it's 911 time again everybody
For some it's time to replay ad nauseum the horror of five years ago, to capitalize on it and to abuse the memories of the dead for worn and criminal purposes. For some it's time to grieve, to mourn the loss of family and friends. For some it's a time of celebration. For me it's time to ask if the lessons of history are being learned; and how are they being applied, by myself, by my comrades in the peace movement, by the world at large?
Yesterday the homily at my church touched on the memory of this day, and though I couldn't disagree with my bishop that this is a time to mourn and to feel the loss of American life, and to remember that tragedies can happen, it's still not mentioned even in some of the most progressive of churches that it is our duty, our obligation as Christians to forgive and to love. I shouldn't say it's our obligation, rather it is our challenge--not just to forgive them but to seek to understand their reasons and their actions and to struggle to love these people despite those same reasons and actions.
As the Lord said, it's easy to forgive your friends and your loved ones, that's expected of you, even the Romans can do that, no our challenge is to love and to forgive those who we would label as evil doers, the people who would try and injure or kill us, the people who we want to injure and kill.
When I was a self identified "revolutionary socialist" in my teen years I would have bent logic to defend the actions of people like Che Guevara or V.I. Lenin because I personally believed not just the party line but I was convicted in myself of the moral rightness of the violent insurrection as a revolutionary tactic.
Now years and events have passed which have taken my convictons and my views on revolution further along this path of my life. My revolution evolved from one imposed upon the outside world through violent action, towards the nonviolent revolution which begins within oneself and spreads outwards, the revolution that Tolstoy, Ghandi, Ammon Hennacy, Dorothy Day, and Fr. John Dear write about.
For me to get to this point of personal insurection, I had first to encounter Christ and the revolutionary writings of the Gospel. Then I had to have a falling out with my faith, and then I had to come back to it some years later in a different spirit, a spirit of deeper understanding, a spirit of acceptance of myself that allowed me to discover--contrary to the conventional wisdom of our times--it is not only possible to be a radical Christian, but that if you are faithfully pracitcing the teachings of Christ and are trying to live in a spirit of true discipleship then you don't even need to attach the "radical" suffix to your theology.
Which in a round about sort of way gets me back to September 11th day and what I started writing about earlier. Christ said two thousand years ago that we as his friends and disciples are to forgive, unconditionally, everyone especially the people who would try and harm us, or to harm others in our names. We are not called to faith in the false gospels of military power, capitalism, and the benevolent despotism or cultural imperialism which have formed the cornerstones of foreign policy in the twentieth century. We are not called to faith in the false prophets of Machiavelli, Pat Robertson, or George Bush and his gang. We are certainly not called to worship in the temples of money and influence, nor are we called to restrict our love to one day a week in a prescribed building at a certain convienient hour.
We are called to bring peace and that peace is from God. It is a grace and it is birthed within us and takes it's form in our day to day lives. the peace which passes all understanding is the peace which is extended to the one who strikes us repeatedly even as they reach to strike us again. The peace which Christ taught is revolutionary, perhaps the only truly revolutionary thing in the world. The Romans and the Jewish temple authorities tried to kill it along with him but he went to his death praying for the forgiveness of the very people who murdered him.
We are called to do that.
Yesterday the homily at my church touched on the memory of this day, and though I couldn't disagree with my bishop that this is a time to mourn and to feel the loss of American life, and to remember that tragedies can happen, it's still not mentioned even in some of the most progressive of churches that it is our duty, our obligation as Christians to forgive and to love. I shouldn't say it's our obligation, rather it is our challenge--not just to forgive them but to seek to understand their reasons and their actions and to struggle to love these people despite those same reasons and actions.
As the Lord said, it's easy to forgive your friends and your loved ones, that's expected of you, even the Romans can do that, no our challenge is to love and to forgive those who we would label as evil doers, the people who would try and injure or kill us, the people who we want to injure and kill.
When I was a self identified "revolutionary socialist" in my teen years I would have bent logic to defend the actions of people like Che Guevara or V.I. Lenin because I personally believed not just the party line but I was convicted in myself of the moral rightness of the violent insurrection as a revolutionary tactic.
Now years and events have passed which have taken my convictons and my views on revolution further along this path of my life. My revolution evolved from one imposed upon the outside world through violent action, towards the nonviolent revolution which begins within oneself and spreads outwards, the revolution that Tolstoy, Ghandi, Ammon Hennacy, Dorothy Day, and Fr. John Dear write about.
For me to get to this point of personal insurection, I had first to encounter Christ and the revolutionary writings of the Gospel. Then I had to have a falling out with my faith, and then I had to come back to it some years later in a different spirit, a spirit of deeper understanding, a spirit of acceptance of myself that allowed me to discover--contrary to the conventional wisdom of our times--it is not only possible to be a radical Christian, but that if you are faithfully pracitcing the teachings of Christ and are trying to live in a spirit of true discipleship then you don't even need to attach the "radical" suffix to your theology.
Which in a round about sort of way gets me back to September 11th day and what I started writing about earlier. Christ said two thousand years ago that we as his friends and disciples are to forgive, unconditionally, everyone especially the people who would try and harm us, or to harm others in our names. We are not called to faith in the false gospels of military power, capitalism, and the benevolent despotism or cultural imperialism which have formed the cornerstones of foreign policy in the twentieth century. We are not called to faith in the false prophets of Machiavelli, Pat Robertson, or George Bush and his gang. We are certainly not called to worship in the temples of money and influence, nor are we called to restrict our love to one day a week in a prescribed building at a certain convienient hour.
We are called to bring peace and that peace is from God. It is a grace and it is birthed within us and takes it's form in our day to day lives. the peace which passes all understanding is the peace which is extended to the one who strikes us repeatedly even as they reach to strike us again. The peace which Christ taught is revolutionary, perhaps the only truly revolutionary thing in the world. The Romans and the Jewish temple authorities tried to kill it along with him but he went to his death praying for the forgiveness of the very people who murdered him.
We are called to do that.
posted by Chris Rooney | 12:14 AM
1 Comments:
And all God's people said, "Amen".
I find it encouraging that many Christians are begining to return to the non-violence of the early Church, or are at least paying new attention to the "revolutionary" aspects of the Gospel: mercy, justice for the poor and oppressed, and witnessing aginst oppressive states and regiemes.
Peace,
Rob
Post a Comment
<< Home