Anarchy and hope

In all the rapidly changing scene, there is the real opportunity for local churches to show their worth, particularly in areas which have been badly affected. Christian churches can be revealed as centres of stability, lighthouses for community gathering and work for healing and wholeness of communities. The fabric of many communities will need healing after all this.
At the same time, we need to respect the witness of those of other faiths who are standing for moderation and resistance to violence.
See : “http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/11/uk-riots-birmingham-muslim-sikhs”http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/11/uk-riots-birmingham-muslim-sikhs

Let us pray that the counsel of those of deep faith and wisdom will prevail.

I suggest a simple prayer :

Lord of all, look down with compassion upon fragmented communities in our land.
Bind up the wounds caused by hatred and violence. Strengthen the hands of those who know wisdom, for wisdom is of you, and you are our ruler, guide and healer. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Alan

Anarchy

The Daily Telegraph has headlined this word ( 10th August 2011. )

How is it that we have arrived in such a situation where we are afflicted by this anarchy ?  I want to explore an idea here. I remind myself that there was a time,  before the 1960s, when even criminals knew the ten commandments. They knew them because often they were drummed into them in school,- and perhaps Sunday school if they were sent to that. We seem to have gravitated to a society where the commandments are not only broken – often with impunity – but widely unknown.
We still rely on our memory of maths “times tables” to navigate our way around many aspects of our lives; people used to have the ten commandments committed similarly to heart. They knew when they had crossed a boundary.

The fact that I cannot imagine them being reintroduced in state schools shows the gap that has grown up between church and state – we have an established church but few vestiges of establishment are left to us. We could at least reintroduce the ten commandments – and learning them – into our church schools. Our Lord’s summary of the law can be taught alongside “the ten.”
But it is not – as it is often supposed – a substitute for the ten commandments; it depends on the ten commandments already being known and familiar to those who use the summary.
And we could consider using the full commandments from time to time in our regular church worship, perhaps as a statement against the “anarchy” into which a considerable slice of our society has fallen. It can also be helpful these days if the commandments are given some interpretation to spell out their relevance. I very much appreciate the presentation of the ten commandments which links them into the teaching of the New Testament, that we find in our supplementary material in Common Worship. See at the foot of this article.
I shall use these next Sunday ( 9.00am Sung Eucharist, Upchurch, 14th August )
I have a question for you and for myself : does this presentation of the commandments help us to use and understand them from within our own context, or does it perhaps lessen their impact and their “bite” ? Perhaps we have reached the point where a few blunt  “Thou shalt nots” would not be amiss.

Of course the very people who most need to hear and “inwardly digest” the commandments  will never be in church to hear them. But, I say to myself, we have to begin somewhere !
And reminding ourselves of our calling is never a bad place to start.

I find myself thinking that criminals who used to know the ten commandments were better off spiritually than criminals today who do not have a clue. That is because even if they despised and rejected them, they were there within their memory as something that at some point they might recall, or through grace they might be recalled to. A marker had been placed within their lives against which they could measure their own conduct. May the Lord deliver us from a society which knows no boundaries except those of self-interest!

My fellow-blogger Jane Gransden wrote a moving article recently about discovering the ten commandments stored away at the back of a church. Time to dust them down, I think!
http://sixchurches.wordpress.com/category/jane-gransden/ or (scroll down to “Changing Times” July 11th. )

Alan

The Ten Commandments with New Testament comments :
Hear these commandments which God has given to his people, and examine your hearts.
I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other God but me.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
You shall not make for yourself any idol.
God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
You shall not dishonour the name of the Lord your God.
You shall worship him with awe and reverence.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Remember the Lord’s day and keep it holy.
Christ is risen from the dead: set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.

Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Honour your father and mother.
 Live as servants of God; honour all people; love the brotherhood.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
You shall not commit murder.
 Be reconciled to your brother & sister; overcome evil with good.

Amen. Lord, have mercy.
You shall not commit adultery. 
Know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
You shall not steal.
 Be honest in all that you do and care for those in need.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
You shall not be a false witness.
 Let everyone speak the truth.

Amen. Lord, have mercy.
You shall not covet anything which belongs to your neighbour.
 Remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’. Love your neighbour as yourself, for love is the fulfilling of the law.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
[ Common Worship, Supplementary Tests: Penitential Material ( p. 271 ) copyright the Archbishops Council 2000 ]

More on the riots

I’m still thinking – and trying to pray – about all this. Don’t mistake me, I have no tolerance for the actions of the violent and selfish rioters. But that does not stop me trying to understand the social context, and why we have arrived where we are.

There is some very thought-provoking stuff in the media; and at the “Guardian” end of the spectrum, journalists are not just trotting out the old platitudes but trying to get to grips with ….the ungrippable !

The following article on the psychology of looting has plenty of food for thought :

“http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-psychology-of-looting”http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-psychology-of-looting

Alan

The London riots

Inner London is a part of my life, living in Clapham as a student and then three years in Hoxton as a curate. So I feel about it as perhaps only a Londoner can.
The riots are going to be a field day for the media, and I could write some of the reactions myself, particularly at what we might call the “guardian” and “telegraph” ends of the spectrum.
So I am thankful to come across a really intelligent, sensitive response from a woman who knows life at the street level. She is a remarkable woman,  whose family were obliged to leave Iran following the Iranian revolution. But she has given herself to a very different life.
see : http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/camila-batmanghelidjh-caring-costs-ndash-but-so-do-riots-2333991.html
We’re used, travelling around London on the Underground, to the Tannoy telling us  to “mind the gap”; now it is coming home to us, that the gap between those young people who feel excluded from wealth and opportunity, and the rest of society, is more immense than we can imagine; and it does not help that those involved at the top posts of government and opposition come from a privileged background. How can they begin to imagine what life is like for someone on a run-down estate ?
Another brilliant article shows how dangerous it is to think of London troubles as a problem belonging to the black community:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/08/tottenham-riots-not-unexpected
At the moment I cannot find the right words to pray about it all. The moment of “the still small voice”  has not yet arrived; the earthquake, wind and fire is all around. And other cities are being drawn in to the disturbances as well; we are seeing the downside of “twitter” and “facebook” and instant communication which is sometimes like pouring petrol on flames.
Still, small voice, we need you !   ( Perhaps that is a prayer after all. )

Canon Alan Amos