First Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2015, by Leo Johnson as guest preacher

As a young boy in the late 90’s, fleeing the raging war in Liberia and weaving my way through refugee camps in Ivory Coast and Ghana for over eight years is a journey I am yet to understand. But despite my lack of understanding, I have learned many lessons that have become the core principles of my life today. The memories of war, suffering and destruction have refused to escape me despite every effort to erase it from memory. It reached a new height over the last ten months with the growing Syrian conflict and refugee crises. I have spent many nights trying to think and understand it all while replaying my own ordeal in the process.

I have asked God many times: why am I being put through this? I want to leave this behind me, but cannot afford given my realities, it is the essence of my life.

After much contemplation, I asked God to help me understand through one question; “What should be our response be as Christians? “

Here are four key points that God allowed me to analyze in understanding it all.

1. The people of God have refocused from a place of worship to an act of war and aggression.

We’ve taken things into our own hands trying to deal with our fears and protect ourselves in our human strength and knowledge. We have forgotten too soon that he is the “author and finisher of our faith” and it is only through him we can find true protection and solutions to our problem. Instead, we have turned to rhetoric at times very divisive and violent politics in the form of hate speech even in the church. The times that we haven’t been hateful, we’ve remained silent and our silence as the people of God have been deafening.

2. We are participating by endorsement or silence in the incredible cycle of violence where we have moved from the destruction of sworn enemies to the murder of unarmed innocents.

We live in a place where even the church has become immune to bloodshed, massacres and mass killing of innocent civilians. We continue to come to church and gather like it normal times, we go on with our business as a church as usual

3. We are caught up in a mess where revenge and payback are the driving forces of our motivation regardless of who gets hurt or killed in the process.

The blood and bodies of innocent children are washing up on the shores of beaches while we debate whether we should disrupt our comfort and privilege to do something.

4. We cannot keep supporting this incredible cycle of violence or maintain our inaction and silence.

Now we are justifying the fact that we are indignant at the helplessness of the innocent victims
In the end, violence begets violence and hatred begets hatred

But all hope is not lost! Thank God for his loving kindness and unconditional love no matter how much we stray off his guidance.

God has taught us to love unconditionally and continues to remind us through the Bible.  It is not in our place to determine whom to love; we ought to love everyone unconditionally. That means also showing love and praying for the attackers in Paris, Lebanon, Nigeria, Mali, Kenya, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places witnessing various forms of mayhem.

In my reflection, God brought to a point of realization that we have become too reliant on our own power and perceived versatility in this world instead asking for his guidance and wisdom to help ourselves. He opened my eyes to see that as Christians, our response should be one of self – examination in these critical times and war and despair where millions have become refugees.

It is time to examine and reflect on our relationship with God through the things we have done and the things we have failed to do as people of God.

It is time to reflect on how we took this very country Canada away from the natives by terror, yet they have forgiven us and even live with us even in the face of bigotry, repentance and denial.

Maybe we need to just take a step back, we have spent too much time examining others and trying to save everybody else except ourselves.

As I close, I employ all of you to follow the example of Christ, we must love unconditionally. As we prepare to receive thousands of Syrian refugees, let us share with them the best we’ve got. Let us not focus on what they don’t have or what they’ve lost, let us focus on our responsibility as people of God and appreciate the gift of humanity we all share as given to us by the same father. They are children of the same God and share in the same brotherhood and sisterhood that we all belong to.

May God bless us all and continue help us understand that it is his will for us to love unconditionally, regardless of religion, ethnicity, creed or race.

Amen