Praying for the Dead
and Injured in Christchurch
“O my poor people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make
mourning as for an only child, most bitter lamentation: for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.” (Jeremiah 6.26)
God, all holy, all loving, hear the cry of your people in
Christchurch,
those caught up in the horrors, those witnessing the effects
of so much hate,
those who hear the news from far away.
From north and south, from east and
west,
draw your peoples
into a closer union,
that we may challenge
hatred with love,
the fear of the other
with friendship
and all evil with
your goodness. Amen.
The Very Reverend Andrew Nunn, Southwark Cathedral, Church
of England
This Second Sunday in Lent we pray, “O God, whose glory is
always to have mercy….” We begin this day with an acknowledgment of that which
lies at the heart of God’s glory: mercy. It is Kurt Vonnegut who once observed in
his Palm Sunday Sermon that being merciful is the best idea we have been given
so far. For when we are merciful we are close to the heart of God’s glory.
In Luke 13: 31-35, Jesus points the reader to Palm Sunday,
Good Friday and Easter in language that is both code and metaphor. He
references the dangers that have long lurked in Jerusalem for those who
challenge the status quo – prophets who repeatedly, again and again, call upon
the King and the religious authorities to return – repent – to the Way of God,
the Way of Torah, the way of being in this world that calls us all to care for
widows, orphans, resident aliens and all those with few or no resources.
This is not the first time in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus
recalls that those who call for reform are often sent to their death. So, when
the Pharisees warn him as he heads toward Jerusalem that Herod wants him
killed, Jesus already accepts this as fact and declares it will not deter him: “Tell
that fox I still have God’s work to do and will not be stopped.” After which he
acknowledges the danger that lies ahead, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that
kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”
When he gets there, he pauses outside the city walls on the
Mount of Olives where in Luke 19: 41-42 we read, “And when he drew near and saw
the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this
day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
When I first saw Jerusalem from that very place, the gold-leaf Dome of the Rock
gleaming in the setting sun, I too was suddenly moved to tears and was told
later by a companion that I was repeating over and over again, “It’s all there…it’s
all there…”
It seems now that dangers that lurked in Jerusalem that day
that the Pharisees try to warn him now lurk in nearly every religious center
around the globe: two Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand; a synagogue in Pittsburgh,
PA; a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, WI; an African-American church in Charleston,
SC, and on May 3, 2012, my parish church, St. Peter’s, Ellicott City, MD. We
need to remember, in every era Herod finds allies among people of faith. Everywhere
is now Jerusalem. An attack in any one of these places is an attack on us all, Muslim,
Jew, Sikh, Christian. Like Jesus we have been warned. Like Jesus, we continue
the work God gives us to do, being merciful toward all people every day. It’s
hard work. It’s the work of God’s mercy.
Jesus’ words of judgment hang over us all every day. Over
against his words of judgment are his poignant words of lament: “How often have
I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her
wings, and you were not willing!” Jesus applies to himself imagery of
protection the Hebrew Bible assigns to God (Psalm 27, Deut 32:11, etc.). Neither
God nor God’s son may be likened to a fox that preys on the young of others,
but rather to the hen who diligently cares for her young.
I have friends at Diemand’s Egg Farm in Wendell, MA, who
assure us that this image is true. They say that a mother hen will gather the
chicks to keep them warm or to protect them from danger. Though sometimes in
times of danger she will, like other birds, attempt to draw the dangerous
animal away from the chicks, possibly sacrificing her own life to do so. To
gather them under her wings, she will fluff up her feathers. Then she will
cluck or squawk at them, kick them, peck at them or just plain gather them
under her wings. She makes it clear she wants them all there beside her. God in
Christ wants us all beside her.
This God whose glory is mercy wants us beside her, now and
always. And she will peck and cluck and squawk at us until we all get under her
wings – until we all join in doing the work of mercy and compassion for others –
all others – no matter the danger involved. Jesus says he is the wings of God.
He invites all who hunger and thirst to come under his wings to live our lives
with God doing the things God does most: being merciful. God knows how often we
squirt out from under her wings – but she always welcomes us back.
God needs us. Jesus needs us. The world needs us. We are all
in Jerusalem now, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Jew,
Gentile, Atheist, Agnostic. It is time to be Merciful as God is Merciful. “From
north and south, from east and west, draw your peoples into a closer union, that
we may challenge hatred with love, the fear of the other with friendship
and all evil with your goodness.” We know the things that
make for Peace. Or, do we? Amen.
I am the wings of God
All you hunger, all you who thirst
I am the wings of God
Life lived with God never ends
Life lived with God never ends
All you hunger, all you who thirst
Life lived with God never ends
We are the wings of God
We are the wings of God
All you hunger, all you who thirst
We are the wings of God
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