Taking a Hard LookLent is a time to
take a hard look at ourselves and our world. Many people turn away
from viewing the world as it is, and live in a fantasy world. For
Christians, Jesus on the cross means we need to look at the
suffering of the world, and we need to look again at ourselves as
involved in that suffering world.
We have to ask, "If people are so wonderful, then why is there so
much suffering? And why is genocide possible not just in one
country, but in nation after nation, in so many parts of the world?
Why do wars happen, when they do not need to happen? How do we make
sense of the suffering in the world?" Those questions have to be
asked in order to keep us honest, and to keep us human.
As the great author Bertolt Brecht said, "There are so many ways
to kill." One can thrust a knife, or simply let someone starve. You
can withhold medication, or work someone to death, or drive them to
suicide. There are so many ways to destroy life. Children can be
robbed of their childhood simply by forbidding them to move about
and make noise. Systems of education can destroy children by killing
the joy of learning. Housing and cities can be built so that though
people live close together, they have the fewest possible
relationships with each other. "There are so many ways to kill." (Dorothee
Soelle, Death by Bread Alone, pp. 6-7)
Because of Jesus and the cross, Christians are compelled to take
a hard look at life. To examine ourselves, and to examine the world.
Those who suffer need to know that they are not alone. And we need
to remind ourselves, that we must find practical ways to stand up
against suffering. We have to take sides, for or against the causes
of suffering and torture.
And when we are overwhelmed, and when we have failed, or, like
Peter, when we have run away, then we see Easter for what it is.
Easter is the unmerited grace of God, given to an intransigent and
unrepentant world. The love of God showing all the failed disciples
the new life that only God can make possible. Only God.
Yours in Easter hope,
Andrew McDonald
Senior Pastor
