Some form of nonviolent Chrsitian action must speak where words have failed.

The choice before us today is not that of peace or violence; that is too simplistic. It is between creating a real peace rooted in justice for all or having people rise up with violence to escape the violence that is breaking them now.

Racism is a disease of the heart; it is rooted in the fear that casts out love; it cannot be divorced from our selfishness and pride.

But in it all, nobody cared enough until blood was shed and death came to visit. And we have seen that once violence breaks out, it becomes more difficult to care. Other forces like revenge and pillage, ruthless suppression, and blind rage begin to take control.

Why would we bother if it were not for the fact that people are suffering?

Those of us who work for a more human, just, and generous South Africa need daily to inquire whether those desired qualities are alive in ourselves.

God gives God's people insight in the midst of struggle.

Christian hope is living by God's future in the now.

• It is a sin against God the Father who wills that all should be God’s sons and daughters;
• It is a sin against God the Son who died to reconcile all people to God and to each other;
• It is a sin against the Holy Spirit who makes us all one in the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace.

The evangelism we offer preaches Christ and his burning passion for the world. We lift the cross, not as a way of escape but as that place where at his invitation we are nailed to his passion and where he nails us to our neighbour--that is the evangelism I speak of.

Let me witness to that government which, deaf to Christian conscience and blind to human consequence, has taken the dark impulses that lie in every heart and written them into the law of the land--bringing the Beloved Country to disaster.

Poverty kills; and it is no accident that when God came among us in Jesus, he chose to be with, and for, the poor of the earth.

It is an interesting commentary on our denial of reality that we build memorials to the military personnel who die in our wars, but not to the many more civilians whose deaths they bring about. War can never be anything but evil. God will always be against the perpetrators of war, and for its victims.

“To be prophetic requires just four acts of solidarity with God’s children. First, we must name the evil publicly and specifically. Second, we must pray for its victims by name. Third, we must go to those for whom we have prayed.” “And what is the fourth?” I asked.
     The old man’s tone indicated he was simply stating the obvious: “Suffer,” he said.

Thank God that in spite of all the locks on all the doors, Jesus can still get into the Church. He invades our places of fear and offers the gift that only he can bring: “Peace be with you!”

The lie, of course, says that the differences between people are more important than the things we have in common, and that our racial and cultural identity is more important than our common humanity.
     That is the lie that has led us to disaster. It is the lie of apartheid. Be sure that the state of emergency is not there to keep you safe--it is there to protect the lie.

At the end of that council, the first official decision of the Church is agreed, setting its face firmly against prejudice and welcoming all into its fellowship. This is the last time Jews and Gentiles in the Church are referred to as "We" and "They."

That’s why, if we identify them, we will prosecute them, and when they are found guilty, I shall ask the magistrate to sentence them to worship here every Sunday for six months.
     • To sing with us,
     • To pray with us,
     • To pass the peace of Christ with us,
     • To hear the liberating Good News of God’s grace with us,
     • To break bread with us,

So they may find God!

There is a choice to be made today about these wounds. Either we will open them wider, or we will seek--for Stompie's sake, and hundreds more like him--to heal them.

Never underestimate the importance of ordinary people standing for the truth, because they also enable others to play their part.

• Peter says to the oppressed and silenced of the world: “You are not impotent. God is not with the big battalions. God is with the truth. Cleave to God’s truth and love and justice and peace. Stand for it! Speak for it! That is all God asks.”

• Gamaliel says to those in power: “Listen hard and carefully to the uncomfortable words and disturbing voices that come from below. Do not muzzle them, but hear them. Listen for what God may be saying through them. If you don’t, you may find yourselves at war with God.”

This story from Acts is a parable of our dialogue with God and the world. At times you may be called to be a Peter, standing against popular opinion at great cost. At other times you may need to be a Gamaliel, listening with integrity for God’s word of warning.