WAR: WHAT A HUMAN FAILURE!

 

After the collapse of the Soviet Empire in the early  nineties a naïve conviction  was circulated that humanity had entered a new era where we would no longer have war. How naïve!

 

In our recent history we have surpassed the sixth hundred days since Russia invaded the Ukraine. The past month has seen unbelievable bloodshed  in Israel and the Gaza strip. 

 

War has exploded on the human scene!

 

Many people have a faint memory of the label from their history books, “the hundred year’s war.” That period of fighting between the French and the English kept flaring up and dying down over a period of one hundred years. Well, no matter what the outcome of the struggles in Israel and Gaza today, there will be a flare up in another twenty years. We are living in the time of our own hundred years war. 

 

War is the ultimate in human failure. We send out our young men to kill each other. We hurl countless bombs to destroy countless homes, factories, bridges and roadways. The news report of the damage done just to the physical buildings  is beyond belief. 

 

Who will answer for all the carnage that has been done to civilians? to working people? To the people at an outdoor concert who have been killed?

 

What about all the children who have been killed in the bombings? Who answers for their lives? 

 

Humans may have fought , injured and killed each other since we were living in caves. Even if we have this constant history of warfare, no one should ever be excused by saying, ‘it has always been that way!’

 

We may have grown up with the bully on the playground. Now, we have countries and corporations that are bullies to the less powerful. We have one group of people trying to take over another’s country.  The bully just comes in a much larger size these days!

 

No matter how someone tries to explain it or frame it, war is always human failure. 

 

The power and energy of my Christian faith is that we are meant to be a people of peace and justice. One of the powerful images that arises from our Sacred Book is “and they will beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks.”  There will be  a time when we will put down our weapons and transpose them into tools to grow food. We will care for our fellow human being rather than wield destruction on them!

 

When we pray “and free us from all distress” this Sunday I will be painfully asking our God for strength to believe we humans can make peace and end all war. This distress is the painful  feelings that attacks the walls of my heart. I ,along with countless others in this world, feel the pain and disappointment that these wars have caused.

 

Standing amidst the human failure of war, I want to pray and work for peace, justice and harmony among all humanity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECOVERING LAMENT IN OUR SPIRITUALITY

 

 

Most of us were raised with a much too polite approach to God. We were also raised with some questionable feelings about being angry. We feel guilt when we explode with anger inside ourselves, but if we could step back a moment, we might find that on this particular issue we should be very angry. 

 

When we examine the long story of walking with the living God we recognize that there were many explosions of anger towards God. The prophets were never docile house cats. One of the clearest is the lament of the prophet Jeremiah 20,7-32. Poor Jeremiah is so angry, hurt, confused and frustrated that he just lashes out his anger toward God. 

 

These were real people who struggled with the mission God gave them. They cried out in pain, confusion and anger.

 

Bring your anger towards God that Putin and his government invaded the country of the Ukraine and wants to take over their land. Bring your anger towards very bullet and bomb that has been dropped in Israel and the Gaza strip in the last seven weeks. Hold your anger to God and your fellow human being over every child that has been killed in these skirmishes. How could human beings deliberately destroy each other, the houses of ordinary people and mine the enemy’s farm land? 

 

Lament toward God what human beings have done to the earth. We allowed our large corporations to dump toxic wastes into the soil and the water system. We cut down the forests of the Amazon and leave land unproductive where once there were strong trees serving as the lungs of the planet. Human beings are heating up the atmosphere of the earth and are very slow to move toward sustainable living. 

 

And then there is the tragedy of the fentynal / opiod crisis in our country. Every day there are at least six adults dying of an overdose. These, mostly men, are dying in the prime of life; a most senseless death. Most of these victims are caught in drug addiction. No one is forcing them to take drugs. But every death and overdose is a tragedy. What a loss to see any human being die such a senseless death in the prime of life.

 

Do not be surprised that your voice might become loud and very firm when you express your suffering to God about what is happening in the world and within your own community. Your prayer might be very emotional, but it will be truthful!

 

We call this the prayer of lament. Life is not going well, evil seems to have the upper hand and we are good and angry. Today, we lay our anger and pain before God.  Our prayer may be naked and raw. But is honest!

 

This is a healthy spirituality. Our sufferings also become our prayer.

 

 

STRUGGLE AND HEALTHY FAITH

 

 

From our first breath when we emerged from our mother’s womb, life can be described as a struggle. There is a moment when the mother and mid-wife listen for that first cry. From then on there are so many struggles to live and thrive.

