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November 2001
Prompted
by terrorism, we need to write a new vision of hope for the
world which God loves
About 2600 years ago, the prophet
Habakkuk surveyed the world around him and found it to be filled
with evil, terror and destruction. In anger and rage, desperation
and despair, Habakkuk cried to his God -"O Lord, how long
shall I cry for help, and You will not listen? Or cry to you
'Violence!' and you will not save?...O Lord, your eyes are too
pure to behold evil...Why do you look on the treacherous, and
are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than
they?" Habakkuk is alive today and lives within us, for
our hearts too have cried out to God - "Where are you,
and why do you seem to be so silent?" For many of us, those
questions have been answered by the eloquence of others, as
spoken through so many words and actions in response to Sept.
11- words and actions that have left us breathless, or in tears
flowing freely from some very deep place.
The personal stories and the public witness of simply heroic
deeds have touched our lives and witnessed to the powerful
presence and love of God in the midst of our suffering and
sorrow. As we work our way through this difficult time, we
would do well to find the courage to look beyond these moments
to what lies ahead. Having voiced his cry to God, Habakkuk
determined to place himself on the watchtower, to wait and
listen for God's response, and in the waiting God spoke to
Habakkuk: "WRITE THE VISION - AND MAKE IT PLAIN!"
Out of this tragedy comes opportunity to write the vision
in plain unmistakable words. It seems to me that we will choose
between two visions: we may write the vision with words and
thoughts like "Batten down the hatches- circle the wagons
-defend our borders and ultimately destroy any who look, think,
act, speak, or believe differently." It is a vision of
isolation and independence, and in my view, death. OR, we
might choose to write the vision of the globalization of our
world nestled in the hollow of God's hands...a world of diversity
and difference filled with opportunity to grow and learn from
each other...a world challenged to find ways to survive and
live together with respect and appreciation for the differences.
Economist Richard Parker told the September gathering of the
House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church that 40,000 children
of the world beneath the age of 5 die each day; 50 million
people in this coming year will die of disease or malnutrition
that could be prevented, but we will not prevent it.
He told us that we have the knowledge and capacity to reduce
world poverty by 50% in 15 years, if we would but choose to
act. What vision will we write? To which vision will we give
our lives and hearts? What kind of people do we choose to
be? How will We build on the heroic acts of love and compassion
experienced these past two months, to include heroic acts
of love and compassion for the world which God has created
and blessed and loved in all its diversity?
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