Why We Worry, Why We Judge

We have completed the 4 church annual meetings. Just the big one to go - for the whole parish - on April 27. We called at the hotel this week to firm that up. Looking good. We hope for a really celebratory occasion, with worship and food as well as the business.  All 4 meetings went really well, with a really positive sense about them: hopeful and forward-looking. There aren't even any financial worries at the moment, though we do need to do stewardship renewal this autumn.

I've been thinking a lot about the terrible violence at Westminster this week. I certainly felt more vulnerable on Wednesday when I heard the news. Strange, when it happened so many miles away. I keep thinking about that man, Khalid Masood. What drove him? It's the question everyone is asking. The latest information suggests that he acted alone, and that there was no apparent reason for his act of violence. To me, it seemed like desperation. A few facts about him: he apparently never knew his birth father; he was a black kid in a very white area, and suffered frequent racial abuse; he had several relationships with different women, and fathered children; he changed his name several times; he had several convictions for violent crime;he converted to Islam and came under the influence of jihadists. Some 'experts' have commented on an apparent identity crisis, which seems to be key in trying to understand him. Anger seems to have been a dominant emotion. My question is, 'did he know he was loved?'

I've been reflecting on this in preparing for today's sermon from Matthew 6 & 7.  Once again, we have several references to 'our heavenly Father', as they occur throughout the Sermon on the Mount. 'Your heavenly Father knows...' (Matt 6.32) has always struck me as a key verse. And in 7.11 we learn that 'our heavenly Father gives good things to those who ask him.'  Once again, we learn that life in Christ is about relationship to the Father.

In today's reading, we have learned of three distractions which lead us astray from the Jesus Way: greed (hoarding treasure), worry and prejudice. What they all have in common is that they cause us to lose focus, to be earth-bound, concerned about the future, projecting the worst of ourselves onto other people, thus preventing us from knowing the love of God. This too is about identity. Knowing ourselves to be God's children. If Adrian aka Khalid had known this, might things have been different?