Way back in the 1960’s my mum invested her hard-earned money in a Kenwood Chefette food mixer and this amazing little piece of kit revolutionised our lives. Mum insisted that the margarine and sugar were properly creamed when mixing a sponge cake and prior to the arrival of the food mixer, that required effort and time vigorously beating with a plastic spatula.
I used to love meringues, but it took ages to beat the egg whites to a point where we could hold the bowl upside down, above our heads with little fear of wearing the contents as a hat. The arrival of the food mixer chadnge all of that, and now at the mere flick of a switch, the machine took all the effort out of everything we did and that was possibly my first lesson that power is a wonderful thing.
During my lifetime power has transformed our lives and our home is packed with devices to make life easier. I will be eternally thankful for things like power steering, my computers, mobile phone, automatic washing machine, dishwasher, and a whole host more, it is difficult to see how power can possibly be negative.
Having said that, witnessing the scenes from Ukraine over the last eighteen months and more recently the horrible conflict Israel and Palestine over the last two weeks, I find myself having a much more negative view of power. It seems to me, and I stand to be corrected that conflicts invariably involve the ownership of land. I read in the Old Testament about the migrant Israelite people who made their way to the promised land, a place where they could live in harmony and in peace. Human beings typically like power and authority, but we need to remember that as with all things, power, brings responsibility.
I have tried to use the current six Sundays reflecting on the Methodist conference initiative ‘A Justice Seeking Church ‘and on this second Sunday as we chart our way through, we consider the statement “A Justice Seeking Church speaks truth with power” the report says “God entrusts those in power with a special responsibility for upholding justice.
Those seeking justice will encourage and challenge those with power to fulfil their vocation”. As a Church leader, I find the statement a challenge. Power transforms our lives, but if we are not careful, having power, can cause us to laud it over others and that is when we run into difficulties.
A long time ago, I heard somebody say, “knowledge is power” and I have often reflected on that statement. We can look at the situation in Gaza at the moment and reel in horror at what we see, but I urge you to try and to understand what is happening, we need to understand that there are innocent victims on both sides of the conflict, we cannot simply pray that one side will win, peace will only be found when both sides come together and negotiate a solution that both sides can agree to.
I’d like to share with you a prayer from the Methodist Church Website
Loving God
I see the news and I am afraid.
Violence is spiralling out of control.
I don’t know what to think or feel.
The temptation to fall into hatred, or despair feels very close at hand.
Help me to remember that nothing in all creation can separate me from your love that I know in Jesus.
May your perfect love for me cast out my fear and free me to discern what is mine to do amidst the chaos of this suffering world. Amen
Other prayers can be found at https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/prayer/israel-palestine/