{"id":853,"date":"2020-06-04T17:15:59","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T16:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/chaplaincy\/?p=853"},"modified":"2020-06-04T17:15:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T16:15:59","slug":"responding-to-injustice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/2020\/06\/04\/responding-to-injustice\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding to injustice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here\u2019s the reflection from today\u2019s Communion service, focussing partly on our response to the shocking death of George Floyd. You can also see a personal video message from the Vice Chancellor with his own response here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reading\nwas from the prophet Jeremiah:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To whom can I speak and give warning? Who\nwill listen to me?
\nTheir ears are closed so that they cannot hear.
\nThe word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
\nBut I am full of the anger of the Lord, and I cannot hold it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Pour it\nout on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together;
\nboth husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those\nweighed down with years.
\nTheir houses will be turned over to others, together with\ntheir fields and their wives,
\nwhen I stretch out my hand against those who live in the\nland,\u2019 declares the Lord .
\n\u2018From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain;
\nprophets and priests alike, all practise deceit.
\nThey dress the wound of my people as though it were not\nserious.
\n\u201cPeace, peace,\u201d they say, when there is no peace.
\nAre they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
\nNo, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to\nblush.
\nSo they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down\nwhen I punish them,\u2019 says the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


That reading from Jeremiah is angry. It can\u2019t have been easy for people to hear his message. The people wanted a message of peace – but Jeremiah knew that because of the injustices in their society, there was no real peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first heard about the protests over the death of\nGeorge Floyd I was saddened by what had happened, but also resistant to being\ndrawn in emotionally. I\u2019m not keen generally on joining in with the popular\noutpourings of anger and scorn about events in the US which people seem to delight\nin, and which seem beyond any possible influence from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And maybe I also don\u2019t want my own peace to be disturbed by\nangry messages. I like my times of quiet. I\u2019m trying to learn to be more calm. I\nlike the lovely fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,\ngentleness and self control. Nothing to upset me there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as Paul reminds Timothy in his letter, God does not give us a Spirit of timidity. Throughout the bible we see a less gentle and restrained Spirit at work – speaking out through the words and actions of prophets like Jeremiah, and speaking out too in the life of Jesus. I have a collection of pictures of Jesus from different place – Jesus surrounded by birds and animals, Jesus on the cross, Jesus on a wanted poster, Jesus laughing… The one that no-one ever likes is \u2018The Angry Christ\u2019 – Jesus pointing in fury, brows furrowed, eyes bulging. Not so meek and mild. Quite unsettling – as it must have been when Jesus overturned the tables in the temple or confronted the hypocrites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe over the last few days amongst the protests and the\ncomments we have been hearing the voice of this Spirit – furious about racist,\npassionate for justice, full of anguish about the situation. The brutal and\nshocking video footage of the killing of George Floyd has unlocked a deeply held\nsense of injustice and the need for change, for those who feel this most\npersonally and for many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe allowing ourselves to really hear those voices of\nprotest can also open something up in us. It\u2019s easy for layers of comfortable\ncomplacency and detached spirituality to build up around us without us\nrealising. When these are cracked open a little, we are forced to confront the injustice\nand suffering that exists in the world, and the systems that allow this, to\nwhich we belong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That uncomfortable awareness may draw us to engage more\ndeeply in this particular issue, or it may remind us that Black Lives Matter\nbecause all lives matter – and we need to notice especially the lives which are\ngiven less value. These may be the lives of Afro American people in the US, or\nof black and ethnic minority people in this country, disproportionately\naffected by Covid 19, targeted by conscious or unconscious racism, or\nrestricted by deeply embedded inequalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might also make us think about the lives of rough\nsleepers, as councils plead with central government for more money to stop them\nbeing turned out of their temporary lockdown accommodation and back onto the street.\n Or it might make us think about the\nlives of millions of children in parts of the world at risk from preventable\ndiseases now because of the pausing of vaccination programmes during the\npandemic. Or it might make us think about many others dying in parts of the\nworld that are less like our country and so less reported, either from the\nvirus or through other disease, hunger or poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of this morning\u2019s front pages focus on just one life –\nthe tragic case of Madeleine McCann. The devastation felt by her parents, the\ndetermination to find the truth, the longing for justice – these are\nappropriate for every single person who dies as a result of wrongdoing, whether\nit is by one person, or through the failure of countries like ours and people\nlike us to take action when we have the resources to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we have allowed the tragedy and injustice and anger get to\nus, then what do we do with it? Rage at the TV? Pour out our feelings on social\nmedia? Join a demonstration? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a place for protest and for lament. But it may be\nthat we are being called to stay in this uncomfortable place for a while and simply\nlisten. Hear the hurt and the anger. Let the comfortable layers round us be\ncracked up. Allow our hearts to be deeply moved. And listen to the Spirit. The\nSpirit not just of gentle breath but of fire and wind. Where is our passion\nbeing engaged? What are we being blown towards? What might God be calling us to\ndo?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be different for each of us – and it may begin where\nwe are. Jesus didn\u2019t rail against the Roman Empire, but he did challenge, with\nhis words and actions, the powerful religious vested interests that were oppressing\npeople in the place where he lived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a small suggestion. Tonight at 8pm we would usually\nhave been clapping for our carers – but it was suggested that last week should be\nthe last time. So maybe at 8pm instead we could keep a few minutes silence, and\nsit quietly, and allow ourselves to be open to the reality of injustice and\nsuffering in the world, and listen for God\u2019s call to us to work with him for justice\nand for peace. And pray for the Spirit to show us how he is calling each of us\nto respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let us bring this to God now, in our prayers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n