Preaching and Osama
The death of Osama bin Laden brought a sense of relief that his influence to some extent ends, but I cannot celebrate his death. What are we doing when we publicly rejoice in someone's killing? The same argument justifies capital punishment as “justice”. In claiming to uphold human rights against its enemies we fall to shameful hate and revenge rhetoric. Killed in a firefight - understandable. Glee at his death? Popular barbarism. But it is popular and clearly lies below the surface among so many who otherwise champion freedom and human rights.
Emotions at a time like this are often tangled. Joy belongs to relief. It is surely understandable that people flocked to Ground Zero and celebrated. And many will want Sunday's worship to join those celebrations. Our spiritual and moral leadership is then crucial. It does not make sense to deny the relief. What we must not do is join the chorus of hate and revenge. For then we are surrendering to the very values we allegedly want to destroy. No person is to be hated or written off as expendable. That is at the heart of the gospel of love. Justice is not the institutionalisation of community hate and revenge, but setting things right. That means confronting perpetrators of injustice and violence. Love is about truth and includes bringing people to face up to what they have done, but it should never mean hating them or seeking to kill them. That they might fight and die in resisting arrest is another matter.
People are going to need help this Sunday in many congregations to get hate and love sorted. We have additional responsibility if we see ourselves as interpreters of the Christian tradition, because that tradition has unfortunately been the inspiration for both love and hate and for some it is the main plank of their evangelism: how to avoid hell, when God will wreak permanent and painful revenge on all unbelievers. Following Jesus' own example, and that of Paul, we need to discern and discriminate what gives life and what brings death in our tradition and shape our sermons and liturgies accordingly. We might then pray something like this:
O God of justice and mercy,
we have heard the news that Osama bin Laden is dead.
For many this has brought relief and the hope that hate and violence will cease.
For many this event has stirred feelings of hatred and revenge in the
celebration of his death.
Forgive us where we have turned from relief and hope to hate.
Your love knows no bounds.
Your love calls us to face up to ourselves.
Your love confronts the hatred and violence in us and in our world.
Your justice sets us us right, challenging our wrongdoing,
restoring our humanity, offering us hope of forgiveness and change.
Your mercy knows no hate, knows no limits, knows no end.
Grant that as we share relief at the end of Osama's leadership
we may be strong to embrace your mercy and your justice in our world
that love may replace hatred, justice, injustice, hope, hopelessness,
and healing and peace take root where there is alienation and pain,
In the name of him who is full of grace and truth. Amen
William Loader