Leaves G’day friends,

Just thought I offer a few thoughts. Whether or not the timing and international approval of this war was right, some things are worse than war. For one, unimpeded and massive atrocities are worse than war. It’s true that one can never know for sure whether war will bring an end to the worse thing. One only feels compelled: I must try. It is as though you come upon a gang molesting an elderly woman. You have no idea whether intervention will save her or just double the casualties. All you know is: this cannot be left unopposed. I must try.

Were the containment of Hitler and Stalin worth the massive loss of lives in WW2? What world would exist today if there had been no resistance? God alone knows the answer to that. But that is not how we make decisions. Leaders do not know what will be. They only know what is and should not be. How great must the danger be? How great the evil? At what point is the risk of war worth it? Our leaders have answered. God will decide if they were right.

Today, O Father, I hold before you the rulers of the nations – kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers, dictators – all who are in positions of supreme leadership. I can be quick to criticise: help me, Lord, first to enter their dilemma. On most issues of state I have the luxury of withholding judgment, of not committing myself, of sitting on the fence. Even when I have an opinion, it has little influence and seldom any consequence. Not so with the rulers of the nations. To the extent that they really lead, they must make decisions, even if they are poor ones. Help these leaders, O Father, in the loneliness of their decisions. Put wise counsellors around them. Take, I pray, the bits and pieces of virtue that are in each ruler and cause them to grow and mature. And take all destructive motives and cause them to vanish like smoke in the wind. Lord, I know that many – perhaps most – rulers do not know you, nor do they seek you. But you seek them! Help them see how good right decisions are. And where decisions must be made that are not in their own interest, deepen their sense of duty. Having seen the light, give them the courage to walk in the light. Amen.

Jason Goroncy

[The first bit I adapted from John Piper and the prayer I adapted from Richard Foster].

*Genuine acceptance removes fear and hiding and creates freedom to know and be known. In this freedom arises a fellowship and sharing so honest and open and real that persons involved dwell in one another. There is union without loss of individual identity. When one weeps, the other tastes salt. It is only in the Triune relationship of Father, Son and Spirit that personal relationship of this order exists. The good news is that we have been included in this relationship and it is to be played out fully in each of us and in all creation. This is the great dance!