Tuesday 21 April 2009

MLK ties fear close to our warring madness.

But does love have a relationship to our modern fear of war, economic displacement, and racial injustice? Hat is rooted in fear, and the only cure for fear-hate is love. Our deteriorating international situation is shot through with the lethal darts of fear. Russia fears America, and America fears Russia. Likewise China fears India, and the Israelis and the Arabs. These fears include another nation's aggression, scientific and technological supremacy, and economic power, and our own loss of status and power. Is not fear one of the major causes of war? We say that war is a consequence of hate, but close scrutiny reveals this sequence: first fear, then hate, then war, and finally deeper hatred. Were a nightmarish nuclear war to engulf our world, the cause would be not so much that one nations hated another, but that both nations feared the other.

In one of the newspapers on Sunday there was a picture of President Obama with some of the leaders of the Conference of the Americas. The President was gesturing and speaking across several people to President Hugo Chavez. Some folks will be very upset with this kind of engagement. For many, Chavez has been demonized as he has demonized President Bush. In the meantime, fear grows into hate and hate continues the spiral of separation which gives both sides the argument to be ready for military conflict. Threat upon threat. Why is it that it is so easy to fear dialogue between countries that may have differences. Remember, love is not a sweet relationship. It is a tough-minded respect that honors the other in order that the two parties might bridge differences and really heal the separations that we let push us away from one another. Rather than live in a world what looks at who we can blame for the conditions of the world, it would be so much more creative to engage one another with a sense of respect that seeks to envision relationships that are not shaped by fear.

Connection: When we are being led by fear and anxiety, it would be good to talk to someone who can help us see the creative gifts we have to overcome the temptation to react in warring way toward those we fear.

Again and again, O God, you remind us to trust in your alone. You tell us to "fear not" and you remind us that you will be with us through all that makes up the valley of death. We long for you Spirit of Life to sustain us and turn our heads toward the Reign of love that is your domain. Amen.