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Christ: Psalm 23 | Christ Descended
[ Many thanks to my good friend Pastor Michael Harvey of the Irving Park Baptist church in Chicago, Illinois, for his kind permission to publish this article on my website. Michael and I have spent many hours studying the Bible together. We have been in dialogue for a few years now and have never argued. We dialogue in charity and in truth - towards unity. Michael is currently in the New England area working as a "Pastor to Pastors." ]
I am writing on Wednesday, September 12, 2001, a day after the horror in New York and Washington that has put us in a state of shock. I spoke of this word from Paul on Sunday. It had a different sense then. I wanted us to understand that we did not have to seek God, that God had sought us, that God was in us and around us, closer to us than our breath. Today, many people are going to church in the middle of the week to pray and seek some kind of understanding of what has happened. Today, we are trying to make ourselves conscious that we live and move and have our being in God. Yesterday, a pastor quoted a line from a Psalm to me: "God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble." If she had said it to me Sunday, it would have had little effect on me - a nice word from the Bible, a word I have heard many times and not thought much about. But yesterday it rang in my heart and gave me something deeper than I can describe. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
We are in the trial that we have prayed in the Lord's Prayer not to face. We are in the midst of the Evil from which we have prayed to be delivered. Will we respond with hatred and fear, or will we trust the God in whom we live and move and have our being? Will we remember that trusting the God who is there means putting into practice the instructions of Jesus? When you are not in the midst of such evil, it is much easier to consider the command "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." The government will respond to death and destruction with death and destruction - that is its nature. As Paul said, "It does not bear the sword in vain." But we who are the Church must go against our natural feelings and follow Jesus Christ in the face of this evil. We must use the energy of our anger and the thoughtfulness of our grief for constructive, loving purposes.
Catherine of Siena spoke in the Spirit of Jesus, when she said, "Seek to love the one who is difficult for you to love. You do not have to grow to love the one who is easy to love, but to love the one who is difficult to love, you have to grow." Let us use this trial to build relationships with those who are different from us and difficult for us. Let us use the energy and thoughtfulness of this time to build bridges of reconciliation. Let us bring our minds and wills and hearts together to build a community based on love. A reporter was speaking from St. Vincent's hospital today. She talked about the many languages and cultures that had gathered there. The world is hurting in New York, and the world is coming together in New York to help each other. The world is also here in Chicago. Let us do the hard work of welcoming the world in our lives and in our churches. Real evil has crashed into our lives. Let us overcome this evil with good.
Michael Harvey
Christ: Psalm 23 | Christ Descended