Jesus leads us in the way of redemptive freedom before the violence of the world.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Violence (Page 2)
Jesus calls us to love and care for the world’s victims, and to refuse to participate in making more of them (even from among the victimisers).
The salvation of the world lies in Jesus’ model of non-retaliation.
The promise that God will bring new life from a dead stump challenges our haste to chop down whatever seems to be in our way.
Salvation belongs to Christ alone, but those who have fought and died for other forms of salvation are among those with whom Christ identifies himself; fellow victims of the atrocity from which Christ is saving us.
A growing incidence of cataclysmic violence is not a sign of God’s activity, but it does call us to hold on to our hope and look for God’s action in small signs of life coming from death.
We seek to live and practice non-violence as the only way to overcome injustice, persecution, tyranny and violence and build cultures of peace.
Religious zeal often turns violent, but the revelation of Jesus Christ makes known a God who repudiates our violence and sets us free from it.
Jesus gives us a peace that is not secured at the expense of victims, and he sends a Defence Counsel to lead the defence of the world’s victims.
Jesus leads the way in exposing and opposing violence, no matter what the cost, and life is found in following his lead.
Jesus invites us to find our communion in the violence done to him instead of in doing violence to others.
In his suffering death, Jesus calls us to solidarity with all who suffer, and in his complete lack of vengefulness, the risen Christ offers the hope of healing from our violence.
The risen Christ confronts us with both the gruesome consequences of our violence and the terrifying shock of grace.
Violence must be a constant temptation for God, but in absolute love, God has vowed never to resort to it.
In Jesus, God is calling us to see and hear a gospel that takes us beyond rule making and sacred violence.
When we know ourselves as known by God, the demonic power of violent naming is broken and new life dawns.
We are called to take sides in a conflict between the prophet of love and peace and the prophets of hatred and violence.