Virtual Methodist

So we come to the end of our second week of Advent poems, or perhaps in this case, reflections with Archbishop Oscar Romero's piece entitled "The God we Hardly Knew." As I say in the video I am not sure as to the exact origins or indeed format of this, who translated it or when, but, although it specifically refers to Christmas, in tone it clearly stands in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets and John the Baptist. Shalom

I promised earlier in advent that we would be hearing from Oscar Romero again... Here is his take on the hope that is ours in the promised Kingdom of God... Worth hearing in the wake of frustration regarding the lack of outcomes in the Haass Talks. Advent is our opportunity to step back and take the long view... It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water se...

Further thoughts from Oscar Romero (and probably not the last this advent), this time explicitly on advent and the  theme of  last Sunday's " Hope and History - Into the Neighbourhood"  candle liturgy -  "The Coming Kingdom of Justice."  Advent should admonish us to discover in each brother or sister that we greet, in each friend whose hand we shake, in each beggar who asks for bread, in each worker who wants to use the right to join a union, in each peasant who looks for work in the coffee groves, the face of Christ. Then it would not be possible to rob them, to cheat them, to deny them their rights. They are Christ, and whatever is done to them Christ will take as done to himself. This is what Advent is: Christ living among us. Archbishop Oscar Romero Shalom

On Thursday night when I heard that Nelson Mandela had died I posted on facebook: 'I pray that Mandela may rest in peace, but the key thing for me is that when alive he worked for peace. He said "If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner." I don't want the peace of a graveyard, but the peace of a reconciled community.' Mandela did not always pursue a path of peace, at least not in terms of non-violence, but he was an unequivocal champion of justice, an intrinsic component to that more holistic perspective on peace contained within the Hebrew concept of shalom... I think the phrase "the peace of a graveyard" came from a quote by that other iconic hero of peace and justice Archbishop Oscar Romero that I had been reading earlier yesterday, where he said:  "Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of v...

Archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero was assasinated 30 years ago today while celebrating the eucharist. This piece by Romero, like Martin Luther King Junior's "I have been to the mountaintop" speech, is remarkably prescient, aware that any of us are only part of a much bigger picture, but is also pregnant with the resurrection hope that we will be celebrating in a few days time, not a "cross you fingers" or "touch wood" type of hope, but the sure and certain hope, which is not just about pie in the sky when you die, but God's kingdom come, his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that cou...