Nicki Chapman sits in

Pause For Thought: Reverend Steve Stockman, Minister of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church

One of my favourite movies is Invictus, about how Nelson Mandela mobilised the South African Rugby squad to unite the nation and ultimately win the 1995 World Cup. The title of the movie comes from a Victorian poem that gave Mandela courage through his twenty seven years in prison. It speaks of being ‘bloody but unbowed’ – a phrase that has now entered the English language. Mandela wrote it out for the Springboks’ captain Francois Pienaar, revealing, to him and us, the power of the written word to strengthen, console and inspire. Another thread working its way through the film’s plot is the power of song. South Africa’s new National Anthem, becomes a song that is used to unite not only the rugby team, but the whole nation; another source of unifying inspiration.

I find myself constantly asking people to ask themselves how healthy their reading and listening is. Because, if we are those who wish to change the world, even in a small way, then we need to be nourished by literature and music that can inspire us. It’s different for each of us, but for me inspirational writers might be American theologian Frederick Buechner, Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland and of course Belfast’s own C.S Lewis. In music; U2, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell. And for me the words and music, the liturgy, of the Sunday church service helps too - though it’s often dismissed as stuffy, it is, in fact, built around the very things that Mandela shared with Pienaar, the inspirational power of the written word and the song.

Wherever we find it I believe our souls will be healthier when we feed them with words of inspiration, and our world better as a result.