Civil unrest

Yesterday and today Paul urges his readers, in the letter to Titus, to
behave according to their station in life. If you are older, he says,
take your wisdom and use it sensibly, slaves do a good job, be obedient
to civil authorities. Behave properly he urges.

The pastoral epistles were written to specific people in charge of
specific congregations - so whilst in some quarters it is fashionable to
decry St. Paul as advocating slavery that seems like a red herring.

With the celebrations in South Africa yesterday for the anniversary of
the release of Nelson Mandela this passage might sit a little uneasily
this morning. After all there have been many great social change
movements and they have cause civil unrest (even those who tried to
resist injustice by peaceful means can be responded to with violence).
So where do we go with taking the Bible seriously and, at the same time,
celebrating those who, at various times in history, have stood up
against terrible regimes and social assumptions.

Titus was, no doubt, in a community which was under Roman rule. To try
to force the Roman Empire to do anything would have spelled the end for
the Christian Church. To shine a different light on things - to shine
from the worst of places, to show that God supports the human spirit in
the hardest of times - that is what Paul calls his pastors to support
and encourage.

This is a hard thought for us - we want everything yesterday - but
sometimes we just have to to the best we can, be the best we can and
shine from the inside out, even through the sludge and mess of humanity.
We all have had some experience which falls into this category -
something which is not going to change - so do we let the bad change us
or do we shine out from it?

Does it mean, because we are in a bad place that we cannot shine light -
and does it mean that that bad place is a place to be maintained? - no
of course not. But what we can take from Paul is a lesson in every
situation - good or bad - to discover in Christ who we are, even if
today that is not a revolutionary, and to understand that times for
quiet change are often found from places of darkness where God waits
with God's people.