Waiting for what? – 1. From anger to hope

This devotional season takes us on a journey that embraces the anguish of the present moment, the British Chancellor sends the rich empty away and the earth waits for justice to dawn

Some important components of true faith lie on the path between anger and hope.

Do you feel angry about the current world situation? Anger is one of the most powerful impulses in our lives. As we sense that our financial systems are behaving like a cuckoo in the nest of the world economy, or we recognise that a third of all global wealth is now held in off shore tax havens, or we read that nine tenths of all financial activity is now speculation, surely we do right to be angry?

Or when we come to understand that our present economic system promotes systems of slavery in Dubai, while raping the earth of precious resources and upsetting the intricate balances of the natural world, surely we must be angry?

Such anger is one of the motivations of historical faith.. We can feel it powerfully in prophets like Amos as they issue great warnings of coming judgement

Hear this you who trample upon the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end…(Amos 8 v 4)

We can sense it in that well known hymn attributed to Mary who, in my mind is nothing like the sickly, doleful romantic pictures of traditional religion, but someone with fire in her eyes, longing for the time when God will ‘put down the mighty from their thrones’, ‘fill the hungry with good things’ while ‘the rich he has sent empty away’. I heard that phrase of Mary’s about the rich being sent empty away, in the voice of Alistair Darling the other day as he imposed a windfall tax on bonuses in the City of London.

These human feelings are perennial. And they are part of true Christian faith. James was the brother of Jesus and he was totally uncompromising

‘Come now you rich weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you…
behold the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out.’ (James 5 v 1ff)

The religious sensibility that underlies this and the other biblical roots of protest is the belief that there is a God who hears. The failure to pay just wages cries out to God. The slavery of Dubai cries out. The creatures on the verge of extinction cry out. The great trees of the rainforest cry out. Even the very earth cries out. And God hears and calls the faithful to act.(see Exodus 22 v 23,27 for original thoughts on these lines)

This means that the anger of the people of faith must be turned to action. If our faith does not move us to action, it is nothing(James 1 v 22).

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out to campaign about the Copenhagen talks. They have acted and they are calling on world leaders to act.
Others are committing themselves to radical lifestyles. For them, there is new wisdom that we must seek if we are to live well on the earth. In the quietness of their own communities they are seeking a different way to live, a way more in tune with the earth, away from rapacious greed, towards a vibrant wholesome community.

To act to precipitate change and to seek new ways of living are deeply in accord with the origins of the Christian faith. In amongst the history of the church with its buildings and services and priesthood it can be hard to remember the simple calling of the one who said ‘Let your light shine amongst others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.’ (Matthew 5 v 16) But this is the true calling. It is by our actions that we most clearly express our faith.

Yet some of us may also feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenges that we are facing today. We might despair of our world leaders finding agreement, or we might be despondent about our own personal ability to change. So it is important that this journey from anger to hope has always carried something of a faith that allows us to reflect and rest, waiting for God to act. This should not be seen as a cop out from our responsibility, but a relief from frantic fretting and striving. People of faith need to find the rest that comes from believing that this world is created by God and is ultimately in the hands of God. We need to experience the forgiveness that will allow us to forgive others. We must come to a stillness that allows us to reconnect with God and the creation. We may feel powerless, but God can, and will, make great things happen. There is a waiting for God to be embraced on the journey and a belief that God will ultimately fulfil the longings of our hearts. Psalm 37 expresses these ideas beautifully,

Fret not yourself because of the wicked, be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like grass and wither like the green herb… yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more…. but the meek shall possess the land and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

In fact such waiting does not describe a solely human activity. Paul says, in words that echo this journey ‘The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God’ (Romans 8 v 19). For Paul, it is clear that our hopes, our anger, our actions, our longings are inextricably tied up with the life of creation. Human beings are participant creatures in the great creation and we will all embrace the future together.

May we find the path to true peace

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