Justice does not come without cost. In the most obvious sense, it is the cost of life and safety. For very many here today, that will be the first thing in their minds and hearts ”“ along with the cost in anxiety and compassion that is carried by the families of servicemen and women. But there is another sort of cost involved in holding back the easy instinctive response and checking that you are genuinely doing something for the sake of long-term building or healing: a cost in putting up with boredom and frustration in the course of operations; in setting aside prejudice and resentment to get to know a strange culture and feel with and for its people. These are all part of the cost, the sacrifice, involved in seeking a better and more secure life for people who have suffered outrageously.
When we as Christians consider the sacrifice that purchased peace and mercy for the whole world, we think not only of the death of Jesus on the cross but also of the cost of love and openness to the stranger that marked his entire life. We can recognise the same thing at work in a lesser degree in any life that is dedicated to taking the world a little further out of barbarity and violence: it is not only the moments of high tragedy that matter, but the patient acceptance of daily frustrations and confusions, and the need for painstaking attention in every detail to the work that is there to be done. All of that too we commemorate and celebrate today.
Many people of my generation and younger grew up doubting whether we should ever see another straightforward international conflict, fought by a standing army with conventional weapons. We had begun to forget the realities of cost. And when such conflict appeared on the horizon, there were those among both policy makers and commentators who were able to talk about it without really measuring the price, the cost of justice. Perhaps we have learned something ”“ if only that there is ‘a time to keep silence’, a time to let go of the satisfyingly overblown language that is so tempting for human beings when war is in the air. But today it is also ‘a time to speak’, although only briefly, to speak our thanks for those who have taught us through their sacrifice the sheer worth of justice and peace and who have shouldered some of the responsibility for fleshing out the values most of us only talk about.
Reading this “sermon” it’s difficult to find fault. On the surface, Rowan Williams seems to show respect for the work of the British soldiers who served in Iraq and have a duty to serve in spite of policies that result in actions that seem to contradict our values. However, the media has interpreted Rowan Williams’ comments on “failure to count the cost” to be a direct attack on the policies of the British government. I think Rowan Williams has once again stepped across the boundary and provided advice where it’s not wanted or needed. It seems flagrantly irresponsible to offer judgment to the government when his own governance does not reflect the “stand firm” policy called for in the Scripture reading for this “commemoration” (Ephesians 6.10—17). Respectfully, Rowan Williams, consider getting your own house in order before judging those who stand firm against a force for evil in the world.
It is nice to know that the sermon of Archbishop Rowan William would pave its way tpo stop the military operation is Iraq. Admit it or not, the war really cause trouble not only to the armed forces but also to the innocent civilians. Let’s hope for the positive result of this. Anyway, have you heard that there’s a new global warming bill that’s going through Congress. The global warming bill, or the Waxman Markey Act, establishes a cap and trade system on carbon emissions, which some think will lead to a greener economy, more jobs, and cheaper energy bills. Others think it won’t amount to much – consumers will still need payday loans for their electricity bills and energy companies will be pocketing cash as it creates another industry bubble, and will only lead to consumers having to pay more out of pocket and more government programs that will need taxpayer funding. A [url=http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/10/06/cash-advances-global-warming/]global warming bill[/url] of some kind was due eventually, but more people needing a cash advance for utilities isn’t a great idea.
I watched the whole thing in a service of commemoration of the end of involvement of British forces in Iraq and remembrance of those who had lost their lives. It can be watched by those in the UK [but sadly I believe not by those in the States and elsewhere] here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n5mj6/Iraq_20032009/
It was a good service with the mothers, families, friends and colleagues of the dead with the injured gathered with their Queen to mark their grief. This took place in testimony, blessing of the marble plaque which was on the war memorial at Basra airbase which is being rebuilt in the National War Memorial arboretum, the prayers of Christian leaders and those who were out there.
As the cameras panned over the faces of the servicemen and their families during Dr Williams’ sermon they just looked perplexed.
Many of them since returning from Iraq, will now be going or have been to Afghanistan.
The A of C has been vilified for this sermon by Damian Thompson and others on the Holy Smoke website of the Daily Telegraph. I went from the criticism to the text of the sermon expecting to find some egregious statement by the archbishop. After reading it I was baffled as to why it had attracted such criticism (and see also # 1 above). It seems to me to be a measured, dignified, thoughtful piece that pays tribute to the war dead. US readers also need to bear in mind that here in the UK we still remember, with embarrassment, the jingoistic sermons of clergy during the First World War. Public opinion after that war swung completely around, and in the churches it was recognized that nationalism had swamped a more Christian response. So Rowan’s sensitive and careful approach seems to me to be completely appropriate, indeed laudable.
#4 I see you are right about the criticism in the Telegraph –
Wynne-Jones:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jonathanwynne-jones/100013116/archbishop-was-wrong-to-condemn-iraq-war/
and Thompson:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100013127/archbishop-rowan-williams-on-iraq-typically-orotund-typically-sly/#
Meanwhile Ruth Gledhill draws parallels with Robert Runcie’s Falklands sermon:
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/10/robert-runcies-1982-falklands-sermon-in-full.html
I suppose the whole thing was predictable.
Another report in the Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6867871.ece#
Pageantmaster hits the nail on the head, in my opinion, when he cites the perplexed family members who are subjected to a speech by a churchy philosopher who seems detached from reality. To paraphrase the reading for the service in question, there is a time for lofty reflection and a time for tilling the soil. Those of us who have to live a life of faith on main street (with a dead or wounded soldier in our heads) do not particularly take comfort in “on the one hand this, on the other hand that.” And those of us who are gutting out lives of faith elsewhere than the halls of Oxford, or Sewanee, are not particularly celebrating the faux subtlety of mind that has put our church in jeopardy.