I write this reflecting on the events of the last 24 hours: the siege in Sydney and innocent people having a coffee being massacred at the hands of a terrorist. We are not sure who shot who in that tragedy, but it is still a tragedy however it happened. Then today we hear of schoolchildren in Pakistan murdered at the hands of the Taliban. Our Prime Minister calls it, quite rightly, a "dark day for humanity." We live in a world where power, threat, a desire to dominate and overwhelm what isn't ours are real issues every day.
It happens in my house. Molly goes out for a bit, I leave the kitchen door open. The fat cat from down the road comes in, eats all the food and laughes at us. Here is a scene from earlier this evening as I sat writing in the study. Molly is helpless and can only watch as her dinner is stolen from her in a invasion of greed - this fat cat doesn't care at all and keeps coming back. She is above any rules or shouting.
Later tonight I am leading a Circuit bible study on King Herod and his place in the Christmas narrative. He was obsessed with greed, threatened by another presence on his patch, he struck out because he thought his way was being challenged. He became more and more unhinged as the power went to his head. We think, in the end, the power drove him to insanity. Pastorally, we have people around us who are daily threatened by people who want their own way, who want to invade others space or rubbish their ideas or accuse them of things that they never did. The more they push, the ore they come and eat out a bowl that isn't theirs, they hope they will grind those that they push into submission so that they can be vindicated and dominate. I love the verse in Matthew's second chapter where the magi return home by another road having been warned not to return to Herod by an angel. The fat cats will still be there, but it is how we deal with them that is important. Molly is okay, she will get another dinner. Others are not okay. The bullying culture and the threat from those in the world who want to remind us of their presence, is more of an issue that we never seem to deal with. (Even in churches....)
Part of the message of incarnation is that an alternative way has come, is come, and will come. We need to enter the world with love and sharing, so that in the end, the fat cat will give up because goodness is stronger. We need though, for now to be alongside those who are constantly being got at and worse, whose lives are threatened daily in our world, and we need to keep praying for peace.
God of justice and peace, I pray tonight for a world where people are constantly being threatened and abused because of others lust for power.
I pray tonight for people who are going about their daily lives and suddenly in the middle of tragedy. I pray for all those who have lost loved ones in Australia and in Pakistan this week.
God, you entered a world in a mess and you still come into a world like that. So, I pray for all those who need to know you with them while others try to dominate them and take what is theirs or destroy their self-worth. And I pray for people who are obsessed with power that they too may find peace.
May your Kingdom come, soon. Amen.
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