Matthew under the arm 18
I carry a little radio with me wherever I go. What is so strange is that Columba doesn't seem to want to listen to the news with me, certainly not as much as I listen to it! And yet, he seems to have a deep awareness of what's going on. He is profoundly aware of what happens as a result of decisions being made out of fear rather than love. He looks at my face when I listen to the news that Saddam Hussein has been executed and sees my fear of what might be the consequences. What is more, he sees even more poignantly that my fear is not really for the consequences of further agony in the Middle East, but fear for myself. 'What will happen to me?' He sees that I too stand 'looking at' the execution with all its moral implications. Not that Columba judges. His compassion for my fearful self-absoprtion is one that he has for all those we encounter. I am reminded of T S Eliot's Four Quartets: 'We all go into the dark'. The paradox is that in acknowledging this, the Light of Christ begins to penetrate. Have I the courage to live the life of non-resistance let alone to proclaim it as the way of Christ for us?
Matthew 5:38-42
‘…do not resist…’. Pacifism can be an assertive way of promoting or defending a cause. However, the focus of the Sermon on the Mount is God. In God, life and death are part of the way we are created. We can find God in all of creation without exception, hard though that may be. However, there is the disturbing defensiveness in our attitudes and actions that arises from our fears. To practice non-resistance is to try working with faith in non-violence that God enables. Tragically, it maybe that circumstances force us to be and do otherwise. That is why all aggression, even if ethically necessary, is a matter of confession and repentance.
My Grace brings healing to the roots of your fear
In prayer, there is a realisation of the otherness of God - ‘Holiness’ – beyond understanding. In Christ, that otherness is intimately present. When you can, try to pray for a while before or after a Eucharist, because the Body and Blood of Christ point to the otherness of God and yet you take God into ourselves. So, in this prayer, try recalling someone with whom you have had conflict. Don’t spend too long recollecting images of aggression as that is unnecessarily disturbing to your praying. Invite Christ to be with you and let Christ enter deeply into your fears. This is no instant panacea, but a life-time’s faithfulness to peace-making and reconciliation.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Matthew 5:38-42
‘…do not resist…’. Pacifism can be an assertive way of promoting or defending a cause. However, the focus of the Sermon on the Mount is God. In God, life and death are part of the way we are created. We can find God in all of creation without exception, hard though that may be. However, there is the disturbing defensiveness in our attitudes and actions that arises from our fears. To practice non-resistance is to try working with faith in non-violence that God enables. Tragically, it maybe that circumstances force us to be and do otherwise. That is why all aggression, even if ethically necessary, is a matter of confession and repentance.
My Grace brings healing to the roots of your fear
In prayer, there is a realisation of the otherness of God - ‘Holiness’ – beyond understanding. In Christ, that otherness is intimately present. When you can, try to pray for a while before or after a Eucharist, because the Body and Blood of Christ point to the otherness of God and yet you take God into ourselves. So, in this prayer, try recalling someone with whom you have had conflict. Don’t spend too long recollecting images of aggression as that is unnecessarily disturbing to your praying. Invite Christ to be with you and let Christ enter deeply into your fears. This is no instant panacea, but a life-time’s faithfulness to peace-making and reconciliation.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
posted by Martin at 10:31 am
1 Comments:
I found the film of the moments leading up to the execution profoundly disturbing. I have difficulty feeling anything other than that this was wrong, wrong - a terror, almost, of the judicial process which led to this.
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