The Safe Zone

People who thought they were 'safe' have been discovering they are not. 

They have lost their sense of security.

Fear creeps into their lives and influences their behaviours, subtlely at first.

All week I have been wrestling with world events. It has been one of the most bizarre weeks to simply be audience rather than actor. Yet, we cannot be audience, and it is unclear where and when to join the fray.

This week:

• The Australian Prime Minister talked about the possibility of (potentially nuclear) war with North Korea
• White Supremicist / Nazism surfaced as violence in Charlottesville in the USA
• Domestic terrorists struck in Barcelona
• Australia started into a campaign about Marriage Equality because we will have a non-binding postal survey, given that a proposed plebiscite has not had parliamentary support due to its expense and threat to peaceful governance in our community. (Note: the postal survey is to cost $122 million dollars, with $6 million being spent before it is determined if it is legal.)
• An Australian Senator wore a Burqa as a stunt in Parliament.

Today, a friend of a relative posted about the stunt that took place in the Australian Senate this week, where a Senator tried to Ban the Burqa. I posted this response:

Sorry [N] - as a Christian Minister I have to say that Senator Hanson was inciting hatred and violence in our society. None of the other senators were able to bring themselves to support the manner of her action. All condemned it.  

Whatever you think of the burqa, in Australia we have freedom of religion and freedom in how we dress. While I am not one for such dress, I do stand with women who choose religious attire, and I do wear clerical robes, especially when I conduct weddings, etc...
Nuns of both Catholic and Orthodox backgrounds have choices about similar garb. 

Some of the old RC ones still wear full-length habit and some of the orthodox ones wear veils. We still have that freedom. So - are you suggesting that we should all lose our freedoms or just the people you don't know personally?

It has been a helluva week!

In the midst of all this, the thing that threw me was when our unit had a blackout. Is nothing sacred? Is even my home unsafe? As I lit candles, I remembered, candles remind me of the small light that dispels all the darkness - of the small voice that comforts - of the quiet prayer that is heard by God.

Our Safe Zone is not hidden behind walls and barbed wire, but is to be found in the heart of the one who chose vulnerability and invites us to do the same. Our Safe Zone is found when we quietly wear a Safety Pin to say to others, if you need a friend I will be there. Our Safe Zone is not in dominating society and normalizing behaviours like our own, but in spreading the good news that Humanity is part of God's creation AND, for all its flaws, God continues to work for our sake.

To the many people I know (and to those I do not yet know), if you are fearful or feeling unsafe, please seek out someone, someone like me... someone who wants to help you find Safety.