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Last Word - Suffering
This is a grim world we live in at the moment. Not for a long time (it seems to me) have we seen anything quite like the situation in Burma, where the rulers - supposedly people who were originally recruited to serve – are refusing to accept generous aid unless they, the (unelected) rulers can distribute it to the starving and homeless and so be able to pretend that it is the government themselves who have done this for the Burmese people. (I say nothing about Zimbabwe where there is a different but equally grim situation)
For people of my age it is likely to be ironic that Burma should be the country to suffer. The Burma Road was where prisoners of war – British and Commonwealth prisoners – were compelled by their Japanese captors to build roads through the forests and bridges over rivers. These soldiers were given totally inadequate rations and refused vitamins and medicines. There was, of course, a film made not so long since, about prisoners of war being made to build a bridge over a river and the curious situation which resulted.
Contemplating the turns and twists of history is all very well, but it does not tell us very much about the faith we seek to live by, the hope we have of finding truth in our lives or how we can learn to love the people we meet (and sometimes clash with) in our daily lives.
In Matthew's gospel, a seemingly simple statement made by Jesus ends with the words “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”
It is in some ways a quite simple statement, but I am sure many people must find it to be both complex and profound. I suggest it is (in part, at least) a call to stop worrying about problems (our self imposed burdens) and to accept a way of living in which we are not straining against a leash but guided on our way.
I write this as we approach Pentecost, which asks us to remember the day when the Spirit came. Another way, perhaps, of remembering is to think of it as the day when the power came to carry the new and living truth into the burdened world and to confirm the faithful in lives of the lightness which loving kindness brings.
Bob Mclean
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