violence as usaul

Proclamation of the Word part 1

Many of you will have seen in the news this week that a woman was shot in Afghanistan for alleged adultery. It reminded me of the passage from John’s gospel where a women caught in adultery is about to be stoned. I wonder what happened to the man.

In Biblical times women were regarded as possessions, and it many places still are. The practice of the Father of a bride giving her hand in marriage, comes from this idea that a woman is a possession of her father, and then her husband.  

And in the case this week, I wonder what happened to the men. One report says that :

“Salangi [Provincial governor Basir Salangi ]said two Taliban commanders were sexually involved with the woman in Parwan, either through rape or romantically, and decided to torture her and then kill her to settle a dispute between the two of them.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/08/afghan-woman-accused-adultery-shot-dead

this was a dispute between two men, about a woman, and the woman was killed.

In the gospel reading we heard this morning, another example of violence as a way of dealing with complicated relationships. John had called Herod on his relationship with Herodias, his brother’s wife.  And John is beheaded.

It got me thinking about violence in our world.

The Psalm begins with

“The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

How is violence respecting God’s creation?

Violence in the home, violence when people are out for the night, violence as a way of solving our problems.

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

It seems that the abundance of God is made available to some more than others. Does that mean some of God’s creation is more important than other parts? Are people living in the Horn of Africa less worthy than Northern Europeans?

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

How do we treat the earth and all that is in it?

What do we say about God and creation when we allow the Great Barrier Reef to be destroyed for the sake of bulk carriers moving to ports nearby?

What do we say about God and creation when we allow some people to live in poverty, to be oppressed, to be tortured, killed?

What do we say about God and creation?

Whose voices do we hear and whose are not heard?

A reflection including song and prayer. Please remain seated and join in with the singing.

Hymn/prayer: Kumba Yah – from Bread of Tomorrow p 74-5

Proclamation of the Word part 2

What voices do we hear,
who do we see dying,
who do we hear crying,
where is the shouting,
and who do we join praying?

The voices we hear in the media are often about the price of petrol; interest rates – too high or too low depending on how you are effected; housing affordability; traffic snarls; government stuff-ups. The voices we hear in the media feed us on a diet of self-interest, and negativity.

There are other voices we regularly hear, friends or family talk of their pain, their loneliness, their illness, their grief, their broken relationships.

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

 It is not only one woman who was killed in Afghanistan this week, just one which made the news more than others. And it happens in other places, not only in Afghanistan, not only in war zones, not only in one religious group. Since time began, people have been killing each other, because they don’t want to be challenged, or found out, or because they want something that belongs to them, even when that something is a human being.

What can we do?

It seems that our society tells us to look after ‘number one’, and that means our self. But what does God say?

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

What can we do?

We can speak. Silence can be part of the conspiracy of oppression and violence. Remember the US soldiers who were ’found out’ for torture? Silence and secrets allow the violence to remain hidden. Secrets have allowed abuse to be remain hidden in the Catholic Church – but like most secrets they eventually come into the open – someone has the courage to speak out one more time.

The death of the woman in Afghanistan this week may have remained a secret except someone videoed the event.

We can speak, with words, but also with our lives. We can live as part of God’s abundant and amazing creation. We can live as if others are part of God’s abundant and amazing creation.

We can speak,
we can listen to the voice of ‘silenced’
we can name the dying,
we can comfort the crying,
we can acknowledge the shouting,
we can join with the praying?