Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it - Rumi
Readings: Genesis 45:3-15, Psalm 37, 1 Corinthians 15:35-50, Luke 6:27-38
Jesus came down from the mountain where he had been to pray to level ground where the people from the surrounding Galilean countryside could assemble – and a substantial number of people were present. Doubtless many were attracted by Jesus’ healing powers, but He did not lose the opportunity to teach them. The lessons He taught them that day we now know as the Beatitudes. Earlier Jesus has called His first disciples but this teaching was not intended specifically for them but for all His followers – including you and me. Throughout His ministry Jesus always said that He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it. The Law of Moses, with which those listening to his teaching would have been familiar, states ‘You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.’ Leviticus 19:18. In today’s Old Testament reading we heard that Joseph did not hold a grudge against his brothers even though they had tried to kill him. He obeyed the Law of Moses. However here Jesus takes that one stage further by saying: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. …… Do to others as you would have them do to you. …. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as you Father is merciful.” Now, that is something to get one’s head around, and I can imagine a few people hearing Jesus’ message that day saying “You are asking me to love the Romans who have taken my land; who have imposed excessive taxes on me; who have made life almost impossible for me? You want me to love them, to do good to them? Forget it!” and then walking away. And we might have sympathy with them since we sometimes feel the same way. Our country may not be ruled by foreign invaders but we do live in a multi-ethnic society. And so we may ask ourselves do we really love those of a different race, religion, sexual orientation or even political opinion? But let me tell you a story, a story of one community’s commitment with put their faith into action. It is a story I use by kind permission of the Community of the Cross of Nails which is based at Coventry Cathedral: ‘On the night of 14th November, 1940, Coventry and its Cathedral endured a one-off, but relentless, bombing campaign. Overnight, the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ offensive destroyed much of central Coventry, hundreds of its people and left its Cathedral in ruins. Only the outer shell of the walls and the tower remained standing. In the days that followed, two enduring symbols emerged from the rubble: two charred roof-beams which had fallen in the shape of a cross were bound and placed at the site of the ruined altar, and three medieval roof nails were also formed into a cross, which became the original Cross of Nails (now located at the High Altar in the new Cathedral). Shortly after, the words ‘Father Forgive’ – deliberately neutral in content – were inscribed on the wall of the ruined chancel, and Provost Dick Howard made a commitment not to seek revenge, but to strive for forgiveness and reconciliation with those responsible. During the BBC radio broadcast from the Cathedral ruins on Christmas Day 1940 he declared that when the war was over we should work with those who had been enemies ‘to build a kinder, more Christ-like world.’ The Cross of Nails quickly became a potent sign of friendship and hope in the post war years, especially in new relationships with Germany and the developing links between Coventry and the cities of Kiel, Dresden and Berlin, ( which had all suffered as a result of Allied bombing). Many were gifted, in thanks and in friendship, to contacts all over the world. By 1974 such informal friendships were numerous, and they were all drawn into a brand new Community of the Cross of Nails, which has continued to grow globally to this day. By this time, the new Cathedral, a landmark in post-war architecture, had been opened in 1962. Coventry Cathedral is thus one of the world’s oldest religious-based centres for reconciliation, and its work in preceding decades has involved it in some of the world’s most difficult and long-standing areas of conflict. Today the medieval ruins of Coventry Cathedral, freely open to all, continue to remind us of our human capacity both to destroy and to reach out to our enemies in friendship and reconciliation. They stand today as a memorial to all civilians killed, injured or traumatised by war and violent conflict world-wide. The Community became a worldwide network of some 250 churches, charities, peace-building centres, and educational and training organisations. All partners adhere to the three guiding principles of the Community of the Cross of Nails: Healing the wounds of history, Learning to live with difference and celebrate diversity, and Building a culture of peace. Today, their greatest number of partners are in Germany, the UK & Ireland and the USA, but they also have sizeable numbers in South Africa, Canada, the Netherlands and Central and Eastern Europe; overall, they have partners in 45 countries across five continents. Different partners may focus on political, racial, religious, social or economic reconciliation; they may address war and violent conflict, post conflict restoration or healing; their work can have broad and far-reaching, national or regional consequences, or it can make a significant difference to local communities and individual people’s lives.’ So what can we take from that story? Jesus’ command really tests our motivation and challenges us. The idea of loving our enemies is just as hard for us to put into practice as the listeners on that day would have found it. After all, it was all his fault. He started the argument. All I did was to give my opinion, but he wouldn’t listen. Why should I apologise to him? Why should I want to have anything to do with him? No, best to forget all about it. But remember the Provost’s commitment not to seek revenge, but to strive for forgiveness and reconciliation with those responsible; to work with those who had been enemies ‘to build a kinder, more Christ-like world.’ In other words he was echoing Jesus’ message in today’s Gospel reading – Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. You see, Jesus was illustrating an attitude of heart, a lightness of spirit in the face of all that the world can throw at us. We are called to be like this because that is what God is like; God is generous to all people, generous, providing good things for all to enjoy, the undeserving as well as the deserving. And, let’s face it, if we lived in a society where everyone believed in this God there wouldn’t be any violence. There wouldn’t be any revenge or divisions of class or colour or race. Owning property or possessions wouldn’t be nearly as important as making sure our neighbour was ok. Wouldn’t that be a better world in which to live? We are being invited to have a heart like Jesus, to reach out without wanting anything in return. We can have a non-judgmental and compassionate attitude to the faults of others. In return, we can accept God’s unconditional and generous love. So, perhaps over the next week or so we might ask ourselves, “Do I have to be right all the time? Could I not listen to the other person’s point of view?” Am I prepared to welcome Jesus’s way of loving? There may be people I find difficult to love. Can I hold these people in prayer, helping me to love generously? Prayer is, after all the most powerful weapon we have in our armoury. But maybe we could give the other person a ring, or write a letter, or even an email. Just make the first move. Nothing may come of it but we will have tried. Again we cannot change the world overnight. On our own we cannot stop the wars raging round the world but we can pray for our leaders, for those in power that they may see sense and work for peace and justice. Let me end with a prayer, the prayer that serves as a reminder that when we pray about the problems of the world around us, we need to begin by acknowledging the roots of those problems in our own hearts. This prayer, the Litany of the Cross of Nails, is freely available for use. It is prayed at noon each weekday in Coventry Cathedral and in the Cathedral ruins on Fridays: ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, FATHER FORGIVE The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own, FATHER FORGIVE The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth, FATHER FORGIVE Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others, FATHER FORGIVE Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee, FATHER FORGIVE The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children, FATHER FORGIVE The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God, FATHER FORGIVE Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. AMEN
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AuthorI am an Authorised Local Preacher in an Anglo Catholic parish church, in the Diocese of Essex UK Archives
February 2022
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