Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, be gracious to me and answer me.
Psalms 27:7
(barbed wire fence / Julie Cook / 2014)
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
(a delightful little bowl of color on a bleak January day / Julie Cook / 2014)
It grows ever apparent that faith, the beliefs held by those who strive to live the Word of God and profess the victory of the Resurrection, continues to swirl in the murky waters of political correctness, appeasement, self righteous indignation, ridicule by both big media and the entertainment industry, as well as from the sense of many that it is all quite passé and irrelevant in this age of glamor, glitz, high tech, new fangled, ego filled, self indulgence, and the endless pursuit of self fulfillment.
Covenants and laws proclaimed long ago and most far away seem to have little if any bearing on the living large lives which now seem to be the current trend of the world. The endless consumption of placating food, drink, sex and drug all in the name of “If I want to, I certainly can” continues leading to a path of self destruction which is sadly unrecognizable by the masses. The vortex of self gratification relishes sucking in soul after soul with little if any realization that this is not a positive situation.
Governments vie for control of global markets, as world leaders continue to demonstrate personal bad behavior, claiming that what is done in private, is no one’s business, all as they roll toward the quest of becoming demigods. Terrorism, that overt selfish fanaticism of an alarming growing number of depraved individuals, continues to hold the world at large hostage. The freedom to worship a monotheistic God, which is not so free, no longer is a priority as the smaller gods of technology, entertainment, self, and money all jockey for control.
All of this while the keepers of the Faith are lulled into acceptance. “Don’t rock the boat” the lies are slickly whispered by the insidious ancient foe, “you might as well get on board because it is simply now the way of the world”—“be quiet, don’t say anything because the backlash is tremendous” —“it’s all too old fashioned you know, those antiquated beliefs or yours”. . .”you, with that Faith of yours, are all wrong for having those beliefs of yours, in fact you are no longer entitled to your beliefs because they run counter to the way of this country, this world, this new age. . .
Sounds all rather bleak and Orwellian does it not? Sounds as if you would prefer not to think about it, to turn away, to pretend it doesn’t exist. Why should you bother, just ignore it and hope it will go away, just leave me alone, you say, in my ever shrinking world–
Ok.
That is your choice, your prerogative. But the world, with its current ways, is not going away. It will continue telling you that you are wrong and it is right. Masses will rise up against you. You will be mocked and ridiculed until you decide to be quiet.
Don’t argue.
Don’t disagree.
Maybe it’s ok, you wish upon yourself. Maybe they are right you reassuringly question.
It’s just all too grey, not well defined. As long as people are happy then it’s all ok is it not?
Is it?
Hear the words of Martin Niemöller spoken in a different time and place:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest”
Mahatma Gandhi
(Photograph: crow sitting on light post / Chicago, Illinois / Julie Cook / 2013)
As a retired educator and a lover of history I have always been attuned to life in the Middle East. It is the birth place of the world’s 3 major religions—none of which have tolerated one another very well. It has always been a part of my life’s current events. From Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Menacham Begin, Anwar Sadat, King Hussein, Queen Noor, peace accords, 6 days wars, kibbutz, walls, settlements, Christian, Muslim, Jew–it seems that for my entire life, whether I choose it or not, the middle east has chosen me.
As a Christian I understand the importance of this area as it holds so many secrets. I am drawn to an innate desire of wanting to go one day—walking in all those many footsteps. There is the Monastery of St. Catherine’s in the southern Sinai that sits on my bucket list. Once reached only across dangerous desert by camel, now reached by vehicle with armed guard. It contains some of the world’s holiest, oldest and rarest of books as well as some of the oldest and most holy Icons.
Instability has been the calling card of this region since the beginning of time. Bloodshed and death are common occurrences. Hate, war, speculation, secrets, resentment are daily parts of life. Fragility is the flip side—nothing is ever concrete or set in stone as this is a region in a constant state of flux—always shifting as with the sands of the area’s dry deserts.
I have a heightened sense of concern over the latest violence in Egypt. 600 plus killed. And the latest on tonight’s national news…churches being sacked, desecrated, burned, pillaged—I might as well have been reading an ancient history book as this could have been a story 1000 years ago. One muslim woman was quoted as saying that she was afraid for her Christian friends. An Egyptian man tearfully bemoaned that countrymen are killing fellow countrymen. Nuns are fleeing from mobs of marauding hooligans set on violence and destruction. Holy places are being destroyed, ancient art vanishes forever in an instant. Lives are taken…humans doing terrible things to other humans…..
And the world remains quiet and watches…..
Those of us who are believers in God are taxed with speaking out, we are taxed with raising our voices—whether we are Christian, Jew or Muslim–as our God says a resounding “NO” to such behavior. Must I be reminded that my God is still the God of the Jew and the Muslim? I think we forget that He loves “them” as much as He loves us. The Nicene Creed, the creed of my faith states that “We [I] believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen….”
I believe in the One True God. “The Father, the Almighty”. “Maker of both heaven and earth” and that means all that is of this earth–I can’t pick and choose. “Of all that is”…”all that is seen and unseen”—meaning things I understand and can see and those things I cannot understand and cannot see—that there are things greater than myself, I am the created, He, He alone is the Creator…… and yet I think it is ok to remain silent, to watch—that is there and I am here—but the irony is that I am there as well–for where there is strife and turmoil with a fellow man [woman] I am in that strife and turmoil as well.
A powerful quote by an assuming, soft spoken man whom I greatly admire and have written about many times, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, seems prophetically fitting in this most dire of times…
“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
As a Christian, knowing that there are other Christians in harm’s way makes me culpable— Innocents who have “no dog in this fight” are the scapegoats by being in the wrong place at the wrong time—which is not made right by a people simply mad at the Government and the politics of the day. And I do nothing because that is there and I am here.
Will we sit ideally by while the Churches burn and the priests are imprisoned and murdered–while the nuns run for their lives? I suppose we can..because that is there and I [we] are here—what does there have to do with us here you ask?
Everything my friend, everything.
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