Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Hughes, G.W. (1998) God of Compassion
EXERCISE
Stare at the palm of your hand and reflect on your interconnectedness! It can take you back to the origin of the species, to all those who nurtured you, to those who toiled to grow the food which has nourished you, to the earth which mothers the plants and animals which sustain you, to the sun without which nothing could grow! 'No man is an island.' 23
My name is Donald: 1 am a unique manifestation of God!" '
If we identify ourselves by our differences, we cling to those differences with all the power of our instinct for self-preservation, the strongest of all our instincts. In our struggle to be different, we oppress, exploit and even eliminate any who threaten what we deem to be our very existence. This process leads to the disintegration of society and to the reign of individualism. Violence increases, mutual trust perishes, and we become separated from one another, locked into the prison of our own self-interest.
As we separate ourselves from others and destroy, or ignore their wellbeing in our pursuit of our individual interest, we become separated from our very self, for we can only find that self insofar as we live in unity, recognising the other, whoever the other may be, as we recognise ourselves. That is why the greatest of all the commandments is 'To love the Lord, our God, with all our heart and soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves'. 25
Does the news that God's Kingdom is open to all delight or distress us? If it distresses us, why? Perhaps we would prefer a more selective Kingdom, including, of course, ourselves. We are touching on the differences between God's thinking and our own. We prefer an exclusive Kingdom for us and those like us; God welcomes everyone, including the people we can't stand. It has been said that 'We are as near to God as we are to the person we like least.'
83
for you....
Do this in my memory'This means far more than celebrating formal eucharistic liturgies. It is an invitation to become Eucharist, to allow the self-giving of God to be expressed in all our thinking and acting, in all our relationships, as individuals, as Church and as nation. This is to be the characteristic of the people of the Covenant, as it was the characteristic of Jesus's life. 'I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.'
In his autobiography, the religious broadcaster, Gerald Priestland, describes having tea with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop asked him if he did not, as a Quaker, feel deprived of the Eucharist. Gerald Priestland replied that, as a Quaker, he believed that every meal was a Eucharist. 'Whereupon,' he said, 'the Archbishop looked at his petit-four with greater respect.1
98
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Stare at the palm of your hand and reflect on your interconnectedness! It can take you back to the origin of the species, to all those who nurtured you, to those who toiled to grow the food which has nourished you, to the earth which mothers the plants and animals which sustain you, to the sun without which nothing could grow! 'No man is an island.' 23
My name is Donald: 1 am a unique manifestation of God!" '
If we identify ourselves by our differences, we cling to those differences with all the power of our instinct for self-preservation, the strongest of all our instincts. In our struggle to be different, we oppress, exploit and even eliminate any who threaten what we deem to be our very existence. This process leads to the disintegration of society and to the reign of individualism. Violence increases, mutual trust perishes, and we become separated from one another, locked into the prison of our own self-interest.
As we separate ourselves from others and destroy, or ignore their wellbeing in our pursuit of our individual interest, we become separated from our very self, for we can only find that self insofar as we live in unity, recognising the other, whoever the other may be, as we recognise ourselves. That is why the greatest of all the commandments is 'To love the Lord, our God, with all our heart and soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves'. 25
Does the news that God's Kingdom is open to all delight or distress us? If it distresses us, why? Perhaps we would prefer a more selective Kingdom, including, of course, ourselves. We are touching on the differences between God's thinking and our own. We prefer an exclusive Kingdom for us and those like us; God welcomes everyone, including the people we can't stand. It has been said that 'We are as near to God as we are to the person we like least.'
83
for you....
Do this in my memory'This means far more than celebrating formal eucharistic liturgies. It is an invitation to become Eucharist, to allow the self-giving of God to be expressed in all our thinking and acting, in all our relationships, as individuals, as Church and as nation. This is to be the characteristic of the people of the Covenant, as it was the characteristic of Jesus's life. 'I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.'
In his autobiography, the religious broadcaster, Gerald Priestland, describes having tea with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop asked him if he did not, as a Quaker, feel deprived of the Eucharist. Gerald Priestland replied that, as a Quaker, he believed that every meal was a Eucharist. 'Whereupon,' he said, 'the Archbishop looked at his petit-four with greater respect.1
98
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