Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-156 (Practical Christian Living)

Terrorism in the U.S . . .

WHAT CAN WE DO WHEN EVERYTHING’S FALLING APART?

by Rowland Croucher

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

It has happened again, but now in the heartland of America’s business and military centers. We have just witnessed the worst act of terrorism on American soil, and the worst attack on the American people since the second World War. At a time like this we feel rage and pity and helplessness, maybe guilt, as these terrorists have waged war on defenceless people who made the mistake of turning up to work as usual.

How are we to make sense of this tragedy?

I woke this morning feeling something else – fear. Fear for those who are right now facing the judgment of God.

Ultimately we may never make sense of it. We will live with the rage of this gross act of terror 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 terrorism or war they are taught to regard the ‘enemy’ as less-than-human.

(And in our grief and rage, let us remember the other places in our world where people have been dying in large numbers – Southern Sudan, Angola, Eritrea, Afghanistan, various West African countries, the Indonesian provinces of Ambon, Aceh, and Irian Jaya – and Burma, Colombia, the southern republics of the old Soviet Union, the Amazon Basin, Tibet, North Korea – the list goes on and on. Usually the world is a good place for Westerners and the rich, terrible for many others. Now a rich nation has been brought to its knees…)

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?

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 (Ps 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 (Ps 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 used to be: 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.

Today let us join our American brothers and sisters in prayer and singing songs of comfort and hope: You are a faithful God, you will not abandon us. The steadfast 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.

12th September 2001.

Shalom! Rowland Croucher >