 

There are so many things we need to learn as we move toward adulthood. We learn not to hit our little brother, how to cross the street and how to chew with our mouth closed. And then we are challenged through the teen years to make new friends, to be a competent and reliable worker and to find meaning and purpose in the ups and downs of living.

 

In old age there is a tremendous struggle  when we begin to lose more and more of our significant relationships. The older we become the more we lose. How do you find meaning and purpose in the last fifteen years of life? 

 

If we do not meet these challenges we will fall back and in some cases we will fade into obscurity. Most often a premature death.

 

Here is where so many people who were born into the church has a warped sense of faith. They think that God is some fairy princess who will just wave the magic wand and all will work out for us. How immature and how distorted!

 

Begin your understanding of the life of faith with Moses. God breaks into the life of this farmer (without economic and political power) and sends him to pharaoh (with all the power and the money)  to demand that he set the Hebrew slaves free. Remember the Hebrew slaves were of serious economic value to the economy of Egypt. No ruler would ever be so naïve as to let these slaves (very valuable property) go!

 

What struggle there must have been in the heart of Moses. He, just a little insignificant guy, is being sent to challenge the all-powerful pharaoh!

 

Our faith arises out of   deep struggles. God leads. We are challenged to trust that God accompanies us every step of the way.

 

Consider Jesus who struggled to be faithful to the Father in the last hours before he brutal murder on the cross. He asked God to take this ‘cup’ (of suffering) away from him. Through prayer he learned to accept the brutal ending that was to befall him. 

 

Jesus struggled! And right to the last breath!

 

We struggle right now over the wars raging in the Ukraine, Israel/Gaza and the Sudan. War is always caused by human agents. Plead with God to move the hearts and politics of the agents of war. 

 

Your nephew is into the drugs. You are anxiously afraid that he will hit a bad batch and suffer an overdose. You pray for his safety each day.

 

God has called you to walk and trust him. God will give you strength to work through some of the most difficult moments in human life. 

 

Now, bring to God and to people with whom you can share your faith journey the many struggles you have encountered. 

 

How many days do you feel just like Moses? 

 

Rely on is the love and power of God! Never give up!

 

 

 

 

WE DO NOT JUST DISAPPEAR

 

 

Every human being is confronted with the question: why am I here?

 

In a society where more and more people identify as ‘no religion” it is very helpful to reflect on what our religious truth brings us. The humorous point is made that when an atheist dies “he is all dressed up but now where to go!”

 

The first bold and strong truth that our Christian religion gives us is that every human being is here for a purpose. There is no such thing as a useless human being. We are all part of a much larger divine plan. You count!

 

We reject the observation: “You live and then you die.” What they are saying , “tough, you have only got so many days and that’s it!”

 

We are created with purpose and with destiny. We are not a one-time creature but we are made up of the people who love us and we love them. Part of every human being is their relationships and the joy and purpose every relationship brings. You are part of the life of many others. 

 

And when you die, these relationships do not disappear. The living continue to love and remember the departed. The departed continue to love us (we know this in our memory). Life and relationships all have purpose. They continue even after death. How many of us have said: “Oh, how I wish my mother would be here to see the kids sing?” How many spouses long for their mate, even after many years have passed since they died? 

 

The Christian truth has made it clear from the beginning that reality consists of the living (on earth) and the departed (in heaven). We leave this physical earth in death but we are destined for a glorified life in heaven. We have a serviceable name for this. We call this the “communion of saints.” We are still connected to the departed and they to us. 

 

Physical death does not negate the meaning and purpose of our life. Our life is destined to blossom and be glorified in eternity. 

 

This is why it is so good to remember our departed and pray for them. We are connected. But we should also encourage people to ask the departed to pray for us. We ask the official saints to pray for us. We should ask our prayerful grandmother to pray for us as we are struggling to make the monthly manage payments or navigate through the grocery store prices. In eternity she is in a position to intercede to God to help us in our struggles.

 

The belief in the communion of saints is not some nice ‘add-on’ but simply the extension of our belief that life has meaning and purpose from the creative hand of God. 

 

This November, remember and cherish your departed loved ones, whether they be family, co-workers, the people you went ot high school with some decades ago or just some of the wonderful people that you have worked with over the years. We are connected; we belong together and every human life has meaning ( alive or departed).