Blood at boiling point in Church today
He prays it every week when he is
at Church: “For the safety and success
of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan”.
I have no problem with the
“safety” bit. But I am not sure what
“success” means.
That’s probably because former
President George W. Bush was never able to articulate why we were at war in
those countries. He inferred that it had
something to do with “the war on terror”, but we never knew what he had in mind
as to what could or might happen in those countries once we had won that
“war”.
In the meantime we are bailing out
of Iraq with no clear sense of “mission accomplished”, and we are (off the
record of course) negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
President Obama has been no more
successful than former Pres. Bush in articulating a rationale for our war
loving ways. Indeed he has upped the
ante with his enthusiastic endorsement and engagement in a war from the skies
via American drones.
How in heaven’s name do we measure
“success” in those two lands?
Neither Bush nor Obama has been
able to address this question.
When the man prayed his prayer at St. Boniface
this morning I began to get very agitated. For it seemed to me that his prayer
was so one-sided.
How can we as gospel people pray
for the safety and success of American forces without also praying for the
victims of American violence?
I wanted to follow his prayer with
words such as “We pray for the little children who have been killed by missiles
fired from American Drones, and for their grieving parents”.
My gut was groaning. But I decided
not to voice that prayer lest our prayer time become a battle ground for
duelling beliefs.
Some of my gut groaning had to do
with the fact that my Church advertises itself as being “progressive”. I doubt that!
Our music is very good, but it is
rooted in the 19th C.
Our liturgies are well expressed,
but they are “safe”, and never “push the envelope”.
Most sermons are good enough, but
they are often so bland and un-controversial.
In five years I have not heard a sermon which made people mad!
Maybe we are progressive because
we welcome a score or two of old queens such as I.
But we are regressive when it
comes to allowing the challenge of Jesus’ teachings to confront “American
Values”.
In five years I have not heard a
single sermon which has placed Americanism under the microscope of the
teachings of Jesus.
It’s sad to be in an otherwise
good parish where Americanism trumps the Gospel.
The parish will not be truly progressive
until and unless it knows that following Jesus is more important that saluting
the American flag.
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