This summer there were a number of commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square tragedy. There may have been 100,000 peacefully protesting when the military crackdown occurred. Who knows how many died. Official reports say it was 200-300. Chinese Student Associations put the number at 2,000 to 3,000. Dozens remain in prison.
I only recently read about a group of Chinese Christians that gathered on June 4 to remember the event. Many of these had been student leaders in the pro-democracy movement. The group released a statement calling for repentance, truth and reconciliation. These eighty Christians said the events had not only rocked our souls, they had also awakened our sense of social justice. A search for meaning led these leaders to Christian faith.
As the Chinese economic miracle thunders ahead, let us remember those who struggle for basic human rights. They have seen no such leap ahead. But after what they have been through, it is unlikely they will be dissuaded.
Peter
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Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Rachel - A Mother In Need
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival owns the title of the world’s largest Jewish film festival. This year it stirred up some folks by including in its list of films, Rachel. Rachel Corrie was a young American who was run over and killed by a bulldozer as she tried to block the path of the machine intent on tearing down a Palestinian home in Gaza.
The Israeli consul-general objected to the film and said that the Festival’s invitation to Rachel’s mother to speak, “becomes a kind of emotional grandstanding rather than the pursuit of a deeper insight.”
This morning’s scripture tells the story of a gentile woman crying out to Jesus on behalf of her daughter. How could a mother not bring emotion to the story of her daughter’s illness or in the case of Rachel, her death? And is emotion not a legitimate means of uncovering the truth?
Rachel will be on my list of films to watch for this year. Then I can judge for myself whose voice offers the deepest insight.
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