Reflection: Bless us with discomfort by Sharon Prior

I don’t think anyone can have watched the situation in Gaza over the last couple of months and not been moved by it. Many children and young people have lost their families and have been injured and maimed by the fighting that is going on there. Several hundred have been killed.

How many of us, though, forget what we have seen once we turn off the television and now the crisis is past think everything must be ok? A friend of mine has just come back from a mission trip to Israel where he works with Palestinian children and he said that we are not seeing half of what is really going on out there. That got me thinking, as a Christian what should my response to this be? What could I do? There are many Christian Palestinians working to try and relieve some of the suffering that people are facing. These are our brothers and sisters; how can we support them?

I don’t at this stage have any answers, as I am still reflecting on it, but I came across this Franciscan prayer a while ago that really challenged me. How many of us sat in church on Sunday and at the end prayed the blessing over each other? We tend to pray for God to bless us in ways that allow us to be comfortable and secure in our little part of the world, but what would happen if we all prayed the following blessing on each other and it made a difference to us and those brothers and sisters around the world who do not have a comfortable and secure life?

May God bless all of you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships, so that He may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with an anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with a foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim can not be done.

Will you be brave enough to pray this for yourself and others you know?

Sharon Prior is a mentor, trainer and co-founder of the Sophia Network