In our ongoing Lenten journey towards Jerusalem, and in the face of war,  I find the Gospel speaks to us of hope and confidence.  In Christ,God gives us the faith we need to heal the world and our souls. That faith is based on love, a love that grounds all of our being and integrates many aspects of our life: our work, our play, our thinking, and our relationships in God.  It is a love that speaks of integrity  Love of heart, mind, soul, and of loving our neighbours as ourselves.

Language is a powerful tool.  I am disgusted that the attack against Iraq is called “Shock and Awe.”  When I hear the word AWE, I think of biblical images like God speaking to Moses through the burning bush. Now this image is used for burning images in Iraq.  Or I think of the awe and gratitude in which we humbly bow before God.  It makes me angry that awe is used in the context of war.

Love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.  On these two commandments, says Jesus, hang all the law and the prophets.  This passage doesn’t speak of conflict and violence.  Yet, Jesus spoke these words during the last week of his life, in the context of chaos and violence.  There were no SCUD missiles, or bombs, or tanks, or guns, but there was a military regime, with dictators, soldiers, and a cross.  If this had been me instead of Jesus, I know my fear and anxiety level would have been skyrocketing.

But Jesus found the courage, the resolve to stand firm in chaos, putting his fear aside, knowing who he was and what he was about.  I can’t help but believe that Jesus embodied the very words and actions he spoke.  Love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.  Most of us can’t imagine having this kind of faith, a faith so grounded in God that we cannot separate ourselves from our fear, a faith so integrated into every part of our life that there is a constant, and consistent thread of love and trust through everything we do and say.

Two events I have attended in the past two weeks bore witness to that kind of faith and love at work.  The first was a Retreat at Queenswood.  A retreat is a special time, set aside to enter into an atmosphere that leads one to the possibility of authentic prayer, a time to rest, to center oneself, to prioritize one’s values.  I went for two reason, one as time of centering in Lent, and two to center myself as I reflected upon the past year and our ministry together.  The word that was on my mind when I arrived at Queenswood was “perception.”  I was thinking back to the parable of the Labourers in the vineyard, also called The parable of the generous employer.  One event, but two perceptions; God’s ? delight and generosity; the workers: jealousy and anger.   How we live our lives is based so much on our perception of what we think we hear and our perception of who we are.  We make choices about what we see and what we remember.  Life can be complicated. We want guarantees and fairness.  But  God looks at things differently.  I think God truly lives in the present moment, always open to the prodigal; God welcomes and forgives.

The rhythm of  Queenswood welcomed me into community. Their ministry is hospitality.   I, along with all the guests, felt accepted and loved as though I had always lived there.  There was no strangeness, just quiet inclusion.   They shared all their meals with their guests.  In this space and grounding myself  in the daily rhythm of prayer, I reflected on our community and life together.  I went with a question about perception. I left with a ministry: love and hope.

I returned from the second event yesterday.  It was called "From Harm to Healing",  a three day workshop sub-titled, “Understanding the Sexual Abuse Policy of the United Church.”  As we worshipped, studied, and ate together, we explored where in the midst of sexual abuse/harassment, was the love of Christ that would bring healing and reconciliation.  It was serious stuff and we took it seriously.  Here we looked at the side of love that speaks of boundaries, of protection, of confronting power gone awry. We talked about the community of faith as a container of trust, and when that trust was violated, how the church exercised its ministry of reconciliation: Love to help the claimant; Love to help the respondent.  Trust has been violated.  The role of the Consultants was to help both claimant & respondent to walk through the process ? with the end view of healing and reconciliation.

We started with 2 questions:  Have you experienced sexual abuse/harassment, and have you seen or experienced sexual abuse/harassment in your church/presbytery?  We looked at conflict management and messages in our family of origin.  How many grew up with healthy processes of conflict management?  We looked at the role of fear:  frightened people find it hard to hear/understand or appreciate differences, may experience perceptual distortions, and may be aggressive or manipulative. The gospel speaks to Jesus’s fear and to ours:   Love God with your whole life: heart, soul, and mind.

Jesus often said “O ye of little faith.”   I now have a better appreciation of those words.  True faith grounds us in God, pulls us to face our blindness, calls us to trust in God, and gives us the courage to see beyond our fear.   Loving our neighbour as ourselves puts our faith into action.  Christ gives us the strength to heal the world and our souls.

Amen.