I am deeply grateful to God that I am living in a democracy. I am deeply grateful to the suffragettes and many others who enabled me, as a woman, to have a vote. I am also thankful that there are people who want to give their lives to politics to represent my voice in parliament. I think all of us would admit that flawed though that system undoubtably is, it is preferable to dictatorship. I choose to believe that the people we vote into parliament are, by and large, good people. They want to do the right thing and work for the betterment of our country. This week those very people, the ones we have asked to represent us, have sat and listened to hours worth of input from experts in the field on both sides of the argument. They have read up on the facts and figures. They have debated the pro's and cons. I was not able to do that - they did it on my behalf. I dont know the complexities of the political regime in Syria. I dont know the history of the insurrectionist groups or how they get their funding. But parliament does. Well, they know alot more than I do. I didnt have to sit through ten hours of the facts being presented before making up my mind which way to vote. My MP did. The bottom line is that the vast majority of MPs decided, after looking at the facts and weighing up the pros and cons, that military action was necessary.
Now, dont get me wrong, I do know that civilians will die and very probably our own servicemen and women will be put in danger too. I am sure that our involvement in the campaign will make us even more ' legitimate' targets for ISIL terrorists But our MPs know that too.
And what has any of this to do with Advent I hear you cry :)
Well it strikes me that this is the very world into which Jesus was born. A world at war. He was born into an occupied territory. Under a dictatorship. People had been crying out for freedom from the brutal Roman regime. Terrorism was rife. The poor were very poor indeed. And this is where Jesus chose to come. He didnt go to Rome - the seat of power - to overthrow the tyrant and herald in an era of world peace. He went to be with the suffering ones, To suffer with them. To be tortured and die with them. For them. God knows that its not about politics, about the machinery of war or about money. He is the one who sets up governments and tears them down. Our bombs dont do it. Our covert operations dont do it. God does it. And He does it in full possession of ALL the facts. God knows every individual who will die in this conflict and all the ones which are to come. He loves them all. He is not concerned that they will die - because we are all going to die. He is concerned that when they DO die - be that at the age of six or a hundred and six - they know Him.
In the middle of all the turmoil in the middle east God is doing amazing things.
http://blog.godreports.com/2014/10/the-extraordinary-move-of-god-in-middle-east/
As He did two thousand years ago in Bethlehem He is once again making Himself known to the persecuted and the poor. In dreams and visions, through missionaries and new technologies. He has always been passionate about the dispossessed. I recently heard an Egyptian pastor speaking about the persecution of the church in Egypt. He asked us to pray - not that the persecution would stop , because God is using it mightily to do amazing things - but that the church would have strength and grace to witness in the midst of it.
I think it's fair to say that we do not see things in the way God sees them. Not at all. I genuinely dont know what to think about the latest decision to drop bombs on Syria, but I do know that I am told to pray for my government and to care for the orphan and the widow. In this run up to Christmas I shall endeavour to do both.
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