Tuesday 25 March 2008

Again we are drawn by Gandhi into the reality of non-violence being a part of our most private and public faces. .



For me non-violence is a creed. I must act up to it whether I am alone or have companions. Since propaganda of non-violence is the mission of my life, I must pursue it in all weathers.



A creed is a "this is who I am" statement. Most often we think of creeds like the ones we recite in worship. The creed is spoken among us so that we will know where we stand as a community and those who enter the community will have an abbreviated look at who we are. A personal creed demands action. It is not only held within us. It is not only spoken. It is the skeleton of who we are within the actions of the day. We "act up to it" for it is the foundation from which the other actions of our lives will emerge. If non-violence is a creed for us, then we and others can look at the vision of non-violence and look back at our lives and take a good look at how they fit together or are quite different from one another. I find that the creeds we use in worship are often "out of step" with the language and the images of all the "ordinary" folk who come to worship. It is hard to "act up to" the ancient creeds of the Church if they cannot be readily translated for today or are so covered over with ancient battles that we don't understand how it is to make sense today. When Gandhi says the non-violence is a creed for him, it is a foundation from which we are able to discern our steps within this day but also a place to which we can turn to understand how non-violence was a part of the past.



Connection: So, if you had to come up with a creed for yourself...and then for a community, what would it sound like. Better yet, what would it look like alive among us?



Too often, O Lord of Life, we shuffle so much of the time in our lives that we are not able to state what is our foundation...our guiding light...the root that keeps us grounded. We continue to pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to reflect and pause and be refreshed by your promise to be the beginning of the new life available to us today. Amen.