The photo shot of the U.S. President standing outside St John’s Church in Washington has provoked a huge reaction at home and abroad…but it might just serve as a useful backdrop to this week’s reflection for all.
The Bible for Christians contains the revealed words of God. Remember Paul’s injunction to Timothy…”all Scripture is inspired by God.” The section in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 also reminds us that Scripture can be used “for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives.”
So, what sort of God was being proclaim by the above action?
We proclaim truths about the God we believe in and worship in a very robust way today.
For a start, we believe, as Moses discovered, that the Lord our God is “a God of tenderness and compassion”. Would this headstrong people accept that truth for imitation; then we might be a people “slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness”, and our world would become a better place.
We may not be able to “greet one another with the holy kiss” at this moment; covid-19 has put a temporary halt to that. Nonetheless, we believe that the God of love and peace “is with us” and urges us to “be united; live in peace”.
And if that is not enough to keep us pondering, then the Gospel today reminds us that “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son”. Surely not the action of a dictator, or of many leaders in our world at the moment. God protect Hong Kong!
Today is a good time to reflect on our own personal image of God and, if necessary, to revise it in the light of the scripture. We cannot ignore the plight of people in the world. Our ancestors, at times, like Moses’ people as indeed ourselves, have acted like headstrong people. We have a different God to that proclaimed by many in power. Real power is not from the gun but is given and received in lovingly working for truth and justice.
Happy revisiting the Trinitarian God this weekend.
Mons Frank