One of the best of ancient practices that we are recovering in the Christian community is Testimony. Again this Sunday we had fresh examples of Testimony’s relevance and power. Members of our church stood up to speak about their faith. This was not easy for any of them.
We have examples in our communal faith story of scripture of how even leaders such as Moses said, “Find someone else to speak. It’s not my talent.” But despite his fears, he got on his feet, opened his mouth and voila, an improbable Exodus from slavery.
Faith is not just about feeling peaceful and at ease. That is part of the faith journey, but not all of it.
For everything there is a season, a time to sit quietly and a time to speak, a time to take in and a time to give out, a time to sit in the back row and a time to take your turn on your feet.
When individuals like Val and Jeremy, Mary and Norma, Pauline and Theresa tell us what music and faith means to them, the whole community is swept up and carried along. Thanks to the fantastic five for your efforts!
…and to all our musicians this morning. Go onto the website for the full effect !
Peter
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Christians - Part of the Israel/Palestine Solution ????
I have been showing my pictures from Palestine and Israel this past week and so the people and the places I visited have been in my thoughts and heart.
Tom Gettman was one of the people I met in Bethlehem and he told the story of the 8-year-old daughter of a Ramallah-based Mercy Corps staff person who wondered about the huge barrier separating Israel and Palestine.
When riding with her mother from Jerusalem along the snaking barrier wall and then passing through the onerous Callandia checkpoint “border post”, she asked,
“Mommy, why do Jews have to live behind that wall?”
The sad thing about walls is that they don’t just shut out the “other” but they also close us off from commnicaiton and relationship.
And of course the Jewish community does not have to live behind a wall. But it will take courage and persistent commitment to find another way, a way to peace with justice in Israel and Palestine.
Christians have historically been part of the problem. Could they also be part of a non-violent solution? The Kairos Palestine document which United Church folks are now studying tells us this is possible, that there are ways to show our support for brothers and sisters suffering in Palestine. If you would like to know more about this document, try the internet or our website can point you in the right direction.
Peter
Tom Gettman was one of the people I met in Bethlehem and he told the story of the 8-year-old daughter of a Ramallah-based Mercy Corps staff person who wondered about the huge barrier separating Israel and Palestine.
When riding with her mother from Jerusalem along the snaking barrier wall and then passing through the onerous Callandia checkpoint “border post”, she asked,
“Mommy, why do Jews have to live behind that wall?”
The sad thing about walls is that they don’t just shut out the “other” but they also close us off from commnicaiton and relationship.
And of course the Jewish community does not have to live behind a wall. But it will take courage and persistent commitment to find another way, a way to peace with justice in Israel and Palestine.
Christians have historically been part of the problem. Could they also be part of a non-violent solution? The Kairos Palestine document which United Church folks are now studying tells us this is possible, that there are ways to show our support for brothers and sisters suffering in Palestine. If you would like to know more about this document, try the internet or our website can point you in the right direction.
Peter
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Poets and Playwrights as Politicians
Vaclav Havel died last month at the age of 75. He will be remembered as the poet and playwright who led the non-violent revolution in the former Czechoslovakia, then went on to become the country’s first president.
Havel enjoyed greater support abroad than in his home country as he took positions that were critical of his own country. He spoke out against the expulsion of the indigenous Sudeten German population after World War II. One of his first actions as a president was to offer an amnesty for those imprisoned by the former regime because they may have been communists. At his death he was a member of the Czech Green Party.
Havel once wrote,
“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
I don’t suppose a poet and playwright would have much of a chance in our political system. Too bad.
Peter
Havel enjoyed greater support abroad than in his home country as he took positions that were critical of his own country. He spoke out against the expulsion of the indigenous Sudeten German population after World War II. One of his first actions as a president was to offer an amnesty for those imprisoned by the former regime because they may have been communists. At his death he was a member of the Czech Green Party.
Havel once wrote,
“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
I don’t suppose a poet and playwright would have much of a chance in our political system. Too bad.
Peter
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