16 August 2022 | St. Albans, UK [David Neal]
Derek Morrison’s entry into the world in 1964 did not start well. Born to an Afro-Caribbean mother, and an unknown father, he was taken into foster care in the same year he was born. The reason we never discover, but his South London white working -class family gave him the love and care his biological parents were unable to provide. Even though visibly ‘different,’ the home was a loving and safe place, albeit secular.
“Providence” is Morrison’s story. His relationship to his biological mother was strained – a stranger who would occasionally visit, but who would always instruct him to “read the Bible and go to church.” Then there were the three Christian story books in the home, which he believed belonged to him, put away in the cupboard and not to be read. Curiosity did not stop him reading them. The initials “SP” (Stanborough Press) was on the back of the books, the same as his foster mother, ‘Susan Prudence’ who informed him that this proved “the books were hers and not mine.”
In his teenage search for identity, he dug deep into Reggae and Rastafarianism, in part a response to the ‘unpleasant feeling toward Black people in the UK’ at that time.’ Close shaves were experienced with the National Front as he ‘providentially’ escaped being beaten up by their skinhead adherents. And yet, while on his way to a major riot against the Front in Croydon, a sprained ankle on the steps of a railway station stops him in his tracks.
Further close shaves were with the police. Living during the Metropolitan Police ‘Stop and Search’ era, he records how he was ‘stopped and searched.’ An ‘Afro-comb’ in his possession was deemed to be an offensive weapon – but he is not charged. A few years later he is set up as the cause of a minor road traffic accident, rather than the victim – which ends up in court. Up against a white judge, and white plaintiffs, he courageously defends himself without legal representation (truth telling was a value his foster parents had ingrained in him). The judge dismisses the case.
To Morrison truth mattered, and gradually dawned on him that the father of Rastafarianism, Haile Selassie was not God. Introduced by a friend, one Saturday he finds himself in the north London Hamstead church. Sabbath School bible study attracted him, and as his friend Randal explained, “When it comes to the Bible, you never stop learning.” For Derek, “It seemed like the church was set up for life-long learning.” A study of the gospels, resulted in a “change for the better… I felt calmer, less anxious. My language became more considerate and respectful, and I looked at people with a more opened mind.” He was baptised, but not a pew warmer. He shared his faith at work, with friends, but the old life in some ways reared its ugly head. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17) came the answer. Not only did it help him stand up for truth, “We can’t change the policy of the whole company to suit one individual,” on the matter of sabbath keeping, but also share his faith as he helped lead his friend Seyi to Christ, later followed by Seyi’s older brother and mother. As Derek reflects, “I felt incredibly humbled because I had contributed to Seyi deciding to be baptised and join the church just by being myself at work… I challenged him to come and try… and he did.”
Morrison’s case for ‘Providence’ is overwhelming and moving, with an underlying ‘what if’ thread throughout. He concludes, “I ask myself if it were a stream of good luck, a series of chance coincidences or a sequence of divine providences that guided me through my teenage and later years. I think the latter.”
Derek Morrison is a member of the London Hamstead church, South England Conference.
Book Review: Luck, Coincidence or Providence? A Foster Child’s Journey through Racism, Riots and Reggae to Faith by Derek Morrison. Available through the LifeSource Bookshop
