Groans, No Words

“Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.” (Psalm 5:1-2)

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26)

“Jesus Wept.” (John 11:35)

Today I have only groans in my prayers, no words. Even on the world wide web I can’t find a prayer with the words to capture the complexity and sorrow of my spirit, as I listen to news of beheaded babies and horrified hostages and the senseless slaughter of innocents undertaken by Hamas.

Though I know peace is the answer, and always the goal, just now my spirit is lit up with the need for just violence. I want Hamas to be eradicated. Just being honest. I grieve for the people of Israel and their senseless suffering, and those hostages who are to become human shields for the terrorists. I grieve for the Palestinian Jewish, Christian, and Muslim people, the vast, vast majority who in no way support the violence and death Hamas is perpetrating on their behalf.

I admit on days like this that I find it difficult to hold out hope for the day when swords are turned into plowshares, and lions lie down with lambs. I lament to God, who promises to be present and active in our midst. Come in your power today and save us! Bring your peace and justice, somehow in a way that minimizes more senseless loss of human life. I groan!

I groan for leaders and governments, trying to figure out how to act in such a complex moment, with such a long and complex history.

I groan for soldiers gathered en masse and waiting for orders, and for their loved ones who are worried about them.

I groan for the father I am watching bury his young boy he had dinner with last night.

And I groan for the flourishing of the wicked, ever-threatening the light.

I can do nothing else but groan today. But I groan, indeed, and will do so with faith still, somehow.

God, be with us. Come with power, and save your people.

Peter Hawkinson

Groans, No Words

“Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.” (Psalm 5:1-2)

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26)

“Jesus Wept.” (John 11:35)

Today I have only groans in my prayers, no words. Even on the world wide web I can’t find a prayer with the words to capture the complexity and sorrow of my spirit, as I listen to news of beheaded babies and horrified hostages and the senseless slaughter of innocents undertaken by Hamas.

Though I know peace is the answer, and always the goal, just now my spirit is lit up with the need for just violence. I want Hamas to be eradicated. Just being honest. I grieve for the people of Israel and their senseless suffering, and those hostages who are to become human shields for the terrorists. I grieve for the Palestinian Jewish, Christian, and Muslim people, the vast, vast majority who in no way support the violence and death Hamas is perpetrating on their behalf.

I admit on days like this that I find it difficult to hold out hope for the day when swords are turned into plowshares, and lions lie down with lambs. I lament to God, who promises to be present and active in our midst. Come in your power today and save us! Bring your peace and justice, somehow in a way that minimizes more senseless loss of human life. I groan!

I groan for leaders and governments, trying to figure out how to act in such a complex moment, with such a long and complex history.

I groan for soldiers gathered en masse and waiting for orders, and for their loved ones who are worried about them.

I groan for the father I am watching bury his young boy he had dinner with last night.

And I groan for the flourishing of the wicked, ever-threatening the light.

I can do nothing else but groan today. But I groan, indeed, and will do so with faith still, somehow.

God, be with us. Come with power, and save your people.

Peter Hawkinson

the word and the Word

“You search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40, NRSV)

“You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.” (The Message)

Recently the comment came again in the midst of a vigorous give and take with a friend as we wrestled with a theological issue on which we disagree. It’s that shut down word when we’ve had enough, and she had had enough, looked at me and said in a dismissive tone, “Well, I’m going to stick with the bible.”

The comment is unfair, I think, because it makes the assumption of course that I am NOT sticking with the bible. It is arrogant, I think, because it’s preachy, saying that “I know what the bible says, and by the way, you don’t.” It is dismissive, I think, serving to just end any ongoing discussion. And, I want to argue most importantly, it is dangerous, because it puts the bible in the place of Jesus. The comment replaces Jesus as the standard for faith, doctrine, and conduct with the bible.

I know, I know that they are deeply connected. I get it. But they are not the same. There is the word (small w) and the Word (Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh). Reflect deeply on Jesus words above, who has just come through Samaria where he met the woman at the well. He’s back home in Cana, on the western shore of the Galilee Sea, and he’s in trouble, because word has spread that back in Jerusalem he healed a man on the sabbath. Now he’s home, and his family and friends are in an accusative mood. And according to the Law, according to the scripture, they are right in their indictment of him, because healing on the sabbath is work, and that’s strictly forbidden. To this Jesus says, “My Father is still working, and I am still working.” In essence, the people say to him, “Well, we’re going to stick with the bible.”

The words above are Jesus’ response to them. Read them, and read them again! His words and actions fly in the face of much of what scripture has to say — take for instance, talking to, touching and eating with a Samaritan woman, and staying in the neighborhood a few days. Will we “stick with the bible” — that expressly forbids all these actions — or “stick with Jesus”?

Please don’t get me wrong! I’m not arguing in any way that the word and the Word are opposites, and neither am I advocating for an understanding of scripture that is not chocked full of authority. the Bible is and will always be our book. But there is an order to things, as Jesus makes clear. The bible is not our source of life , but leads us to the Source, who is Jesus. So it is more appropriate for us to teach and form ourselves to say “I’ll stick with Jesus”.

This whole issue of the word and the Word is THE issue at the heart of most of our conflicts and schism in the Church, as we discern the issues of the day, most recently inclusion (or not). It’s quite easy to find and form a biblical view for a clear line of exclusion. At the same time, reading the gospels and following Jesus, and even more importantly, finding our new life in Jesus, inclusion of all categories of outsiders is the heart of the gospel. what to do?

Maybe the best way to say it is that the bible is authoritative but Jesus is the authority. Scripture testifies on his behalf.

What do you think?

Love From Here

Peter Hawkinson