That First Good Friday - “He came to that which was His own but His own did not receive Him.” John 1: 11

A fresh Lament...where my tears flow unashamedly 

[Written on Oct.10th 2023]

If I cannot weep for my “neighbour” who is the ‘other’

I must look deep into my heart I know

Where “consciously or unconsciously” I choose to prefer

One, above the other.

Yet, in God’s eyes He has no favourites

For it was the Samaritan who helped the fallen man said He

O God give each of us hearts of deep love & compassion for the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist & yes the Palestinian & Jew

ALL made in Your image. May I not label them but rather see them as You do as a human being of worth like me. 

If they are to see a loving God it’s through our hearts of mercy, loving kindness & compassion. 

I seem to hear over and over

What does the Lord require of you?

“To do justly, to love mercy & to walk humbly with my God”

So Father, May the so called Christian world stop in their tracks & see their oppression of a nation for far, far too long 

To condemn violence from every quarter 

For in a war no one wins. 

We must be different so we overcome hate through love

There’s enough space in the world for all

And yet man wants his ‘own’ & to take from another what was already his!

Let us who call ourselves Your children 

Redeemed by a loving Saviour

Seek out prejudice in our own hearts

And see another not just as ‘different ‘

But.....One to be embraced.

So before we judge another race or group Let us each look long and hard at our lives 

For sadly our hearts are oft deceptive. 

I cry Father for both nations as children cry in pain

Where Gaza is bereft of food, water & medical supplies 

On whom upon violence has been unleashed 

And the innocent and helpless...

both Jew & Palestinian weep & wail while politicians shout for their own ends. 

Break us afresh Lord with the things that break Your heart 

So that we weep with You for a world gone mad

Where oppression and war is justified.

I weep now looking to You Sovereign God to make things right as You transform our hearts & minds. 

The world has not changed but got worse ... and oft we who claim to know Jesus, deny and betray the teachings of our Saviour Jesus Christ Who bore our sins and shame, emptying Himself of all but love, taking the form of a servant and became obedient unto death, yes, even the death on a cross.

So on this Good Friday I stand at the cross weeping for my sins of commission and omission & then look up with hope as I see an empty cross for He arose! 

I continue to read John 1: vs. 12 “Yet, to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His Name He gave the right to become children of God.”

His greatest commandments: To love God with all our hearts & minds & to love our neighbour as ourselves

      -Sarla Williams-