Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet


Responding to hate - a reflection

 

'The hate of this man will not die with him if it still lives within us.' By Joe Haward

 

 

Forgive
 

 

'What is wrong with our weak country? Our paramedics treating the guy who has just killed our people. He should be left to die or dragged out into the street and finished off.'

 

Seems like a legitimate statement, one that has been circulating since the Westminster terror attack in one form or another.

But here's the thing; the hate that filled this man's being is a hate that cares nothing for our humanity, and that hate within us, whatever its outlet, whomever it is towards, cares not for your humanity nor your reasoning behind it; hate for this man is the same hate he felt, and hate will never change our communities into peace. The hate of this man will not die with him if it still lives within us.

Martin Luther King Jr, drawing from the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, understood this only too well. In declaring that hate cannot drive out hate, Dr King saw the reality of perpetual violence that never ends, because violence will never solve things, hate will never heal things.

On Sunday I am preaching on Jesus' call to nonviolence, a call that recognises overcoming oppressors happens through creative acts of nonviolent resistance. It is a call to transform our society through compassion, love and forgiveness, to overcome hate through our unwillingness to allow hate to be the final word; love not hate never ends.

Acts of radical forgiveness, compassion and love in the face of extreme violence and hate catch us off guard, and jolt us into a previously unknown reality, a state of being that echoes out into eternity, pushing peace into the darkest caves of our bitterness and bringing the light of healing into our humanity.

Loving our enemies changes us, changes them, transforms us all.

We need to be a people of creative acts of compassion, otherwise hate will consume and destroy us. 

 

Image | Alex Shute | Unsplash


The Revd Joseph Haward is an eighth generation oyster fisherman, turned Revd, after training as a Baptist minister at Spurgeon’s College. Joe and his family now live in south Devon and founded the pioneer ministry This Hope. This reflection was originally posted to his Facebook page and is used with permission.

Joe's first book The Ghost of Perfection is being published by Wipf and Stock in 2017.

 

Baptist Times, 23/03/2017
    Post     Tweet
Collaboration, and our worship of Jesus
Notes from the two keynote addresses from Dave Ferguson and Alex Harris at the first Everyone Everywhere national conference on 8 October
Israel-Palestine: I can’t keep up
Baptist church member David Nelson has travelled to Israel and the West Bank on three occasions in the past 24 months. He offers this reflection on events in the region
Dwelling in scripture
Anne Le Tissier outlines the practice of remaining in just one or a few Bible verses for an entire week or more, which is explored more fully in her new book 'Dwell – Inviting God’s Word to make a home in our lives, one day at a time'
Protests or race riots?
Justice enabler Wale Hudson Roberts reflects on this summer's race riots. In doing so, he asks: what role can Baptists Together play in addressing the voice of the far right, Islamophobia, and racism in church and society?
Should your faith rely solely on the Bible?
For many of us, the Bible is by far and away the book that has most influenced our lives. But as Baptists, Jesus is our number one authority, writes Chris Goswami
The Church, the far right, and the claim to Christianity
The far right has grown in prominence in recent years - with some cynically employing Christian-sounding language. Helen Paynter highlights the current context - and how the Church can respond
     The Baptist Times 
    Posted: 14/10/2024
    Posted: 02/10/2024
    Posted: 22/07/2024
    Posted: 07/05/2024
    Posted: 12/02/2024
    Posted: 22/12/2023
    Posted: 16/12/2023