Break the Silence

What's your definition of 'sin'? Have a look at this - only 60 secs of it. 

It was made by the Communications team at the Methodist Church in Fiji for the Fiji Council of Churches, and there'll be a documentary coming soon to televisions and cinema screens here. Sunday 20th November is officially Break the Silence Sunday, but at PTC we were encouraged to think about these issues a bit in advance, before folk started moving on after graduation. Our colleagues in the God's Pacific People Programme (GPP) and the Institute of Research hosted a morning tea and through some deeply moving drama, poetry, speeches and song, challenged us to confront the realities of gender-based violence and violence again children, so horribly ever-present in many parts of our world. Here we are in feisty mood.

Kneeling on the front row in the pink-red shirt, arms outstretched, is my next-door neighbour Ana-Latu who's from Papua New Guinea. She was a driving force behind this event, dramatising for us through a powerful, solo performance, a not un-typical woman's struggle in her homeland. She also identified video material for us to take on board and you might like to look at this: not that it's pretty...

You can look at other posts from GPP here.

If you watched that video, the 'sin' that the woman supposedly committed was that of sorcery. In the Gospel of John Chapter 8, the supposed 'sin' is not sorcery but adultery. 

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Some of us try to follow Jesus, failing often, and yet are moved to do so with even greater commitment and fervour when we read accounts of his life and example like this one. 

Ears assailed with a barrage of questions, Jesus identifies the key one that gets to the heart of the matter: 'Who among any of us is without sin?' 

That said, sometimes human sins are indeed identified and need to be dealt with: but is violent condemnation ever God's way? Jesus didn't condone it for one moment here. Those who follow him today and yet still want to use violence against others - especially the most vulnerable - have a pretty impossible case to argue, it seems to me. 

And - surprise, surprise - the suffering one is female. But when she stands deserted, trembling and vulnerable before the Lord, she receives no beating, burning or wounding: only liberating words of mercy, justice and love.

Break the Silence Sunday - 20th November.  

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