A Sermon preached in the church with Melbourne’s largest non-Catholic
East Timorese community, (St. Matthias, Richmond), 12 September 1999.

Text: Psalm 11; Romans 8:28-39.

It has happened again, but now right on our (Australian) doorstep. The
worst tragedy in our region since the second World War. During this past
week we have felt rage and pity and helplessness, maybe guilt, as the
Indonesian militias, together with the army and police, waged war on a
defenceless people who made the mistake of voting to be free, without
the protection of United Nations forces.

(I found out yesterday that documents leaked weeks ago from Jakarta, and
submitted to Australian and U.N. authorities, detailed a scorched earth
policy to destroy East Timor’s infrastructure if the vote went against
Indonesia. The Timorese community was labeled paranoid for taking it all
seriously).

How are we to make sense of this tragedy?

I woke in the night last night feeling something else – fear. Fear for
the thugs who will face the judgment of God…

Ultimately we may never make sense of it. We will live with the rage of
this gross injustice for a long time. We inhabit a fallen world: humans
are sinful. When they misuse their power they can become evil monsters.
When people are trained for war they are taught to regard the ‘enemy’ as
less-than-human.

(And in our grief and rage, let us remember the other East Timors in our
world where people have been dying in large numbers – Southern Sudan,
Angola, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Rwanda, various West African countries.
And let us not forget other Indonesian provinces (Ambon, Aceh, Irian
Jaya, West Timor) – and Kosovo, Burma, Colombia, the southern republics
of the old Soviet Union, the Amazon Basin, Tibet, North Korea – the list
goes on and on. The world is a good place for Westerners and the rich,
terrible for many others.)

A psalmist wrote a song in a time of social dislocation, probably war.
His question: when things are falling apart, what are we to do? Run to
the hills? (Sometimes – as in East Timor this past week – that may be
the safest option). But those who can stay and fight for justice, must
do that.

And he reminds himself that the Lord his God is still reigning, despite
appearances to the contrary. He affirms three things about God:

1. THE LORD IS TRUSTWORTHY – SO WE CAN GO ON BELIEVING IN HIM! (Psalm
11:1-3)

God is the same yesterday today and forever. Look around, and you will
experience fear. Look up, and faith will carry you through.

Human events are transitory, viewed from the long perspective. The most
radical thing you can do when things are very bad is to pray, says
Jacques Ellul. We mix works and prayer with faith, and work for change.

As the old mystic put it, if you have God and everything else, you have
no more than having God only. (And if you have everything else and not
God you have nothing). God is working his purpose out as year succeeds
to year… and the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the
waters cover the sea.

2. THE LORD IS HOLY – SO WE TOO MUST MAKE A STAND AGAINST LAWLESSNESS
(11:4-6).

Where is God in all this? A good, and a hard question. The psalmist
gives the only two answers biblical people can affirm: God is with us,
here, suffering with us. And God is in heaven. God inhabits the temple
and is on the throne.

Holiness means God is with us but also separate from us. Someone or
something that is holy has been ordained, separated, for a special
purpose.

And do not forget, writes the psalmist, that God is judge of the
righteous and also of those who love violence. In the long run we do
not escape the consequences of our deeds.

Finally, 3. THE LORD IS RIGHTEOUS: SO WE MUST KEEP ON DOING GOOD DEEDS
(11:7).

In all our pain and suffering, let us determine to live right. To be
righteous is to obey the law of God, summed up ultimately in the command
to love God and others – yes, including our enemies.

But to be righteous is to be committed to social justice: this is a
dominant theme right through the Bible. All that’s necessary for evil to
triumph is that good people do nothing. So we agreed to boycott
Indonesian products, but also to extend friendship to local Indonesian
families. This week we are praying and fasting for East Timor. We were
encouraged to take food to those sleeping out in 24-hour vigils, to
attend the rallies, hand out leaflets.

What can one person do? Mother Teresa’s answer: help one person at a
time. Martin Luther: make a stand, and leave the consequences with God.
Solzhenitsyn: choose prison or exile to obeying an evil regime.

I visited Romania while Ceasescu was still in power. It one of the most
evil regimes in modern history. A gravedigger told me he buried an
unnamed person brought by the secret police on average once a day. And
his was one of a dozen graveyards in greater Bucharest! A Baptist church
in Bucharest finally got permission to extend their building (after
fourteen years of weekly visits to the bureaucrats by the pastor)
because the relevant file could not contain any more letters from
Christians in Germany and Holland and other places!

Your letter/email/fax counts: send it!

The Lord has told us what is good: to do what is just, to show constant
love, and to walk in humble fellowship with our God (Micah 6:8).
Ultimately the power of goodness to conquer evil is greater than the
power of evil over goodness.

The Psalm ends by affirming that those who do good will live in God’s
presence. This world is not our true home. The pure in heart shall see
God. Those who love God will never meet for the last time.

It was a very moving service. There were boxes of tissues on various
pews, and there were many tears. We gathered around those whose
relatives were still somewhere in East Timor and laid loving hands on
them as we prayed for them. We prayed in small groups. An old lady
whose sister had been killed lit two candles – one red and one black. We
shared in the body and blood of our Lord. People took their offerings to
the communion table under the cross. The morning sunshine sent a
beautiful purple pattern through the cross and across the carpet…

And we sang songs of comfort and hope: You are a faithful God, you will
not abandon us. The stedfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies
never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your
faithfulness. There is none like You… Suffering children are safe in
Your arms. You are my hiding-place, You always fill my heart; whenever I
am afraid I will trust in You, I will trust in You. Let the weak say I
am strong in the strength of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the Lord of all,
the Lord of all the earth. There is only One God over the nations.
Christ be our light, shine through the darkness. Blessed be the Lord God
Almighty who reigns forevermore. Be exalted O God above the heavens, let
Your glory be over all the earth.

Rowland Croucher