Last month the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told a security summit that the rules-based world order no longer exists. Certainly, as I look at the conflict which continues to rage across that region we call the Middle East, and as I listen to the voices of those with power in the political sphere of USA, Israel, Iran, Russia and more, I wonder about the survival of multilateralism and any desire to work for peace and transformation in a way which values mutual relationship and which seeks to recognise the dignity and worth of human beings, created in the image of God.
There are undoubtedly conflicting views about the moral basis for the war on Iran, yet whatever the outcome regarding new leadership and the future, I do believe that the decision of those with might to instigate attack on their terms, is deeply perturbing. As we pray for peace and a better future for that country amid continued destruction and death, let us also hold in prayer our Iranian sisters and brothers in our worshipping communities who are deeply concerned for families and friends in Iran, and wonder what the future holds.
The deteriorating situation in the Occupied West Bank, as the rules-based order is devastatingly tossed aside by Israel, is also terrifying to watch. I fear for the long-lasting impact of ever greater restrictions, illegal Israeli settlements, settler violence and blatant annexation as Palestinian life continues to be flagrantly diminished and suffocated at alarming speed (not least as eyes are turned away to the larger international scene); and injustice is glaringly ignored by an international community whose advocacy for a rules-based order, rings hollow.
At the same time, I am alarmed at how the international landscape has led to an increase in abhorrent anti-Jewish behaviour and attack in the UK. Jewish people are fearful and unjustly forced to be hypervigilant, but it should not be so. This too needs people to stand together in mutual relationship, as this ugly behaviour is condemned and called out, not least by those of us who have heard Christ’s words to love our neighbours as ourselves.
How are we as Christian individuals and communities contributing to dialogue and action which upholds a Godly picture of transformed communities in which people and places are cherished, and in which human dignity and mutual relationship is worked at?
Against the heartbreaking backdrop of broken relationship and injustice across our world, locally and far away, I was much heartened by the gathering I hosted last Tuesday in Westminster entitled ‘Living Christ’s mercy, justice and hope’.
The event brought together people keen to build connections and explore how churches and Christian-based organisations might more strongly support people in prison and those returning to their communities. Of course, the breaking of rules and disdain of mutual relationship and human dignity, underlies all criminal offences, yet if we are to transform the lives of individuals, families and communities, then our criminal justice system needs to keep relationship at the fore, across its length and breadth.
Attendees at the conference heard two powerful contributions from those whose lives have been transformed through encounter with Christ as chaplains and volunteers came alongside them in relationship, believed in them and walked with them, lifting their eyes to the possibility of restoration and hope.
At the conference I spoke about the need for a relational justice system that balances compassion with accountability, and I articulated the view that mercy and justice are not natural companions. Shaping a system for sentencing, prisons and the community, which holds these two together is tough. Later that evening, I inwardly pondered what our international landscape would look like if we sought to enable mercy and justice to dwell together, and what that might mean for multilateralism and an international rules-based order.
Every person who attended the conference received a copy of the recent report A Christian Approach to Justice Reform | Picking up the Pieces compiled by the Prison Advice and Care Trust, reflecting an alliance of Christian leaders across denominations, inviting the government to work alongside the hundreds of churches, Christian organisations, and other faith communities that are already ‘Picking Up the Pieces’ of our broken criminal justice system.
As we walk these final weeks of Lent, I pray that each of us might seek God’s wisdom and strength to know how to play our part in picking up just some of the pieces of our broken world. In addition to our commitment to pray, what might be the one new thing we can do in places of brokenness and injustice in the lives of those in our communities and the wider world?
Last Tuesday, in our final worship, we joined our voices to sing ‘Amazing Grace’, and in my sadness and anger at so much injustice in our world, I pray for God’s amazing grace and mercy to be poured out afresh on our world through our lives, as we walk towards the cross of Christ, and beyond to the hope of Easter Day.
With my thanks and prayers as ever,
News Hub
I pray with al my heart that Bishop Rachel’s wise and compassionate words will break the international wall of silence on the Palestine issue.
Ironically, Amazing Grace was written by one of the men who by his actions lead to the end of the international slave trade. And how did this trade come to an end?
Because of the Royal Navy. Because of the “decision of those with might to instigate attack on their terms”.
I wholeheartedly agree with Bishop Rachel’s reflections and continue to pray for an end to Palestinian oppression and war in the Middle East. The militarisation of God’s Word to justify violence is heartbreaking.