A Day Off

As I'm a probationer, the Methodist Church has ordained that I have a Sunday off after Christmas - even if I don't want it. So we decided to visit some very good friends in Hexham. After some careful consideration we worshipped this morning in Hexham Abbey. The building was fabulous; very old with a long history of abbey-style worship.

There was much that caught my attention, but Hazel pointed out the opening pages in the hymn book, 'Hymns Ancient and Modern'. It said, Military similies and triumpahalism have been taken out. All too often texts advocating spiritual warfare are used to justify the self-seeking ambition behind temporal conflict. Christian "triumph" is surely the triumph of love'. The Methodist hymn book will soon be subject to the same treatment.

This made me think of WWI and WWII and many other conflicts. Perhaps if we were under threat from an invading army about to do terrible things to our children and families we wouldn't be talking like this, but rather about fighting for freedom to proclaim the Christian message. Then I remembered a sermon (very rare indeed!) where the preacher suggested that if all the Christians prayed instead of fought, war might have been avoided.

But then I looked around the Abbey. There was a stained glass window devoted to the RAF and hung from the arches were battle banners and coats of arms bearing symbols of war adorned the walls. As I type, the news on the radio is telling of Israeli air strikes against Palestine.

Are Christians hypocritical? I think not, but we are confused about our faith and doctrine. We talk about love but in our hearts that love is drowned out by the drums of war. I'm not criticising anyone here, but reflecting on the Biblical themes which become - for want of a better word - fashionable. Sometimes being a pacifist is fashionable. At other times laying down one's life in war is what is desired. I don't think we are two-faced, just fail to understand who God really is and what he really wants from us.