WE INTERRUPT THIS FAST...: I know I'm supposed to be fasting from blogging, and I've been pretty good about that. But there are a lot of things churning inside me right now and I need to share them with the rest of you. I got into a discussion about the morality of the war over at Amy's blog, but I don't want to continue that right now. That discussion has been overtaken by events. The question is what we should do now. First of all, I think that during the duration of the conflict we need to embrace the disciplines of prayer, fasting and abstinence. I think the latter two can be seen as important expressions of solidarity with our troops who are living on MREs, but also with the Iraqi people who have suffered so terribly under the Hussein regime and will also now suffer during this war. More fundamentally, though, all three of these disciplines are necessary for us to purify our awareness and help us discern how God is speaking to us through these events. We are currently overwhelmed by information—radio, television, the Internet—and we run the risk that God’s voice will be drowned out by all the noise. We need to seek silence so we can hear His “still, small voice” (1 Kgs 19:12) I know for myself that the coming of war has made me edgy and short-tempered, and I have been snapping at both my wife and my children over the past couple of days. I need to recover my equilibrium, and be at peace in my heart before I can be a sign of Christ’s peace to others. None of this rules out concrete acts of solidarity with others and I have two suggestions. The American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services (AFES) provides assistance and comfort to U.S. military members and their families. The American Red Cross is also supporting the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq. You can click on this link to make contributions to both efforts. posted by Peter Nixon 10:11 AM . . .
