Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Witness in weakness
(Category: faith)
There is a very human tendency to need to remain in control. Even if we truly take on board our dependency on God it is so easy to carry on as if everything is all right, as if we've got it sussed. Nevermind the fact that this is in direct contradiction to what God wants to do.
So it takes a lot of courage to admit our inabilities, and even more so if you feel that people rely on you, or that you are known in the public eye. That makes the decision of the Reverend Julie Nicholson whose daughter was killed in the London Underground bombings of last July an all the more brave one. (And , no, I don't know her, and have never met her, so far as I know). It may be the only course of action she feels open to her. That doesn't rob it of it's significance, or it's bravery.
To respond with integrity in our faith, even when it may feel like a defeat and a failure, can itself be a tremendous act of witness to our faith in Christ, no matter how flawed we feel. And so Rev Nicholson stands as yet another Christian whose witness is noticed, and whose responses point to the greater purpose, message and glory of God as revealed in Jesus - a witness that reaches thousands, even millions (certainly all who listened to the 7am news on BBC Radio 4 this morning.
That's a far greater reach than many of us who so often like to think we have to appear to have it all under control, rather than submitting to his control.
¶ 3:33 pm
"It's very difficult for me to stand behind an altar and celebrate the Eucharist Communion and lead people in words of peace and reconciliation and forgiveness when I feel very far from that myself... so for the time being, for the moment, that wound in me is having to heal."
There is a very human tendency to need to remain in control. Even if we truly take on board our dependency on God it is so easy to carry on as if everything is all right, as if we've got it sussed. Nevermind the fact that this is in direct contradiction to what God wants to do.
So it takes a lot of courage to admit our inabilities, and even more so if you feel that people rely on you, or that you are known in the public eye. That makes the decision of the Reverend Julie Nicholson whose daughter was killed in the London Underground bombings of last July an all the more brave one. (And , no, I don't know her, and have never met her, so far as I know). It may be the only course of action she feels open to her. That doesn't rob it of it's significance, or it's bravery.
To respond with integrity in our faith, even when it may feel like a defeat and a failure, can itself be a tremendous act of witness to our faith in Christ, no matter how flawed we feel. And so Rev Nicholson stands as yet another Christian whose witness is noticed, and whose responses point to the greater purpose, message and glory of God as revealed in Jesus - a witness that reaches thousands, even millions (certainly all who listened to the 7am news on BBC Radio 4 this morning.
That's a far greater reach than many of us who so often like to think we have to appear to have it all under control, rather than submitting to his control.
¶ 3:33 pm
