A DANIEL-LIKE HONESTY - CROSS PURPOSES 150
A DANIEL-LIKE HONESTY
There was powerful ‘letter to the editor’ in the GoodWeekend Magazine (SMH) of November 8-9 2008. It was written in response to an article in the same magazine on October 11 about the destruction of habitat for silverback gorillas in Africa. The editor gave the letter a title: GUERILLAS IN THEIR MIDST. I repeat it below, in full.
“Man (as in all humanity) never ceases to disgust me. We rape, pillage, pilfer, murder… and will continue to do so until there’s nothing left. It broke my heart to read what the beautiful, majestic mountain gorillas of the Congo are up against, and I cried when I saw that sad picture of a murdered silverback (October 11). We really make me sick.
Marie Mast
Montrose, Vic.
There is no indication that this lady is a Christian. But it is a rare thing indeed to find someone who can look out over the endless messes of humanity and use that 2 letter word “we”.
“WE rape, pillage, pilfer, murder…WE really make me sick.” As has been obvious in debates about ‘stolen generations’ the idea of corporate, (as in all of us), responsibility is anathema to many, if not most of us. That goes for Christians too! So how refreshing to see someone, somewhere, pick up and run with that royal WE.
In her letter Marie Mast’s sense of ‘we’ is global and geographic. In scripture it’s global and geographic too. It is also across time! Let me give you 2 examples.
1. Good old Daniel. Generally I don’t much like Daniel – he’s so good and always
focussed on God that I always feel guilty when I read about him! It’s exactly that, however, which makes one of his prayers hit between the eyes.
“ I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
"Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.”
Daniel 9:4-7
See the ‘WE’? – Daniel refuses to separate himself from his people. It’s not ‘I’ and ‘them’, not ‘they’, but ‘we, we, we, we, we’! It’s about knowing that there is something about identity, guilt, forgiveness and freedom that is tied up with the community we belong to.
2. Here’s some of Moses’ words to the Israelites which he tells them to use in their place of worship at least once a year.
“ Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me.”
Deut 26:5-10a
The Jews still speak these creedal words today. It’s not that they (ie the forefathers) were rescued from Egypt. No, it’s ‘we’ and ‘us’. Once again the line between past and present becomes invisible. When God rescued the generations from Egypt he rescued us from Egypt as well. When God made a covenant with that generation, it was with us as well. “You may not separate me from my community in either its history or its future” is what a faithful Jew would say.
THE SON OF MAN
Let’s chew something. Jesus Christ came among us as Immanuel. As Robin Mann’s song has it, “One with us, one with earth”. According to his life, utterly guiltless. According to his identity as human, no distinction made and accepts all our sin and failure as his own sin and failure.
You know what happened after that. Our story became his cross story, and then his story becomes our story. And the rest is eternal history.
Peace.
Fred
WE shy away from the idea of being responsible for communal sin or failure, but we sure don’t mind taking communal credit when there is success and victory. WE beat the POMS at cricket. Didn’t we?
There was powerful ‘letter to the editor’ in the GoodWeekend Magazine (SMH) of November 8-9 2008. It was written in response to an article in the same magazine on October 11 about the destruction of habitat for silverback gorillas in Africa. The editor gave the letter a title: GUERILLAS IN THEIR MIDST. I repeat it below, in full.
“Man (as in all humanity) never ceases to disgust me. We rape, pillage, pilfer, murder… and will continue to do so until there’s nothing left. It broke my heart to read what the beautiful, majestic mountain gorillas of the Congo are up against, and I cried when I saw that sad picture of a murdered silverback (October 11). We really make me sick.
Marie Mast
Montrose, Vic.
There is no indication that this lady is a Christian. But it is a rare thing indeed to find someone who can look out over the endless messes of humanity and use that 2 letter word “we”.
“WE rape, pillage, pilfer, murder…WE really make me sick.” As has been obvious in debates about ‘stolen generations’ the idea of corporate, (as in all of us), responsibility is anathema to many, if not most of us. That goes for Christians too! So how refreshing to see someone, somewhere, pick up and run with that royal WE.
In her letter Marie Mast’s sense of ‘we’ is global and geographic. In scripture it’s global and geographic too. It is also across time! Let me give you 2 examples.
1. Good old Daniel. Generally I don’t much like Daniel – he’s so good and always
focussed on God that I always feel guilty when I read about him! It’s exactly that, however, which makes one of his prayers hit between the eyes.
“ I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
"Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.”
Daniel 9:4-7
See the ‘WE’? – Daniel refuses to separate himself from his people. It’s not ‘I’ and ‘them’, not ‘they’, but ‘we, we, we, we, we’! It’s about knowing that there is something about identity, guilt, forgiveness and freedom that is tied up with the community we belong to.
2. Here’s some of Moses’ words to the Israelites which he tells them to use in their place of worship at least once a year.
“ Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me.”
Deut 26:5-10a
The Jews still speak these creedal words today. It’s not that they (ie the forefathers) were rescued from Egypt. No, it’s ‘we’ and ‘us’. Once again the line between past and present becomes invisible. When God rescued the generations from Egypt he rescued us from Egypt as well. When God made a covenant with that generation, it was with us as well. “You may not separate me from my community in either its history or its future” is what a faithful Jew would say.
THE SON OF MAN
Let’s chew something. Jesus Christ came among us as Immanuel. As Robin Mann’s song has it, “One with us, one with earth”. According to his life, utterly guiltless. According to his identity as human, no distinction made and accepts all our sin and failure as his own sin and failure.
You know what happened after that. Our story became his cross story, and then his story becomes our story. And the rest is eternal history.
Peace.
Fred
WE shy away from the idea of being responsible for communal sin or failure, but we sure don’t mind taking communal credit when there is success and victory. WE beat the POMS at cricket. Didn’t we?
posted by PastorFredVeerhuis at 8:44 AM
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