I received this in my email. I posted it in the religion forum, but someone wanted me to post it here, so here it is.
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A sermon about Iraq by a San Francisco Episcopal clergyman I proudly claim as a close friend
The Rev. Robert Warren Cromey
[email protected] All Saints Sermon – Sunday November 6, 2005 at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, San Francisco CA.
Bible: Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
On All Saints Sunday we think of the people that are good, not evil, those who care for the people of the world, those who risk their lives and health ministering to the sick and the poor.
Ruth Brinker, founder of Project Open Hand: 25 years ago she discovered she knew eight friends sick with AIDS and had no food. She used the kitchen at Trinity Church to prepare food and deliver it to the sick; the second week there were 20, then 40, then in a few weeks 100 meals were prepared and delivered by Ruth and her helpers. She is a saint, a caring person who helped feed the sick.
This is story of a good person, a saint.
Now let's look at the opposite of a good.
Here is a dictionary definition of evil:
“Evil is what is morally reprehensible, pernicious, causing harm. It brings sorrow, distress and calamity.”
Sin is the purposeful disobedience to the known will of God. One way we know the will of God is to look at Jesus. Jesus says Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
The war in Iraq is evil. It is morally reprehensible, pernicious, causing harm. It brings sorrow, distress and calamity to a nation and people who are no threat to the United States of America.
It arises from the bad character of the President and his wicked advisors. Out of motives of revenge, greed and selfish ambition, hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, children and soldiers in Iraq have been killed, wounded and maimed.
These arrogant American leaders call themselves Christians. The president says he talks to God and God talks back. Religious leaders back this murderous assault. Jesus teaches love and compassion, care for the poor and down trodden and endless forgiveness toward enemies. In the name of this same Jesus the war mongering leadership of this country and their right-wing Christian followers go out and justify the murder of innocents.
None of these Christian leaders has uttered one word of caring, compassion and sorrow at the death of the people of Iraq. The compassionate conservative utters no word of misgiving or regret at the death of the people his armies have murdered.
Another saint, Poet Sharon Olds, in turning down an invitation from Laura Bush to dine at the White House, wrote:
"I thought that I could try to find a way, even as your guest, with respect, to speak about my deep feeling that we should not have invaded Iraq, and to declare my belief that the wish to invade another culture and another country - with the resultant loss of life and limb for our brave soldiers, and for the noncombatants in their home terrain - did not come out of our democracy but was instead a decision made 'at the top' and forced on the people by distorted language, and by untruths. I hoped to express the fear that we have begun to live in the shadows of tyranny and religious chauvinism - the opposites of the liberty, tolerance and diversity our nation aspires to….
"So many Americans who had felt pride in our country now feel anguish and shame, for the current regime of blood, wounds and fire. I thought of the clean linens at your table, the shining knives and the flames of the candles, and I could not stomach it."
This war is evil. We Christians can do all things necessary by peaceful means to end this war.
Keep writing those letters and emails to the President and Congress.
Join the vigil on Thursday at noon at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Larkin Street.
Join me next Thursday at the Vigil at the Federal Building where I will celebrate the Holy Eucharist at noon.
Robert Warren Cromey
3839 Twentieth Street
San Francisco, California 94114
"Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops." - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
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