LOOKING OUT  21.1.24

The sad state of our world at the moment is difficult to stomach. As Christians who, in recent weeks,

have read (either through our personal devotions or through the Scripture readings during our Sunday service) the early chapters of the book of Genesis and heard reflections on the world God created through the Creation story. From the beauty of the garden of Eden, where life was idyllic, because people were in close communion with God, we have “graduated” to a world where pain, violence and struggle is experienced by too many people. There is conflict and division and violence that leads people to ask the question “how long?” How long will we be challenged by greed and materialism, of violence and conflict, of hatred and power that oppresses, marginalises and rejects?1

Jesus offered the world a new way. Many have embraced the new way of living; sadly, many have not. Jesus invited people to a life of hope, where love and justice come together and people were

drawn into a community where everyone belonged. All were welcome and age, gender, disability, illness, sexual orientation, skin colour, culture, language were not barriers to entry.

God’s way is a world where compassion rules supreme. Compassion is not the entitlement of any

one group or nation. Compassion is a universal human trait. Sadly, in today’s world many world

leaders exhibit little compassion. For example, look at Yemen where most of the population live in

poverty while their military (can we read Houthis here?) engage in military action against cargo ships

in the Red Sea. Look at the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In

declaring that “We will occupy all of Judea and Samaria”2, he is not showing even the smallest

amount of compassion (in saying this, I am not endorsing the actions of Hamas on 7 October), as he

invokes his imperialistic ambitions in the name of Israel’s security. The world needs a new mindset where love, kindness and compassion are uppermost in everyone’s thinking leading to a world where we live in the way of hope and love.

NRM

1 Geoff Stevenson: Reflection Note – 21/1/24

1 Tim Costello: Page 47, The Cost of Compassion. Acorn

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