Friday 1 August 2008

The images in today's devotion from Thomas Merton come from the 1960's...but let them be heard in the context of war and fear that is around us today.

For only love -which means humility- can exorcise the fear which is at the root of all war.
What is the use of postmarking our mail with exhortations to "pray for peace" and then spending billions of dollars on atomic submarines, thermonuclear weapons, and ballistic missiles? This, I would think would certainly be what the New Testament calls "mocking God" - and mocking God far more effectively than the atheists do. The culminating horror of the joke is that we are piling up these weapons to protect ourselves against atheists who, quite frankly, believe there is no God and are convinced that one has to rely on bombs and missiles since nothing else offers any real security. Is it then because we have so much trust in the power of God that we are intent upon utterly destroying these people before they can destroy us? Even at the risk of destroying ourselves at the same time?

I found this to be an indicting piece. We wage a cold war against atheists and we are the ones who act as we would expect them to act. Even worse, we depend on weapons of war to calm our fear just was we would pray to our God to do the same. Does that mean, as I think, that we are worshippers of gods other than the God of the Scriptures. Let's carry that into today. We stage a war against them. We label them Islamist extremist and make sure the their ways and their actions are the worst of the worst. And yet, when we look at who we choose to become in their presence, we are not a people faithful to the God of our ancestors. Yes, we bow down to the gods of might and wealth and temporary security and yes, they try to fool us into following their ways. When this takes place, we are not able to let ourselves see "those" others/enemies as God's children. What is worse than that, we do not see ourselves as God's children because we are unwilling to act as though we are living within the power of the Reign of God that is this strange and eternal love.

Connection: It is always good to find the gods of our lives wandering through this day. They show up everywhere but we are so used to them being friends and companions with us that we do not see them for what they are...the gods that would control us and own us.

Come, Lord God, and open our eyes to the way of your Reign. Open our eyes that we may see the many gods that demand our attention and allegiance so that we may be aware of the powers that play with us and use us in ways counter to your merciful Reign. Amen.