Love Your Neighbour and Work for Peace - Bishop Merwyn

May 24, 2008

Xenophobia – is fear of the stranger – the one who is different. This is a topical phenomena as is homophobia – fear of homosexuals. Frequently, on the lips of Jesus are the words “Peace be with you, do not be afraid,” and in Scripture we read, “Perfect love casts out fear.” In one of Jesus’ famous parables in Mt 25:34, of the sheep and the goats, he says: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘You have my father’s blessing… for when I was a stranger, you took me into your home… truly I tell you: anything you failed to do for one of these, however insignificant, you failed to do for me.’”

A sure sign of the Holy Spirit at work in our communities and Nation should be, (a) deep respect for all human beings, including ‘foreigners’, for all are created in the image of God and (b) ready hospitality and compassion and (c) a bold fearlessness in the face of adversity and the future.

Whether it is criminality or a third force or Zimbabwe or an abysmal lack of service delivery or government ineptitude or unemployment or poverty or lack of housing, nothing can justify what is happening in our communities these past two weeks. All of us need to respond to prevent further outbreaks of loss of human lives and hatred and plunder. We need to hold the government responsible to maintain order and actively change the social conditions our people experience.

I hope that all our congregations will be instruments of peace and lovers of our neighbour in all the communities we inhabit. We must not allow agents of hate to infect us with fear and suspicion. Our Churches must be places of welcome and succour for the stranger, the outcasts, for battered women and children and for the poor and hungry. What is your parish doing? We must pray regularly for peace and justice but we also must give flesh to our prayers by the quality of our Christian witness in our communities. Let us all be in the forefront to transform our nation into God’s Kingdom of love and peace and respect for all God has created.

+Merwyn