There are times when it comes to writing the weekly blog that there seem to be no words which are adequate to express all that is happening in our world.
Close to Home.
The horrific knife attack in Southport, in which three young girls were killed, has left families and a community grieving and in shock. The response to this horrific event has shown both the best of humanity and its ugliness. There have been acts and expressions of great kindness and love as people gather to console each other and express support to those injured and grieving. There were also the ugly scenes of Tuesday night as thugs and hooligans terrorised a local mosque and community in what was a blatant act of racism and hate. Acts which as I write on Thursday morning have spread to other English towns and cities.
I Worry.
I worry that the racism, xenophobia, and islamophobia which fuelled the hate and violence of the mob on the streets of Southport, while enacted by a minority, is shared by too many people.
I also worry that the ethnic heritage of the attacker will be weaponised and the consequences this could have for people in our own church community of the same or similar heritage; that from this event they may face insults or suspicion.
Further away.
The horrific deaths of young lives in Southport, also remind me that in Gaza hundreds of mothers and fathers mourn the death of their children.
The vengeful and hateful logic of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind! The military forces of Israel and the gunmen of Hamas are acting like blind men with powerful weapons who lash out indiscriminately and do not distinguish between combatant and non-combatant in who they kill.
To add worry upon worry, the war looks like it may head north to Lebanon.
I emailed our friends at Thimar LSESD ( Thimar means fruits of faith in Arabic, LSESD = Lebanese Society for Education and Social Development) this week to express concern and ask how we could pray.
Alia Aboud, Chief Development Officer of Thimar LSESD writes: “God has taught us crisis upon crisis to keep our eyes on Him, trust Him and follow His promptings, taking steps of faith even when we have little or no clarity as to where He is leading us!”
We have so much to learn from our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in the cradle of Christianity and elsewhere in the non-Western world.
Throw everything at God.
My worrying changes nothing unless it leads me to prayer.
On Sunday we will think about the second half of Psalm 55 (verses 9 to 23). Verse 22 says:
Throw onto God what is given you,
and he will sustain you.
He will never allow
the faithful person to fall down.
On Sunday we will explore how to throw things at God, after all, that is what he asks us to do.
Prayer
Prayer is most certainly one of the ways we throw things at God.
I have put in our Weekly Email Update prayer points from Alia so we can pray specifically and intelligently for our brothers and sisters in Lebanon, Gaza, The West Bank and Israel.
Pray also for each other, especially for our brothers and sisters who are black and often face discrimination and outright racism. Pray that they may know God’s protection.
Pray for our Muslim neighbours and the Muslim community in Glasgow. Pray that they also would know God’s protection and that the violence we have seen outside a mosque in Southport would never be seen here in Glasgow.
See you Sunday.
Brodie