Belonging and Refuge:
Sometimes
there is a feeling that the Bible is old fashioned and out of date. However, occasionally
world events remind us that this is simply not the case. Last evening we grappled
within our elders (leaders) meeting how as a church we might respond to the
human tragedy which is the present refugee crisis, primarily from war torn
Syria. One elder simply said, ‘this is the biggest Exodus of people since the
Biblical exodus.’ Now he is probably wrong, over history there have been many
tragic events which have displaced huge numbers, but it does remind us that
present events have many parallels in the Bible. In fact if we take a who’s who
of the bible… most of them were in some way refugees: Adam and Eve, Cain and
Able, Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and Naomi, Daniel, Moses, in fact all of the 12
tribes of Israel, Elijah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. That’s not a bad list to start,
but it continues in the New Testament, Mary and Joseph and of course Jesus took
refuge in Egypt, most of the early church was forced to flee persecution and if
you take Paul’s letter to the Ephesians seriously all of us begin as refugees: ‘remember
that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth…. You were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship with God’s people and foreigners to the covenants of
the promise, without hope and without God in the world.’ (Eph 2:11-13) Of
course the letter goes on to remind the Ephesians and indeed us, that we are no
longer ‘foreigners’ we have been welcomed in, by the costly love of Christ. We
are invited and welcomed, given a place at table. There is no doubt that the Bible with its many
stories of refugees is relevant. It is also deeply challenging.
Of
course for many of us our options to help refugees are limited. We don’t all
have a property which we can offer to the local council, or indeed the capacity
to foster a child or young person. We can of course all pray, we can cry out
for an end to this senseless human suffering. We can also petition government
and most of us can give towards agencies and groups who are seeking to bring
relief either here in Europe or indeed around the area of Syria. [On 27th
Sept we will open a donations box at Zion… towards this relief.] Even were we
able to offer a house, foster a child, pray, petition and give generously, the depth
of the suffering means that this could never be enough. Although this particular tragedy is very much ‘man-made’
we need to pray for a real sea change to bring it to an end. Tragedies like
this must eventually open the eyes of leaders and assailants to search for new
ways to live, pursuing peace, reconciliation, acknowledging our common
humanity. I believe this realisation is
also an opportunity. We may not be ‘great leaders’ but we can in our own small
ways begin this process. It is a
chastening fact that some or indeed many of those who have travelled to Syria
or Iraq to wage war have done so in part because here in the UK they did not
have their common humanity affirmed nor did those who were different to them
seek reconciliation. I have experienced
this alienation and separation even in little Frampton Cotterell over the last
few days. We have skateboarders ‘colonising’
Zion’s car park! It is very easy to alienate them, to see them as different to
us, indeed to feel threatened. We might want to affirm that they are in “OUR”
car park. I have sought a gentler path. In my view Zion’s land is God’s land. I
am not exactly welcoming them with open arms… there are issues, bad language,
litter and indeed the matter of safety. However these young people are, like me
made in God’s image. If I wish them to respect me and our property, I have to
respect them. I must also remember that
they are capable of great goodness. One of them, Harry, came upon an elderly
member of our congregation who had fallen at the roadside. Like a regular Good Samaritan,
he helped him up and back to his car: (another example of the bible being
relevant today.) I met Harry later that
afternoon in our car park whilst I was chastising another boy for making a
mess. I was able to thank him and give him some fair trade chocolates. We are able to be the beginning of the end of
this refugee crisis. We begin this ending of fear, and separation and
alienation when we learn to treat those around us, whether alike us or very
different, as our sisters and brothers, made in the image of God. Let’s spur one another on to do just this, to
treat others as we would love to be treated.
Stephen
A video which inspired some of my thoughts this month can be
found at:
