c. 2005 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) British Prime Minister Tony Blair was exuberant Wednesday over London’s selection to host the 2012 Olympics, and distraught Thursday as explosions rocked London’s transit system in what he described as “barbaric” terrorism.
Such is the world we live in. Cheers, then shrieks. Victory, then assault. Like Londoners, we are whipsawed between elation and despair, serenity and rage.
By now, we know the grievances that accompany terrorism. To a degree, we sympathize with the aggrieved, for we know that a just and stable world cannot be founded on a few having extreme abundance and the many having little. We know that our Western ways offend others. We know that our petroleum policies and military adventures over the past century have left a trail of rage. We know that a Third World without hope will explode again and again. We know that terrorism is the weapon of the powerless, and one way to reduce terrorism is to share power, wealth, respect and hope.
And yet we imagine a common person in London going through the simple act of taking a train to work and being blown up. In 2001, it was the act of working in a skyscraper. In recent months, sitting in a cafe, waiting in line, shopping, doing the routines of life, and finding oneself a target, a body to be counted in the tragic arithmetic of terror.
Many have responded with acts of heroism, as emergency workers did in New York City and Washington. For a time, their heroism will inspire others to restrain passions and turn to one another in prayer and solidarity. The tragic aftermath of terrorism, however, is that quiet heroism doesn’t satisfy the beast within. In time, terrorism tends to kindle rage and violence against minorities, and calls for retaliation.
It is time for faith to lead the way. Enough of our posturing over sex. Enough of our political lobbying. Enough of our press releases and television shows asking for money. Enough of our proud doctrine.
The world is bleeding, and justice seems far away. It is time for faith to stand and, with one voice, to sing of a God who loved both Ishmael and Isaac, both Esau and Jacob, who has wanted a people who dared to be a beacon of hope and peace.
It is time for faith to kneel in poverty of spirit and, with one voice, to pray for glimpses of God.
It is time for faith to set aside lesser concerns and, with one sigh, to pass around a lamp in the darkness.
In September 2001, the London Symphony had the grace to end a concert by playing the “Star Spangled Banner” for its visiting American conductor and grieving American friends.
May we return that grace and fill our assemblies with England’s patriotic anthem “Jerusalem”:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills
Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.
MO/JL END RNS
(Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant and leader of workshops. His forthcoming book, “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” will be published by Morehouse Publishing. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. His Web site is http://www.onajourney.org.)
