Good morning. It’s the happy ending many never thought would happen: two warring brothers reuniting after many years apart. No, it’s not a Shakespearean plot, but news that the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel, are getting the band back together. I expect the tour tickets to sell out in seconds when they go on sale this morning.
I love that it’s a great Manchester story. Oasis have been described as the sound of a council estate singing its heart out; they are working-class lads made good. For years, I was the Vicar in Burnage where they grew up. Their mum lived on the estate. I used to dream of getting one of the Gallaghers to open the church fete.
Of course, their story is famously one of sibling rivalry. But can they keep their truce long enough to deliver? Have they, I wonder, found their way to real reconciliation? Finally burying the hatchet, not least for the sake of their mum Peggy?
The Bible is rich in sibling rivalry. Its first story of brothers, Cain and Abel, is a cautionary tale. Cain, the elder brother, kills his younger sibling, Abel, in jealousy that God might have favoured him. His famous words of defence, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’, are a chilling reminder of the failure of good relationships. Cain is then cursed by God.
Few sibling relationships are free of competition. I could fight like cat and dog with my brothers and sister. And the reasons for such rivalries are endless: power imbalance, fear, vulnerability, and plain old jealousy. And when rivalries get out of hand they can destroy families. As a parish priest I saw this happen and wanted to weep.
The famous parable of the Prodigal Son features two other brothers who can’t see eye to eye. The older one, dutiful and obedient, resents the younger for his profligacy. But unlike Cain and Abel, they get a chance to find reconciliation. Their father reaches out to them with grace; he suggests that both are loved and they will find hope in reuniting.
What I love about the parable is its ending. While the father invites the older brother to be reconciled to the younger, we never find out whether they do. As in life, it reminds us that forgiveness and resolution, in part, rely on decisions.
No sibling rivalry, including the Gallaghers, will be exactly the same as the one we find in the parable of the Prodigal Son. I hope, though, that Liam and Noel’s reunion will be more than a truce, and when they sing Wonderwall next year it might not just be a crowd anthem but something they are saying to one another too.