Article September 5, 2005 Issue

GOD'S WORD ALIVE AND ACTIVE

BY FENELLA BENNETTS

IT'S A SADLY FAMILIAR story now. One day London learned that it won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games; the next day it faced grim terrorist attacks. Yet subsequent news reports have confirmed how often the worst in human experience brings out the very best in people. Londoners pulled together as they traditionally do.

The temptation at times of attack is to respond in kind — to answer violence with violence, to throw spears of blame, and to indulge in vitriolic language and hate campaigns. The alternative is to drown in handwringing or cower in fear. But the manhood being called forth at such times, while overflowing with compassion, rules out such things. It strengthens the bonds of our common humanity — the genuine ties that bind us to each other. It stands for the power of good to transcend evil and eventually destroy It. Ultimately it reflects our highest nature as the children of God. This manhood isn't a matter of gender — it's a generic term identifying all mankind, both men and women.

One of the saddest aspects of the recent terrorist events has been the discovery that young lives have been bent to the purposes of evil at a time when they were on the brink of adulthood, with all its potential for good. Nowadays our world is our parish, and what takes place around the globe is of concern to us all. Once again we are faced with the stark issues of good and evil, and the call to prayer remains urgent.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

SHARKS AND OUR SHARED HABITAT