Thought for the Week beginning 23 April: Justice and Hope.

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24

What God Requires

⁶ ‘With what shall I come before the Lord,     and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,     with calves a year old? ⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,     with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? … ⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good;     and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,     and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:6-8

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,     whose hope is in the Lord their God, ⁶ who made heaven and earth,     the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; ⁷     who executes justice for the oppressed;     who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free; ⁸     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;     the Lord loves the righteous. ⁹ The Lord watches over the strangers;     he upholds the orphan and the widow,     but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Psalm 146:5-9

This week we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection in third week of Eastertide. We consider wonderful and surprising ways in which Jesus encounters the disciples, including on the road to Emmaus where, we are told, Cleopas and another disciple reflected, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening scriptures to us?’ (Luke 24:31)

This week we also mark the 30th anniversary of the racist killing of Black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, in Eltham southeast London 30 years ago on 22 April 1993. Churches across our land are remembering this young man who, in life aspired to be an architect, but whose legacy has seen him become an architect for justice, equality, dignity and unity.

My family and I moved here from Zimbabwe with two very young daughters, one aged 4 and the other 4 months, in the summer of 1999. England is where both our fathers were born, so we came to see and learn and live and experience a different way of life with different opportunities and challenges. We came, fully aware that we grew up in an apartheid Rhodesia and carried the shame of racial prejudice that the colonial settlers brought with them, even exercised in the name of Christ. We didn’t want to make choices which would divide, but we both worked in environments which actively worked towards racial harmony and equal opportunities for all. So it was somewhat surprising that in the year we arrived, the Macpherson Report, an enquiry into the killing of Stephen Lawrence was published, finding the police guilty of institutional racism and recommending an overhaul of Britain’s race relations legislation. The church, too, is guilty of marginalising and discriminating against people of mixed race heritage, though they recognise it and speak out against it. Today we mark the second anniversary of the landmark report by the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism taskforce, From Lament to Action. But there is still so much more to be done in changing our attitudes and actions. Here are three that have been a very helpful prompt to me:

• Remember the importance of racial justice;

• Repent of past attitudes and actions of prejudice;

• Reflect on human diversity and thank God for it;

• Respond by working to end injustice, racism and ignorance through prayer and action

I close this reflection with a very challenging Franciscan blessing:

May God bless you with discomfort

At easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,

So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger

At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,

So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears

To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,

So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them

And turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness

To believe that you can make a difference in the world,

So that you can do what others claim cannot be done

To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen