, but on another day, possibly only a day later those same tops might be exchanged for an orange top, though most of the men and women who wear orange on parade would be unlikely to be wearing those orange tops on any other day. And nor would the blackmen. And just to make it totally confusing, the green and white hooped wearers or the orange topped fans would not be likely to ear red, white and blue together but might wear any of the three on its own while the orangemen, not to be confused with the orange jerseys, would never think of waving a green, white and orange flag but find all three individual colours acceptable. So we can't even agree over orange or indeed green. Maybe that's the main reason that the national flag of Ireland has a rectangle of white separating those two colours, like a sign of peace.
However trivial it may seem to an outsider, colour in our country could have been a lifeline or a death sentence in the past and just because you were wearing orange didn't guarantee your safety for it was more about how you wore the colour and whether it was in a sash around your neck or a sports jersey. And the sight of a green and white hooped top to one wearing blue, never took account of the person, but only the colour he signified. Probably nowhere in the whole world does colour tells us so much about a person than here. I'm sure Johnny Cash had no idea how profound he was when he penned his song, 'Forty Shades of Green' about this island for I think sometimes we see the shade that we want to see and not the person.
Thankfully God keeps no record of the colours we wear nor of the shade of our skin. Indeed the word 'orange' never appears in the whole Bible and 'green' is only used exclusively in conjunction with plants. But He does have a particular interest in the colour of our hearts and that's why the prophet Isaiah records, 'Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.'
As I watched those Munster fans, including my minister, show their support with red flags, jerseys and scarves, I thought once more about nailing our spiritual colours to the mast instead of the colours of our community.
