In the light of the killing of Osama Bin Laden it felt appropriate to give folk the opportunity to reflect on the issues raised.
Within OBT, there are a variety of views on the legality/ morality of "the War on Terror," so it would have been wrong to assume that we all felt or reacted in the same way.
We found a splendid Newsround clip on the BBC iPlayer which introduced some of the questions raised, then had a lively discussion about how Bin Laden's death made us feel.
Whether we agreed with the killing or not, there was some agreement that the death of one man was unlikely to end terrorism. In many ways, we felt that Bin Laden was being scapegoated.
However, the children didn't really know what a scapegoat was, so we read Leviticus 16:20–22.
We then found another YouTube video which showed us how to make our very own Scapegoat out of clay.
We pinned our prayers for the world - the things which we think are wrong - or the 'sins of the world' onto the scapegoat using yet more Post-it notes.
Then the children cast our scapegoat out into the wilderness of our front garden. There, I am sorry to report, he promptly collapsed under the weight of sin, and as it was a very windy day, the sins of the world were blown to the ends of the earth.
Whilst I am not sure about the ecological effect of our littering, it was an illuminating reflection on the dramatic events of the week.
Here are my opening prayer and Clare's Eucharist:
Opening Prayers:
We aren’t exactly a crowd,
two or three gathered together
in the confines of a living room.
We aren’t exactly a crowd.
We don’t exactly have a loud voice,
singing quite badly, protesting
in the powerlessness of our little community.
We don’t exactly have a loud voice.
We aren’t exactly confident,
huddled together, looking on
revolted at the baying mob.
We aren’t exactly confident.
We aren’t exactly changing the world,
meeting, praying, protesting,
trying to live out the values of Shalom.
We aren’t exactly changing the world.
In the face of the shouts of the crowd:
We are silent.
In the face of confident political lies:
We are silent.
In the face of media consensus
We are silent.
In the face of the pro-war propaganda
We are silent.
In the face of the temptation to conform
We are silent.
[Silence]
In the silence of an upper room
Would-be disciples
huddled together,
not knowing what to say
when their leader was killed.
In the fear of an upper room
former disciples
mourned the loss
of their confidence
in the justice of their cause.
In the isolation of an upper room
lonely disciples
watched the mood of the nation
turn against them
as the mob bayed for blood.
In the sanctuary of an upper room
faithful disciples
prayed together and stayed together
hoping they were right
in the presence of God.
And,
in the presence of God,
they prayed
for the coming of Shalom:
Our Father…
©Tim Presswood, 2011
Scapegoat Eucharist
All we’ve done wrong
All our anger
All our fear
All or prejudice
All our conflict
All our hate
All our violence
All our greed
What do we do with
Such human emotions?
If we keep
such human emotions inside
they churn us up
depression
mental illness
physical illness
anxiety
self-harm
alcohol abuse
low self-esteem.
All we’ve done wrong
All our anger
All our fear
All or prejudice
All our conflict
All our hate
All our violence
All our greed
What do we do with
Such human emotions?
If we let
such human emotions show
law-breaking
vandalism
conflict
terrorism
domestic violence
broken relationships
racism
injustice.
All we’ve done wrong
All our anger
All our fear
All or prejudice
All our conflict
All our hate
All our violence
All our greed
What do we do with
Such human emotions?
And so the scapegoat
was born
to deal with the not so pretty
side of humanity
something on which we could load
all our human failings
and the things
we have done wrong
all our violence
and destruction.
And so the scapegoat
was born
to deal with the not so pretty
side of humanity
so we might restore
our broken selves
so we might restore
our broken communities
so we might restore
our broken world.
But what of the scapegoat
the one we make the victim
the one who takes the blame
the one we send off
into the wilderness
or imprisoned
bullied
excluded
killed
silenced.
How can killing
one violent man
be he Osama Bin Laden
or any other political
or death row prisoner
bring an end to
the war on terror
bring peace
bring justice
to our broken world?
And so on the night before
Jesus became the scapegoat
Jesus sat around a table
And shared a meal
With the followers who
would run from him
With the friend
Who would deny him
With the enemy who
would betray him.
And so on the night before
Jesus became the scapegoat
Jesus took bread
and tore it apart
this is my world broken by you
this is my body broken for you
and the scapegoat
the victim
forgave us
and set us free.
[tear and share bread]
And so on the night before
Jesus became the scapegoat
Jesus poured
A cup of wine
this is my blood poured out by you
this is my life given for you
and the scapegoat
the victim
gave us a glimpse of the humanity
God intended us to be.
[pour and share wine]
All we’ve done wrong
All our anger
All our fear
All or prejudice
All our conflict
All our hate
All our violence
All our greed
What do we do with
Such human emotions?
We lay such human emotions
At the foot of the cross
And learn God’s way
Of being fully human
Of love
Of justice
Of mercy
Of peace
Of forgiveness
Of reconciliation.
And we find that we are born again
to a new way of being human
a gradual learning
as we grow and change
of who we are
and how we relate
to our family, our friends
our community, our world
as we become the people and community
that God intended us to be.
© Clare McBeath, 2011
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