War and when God doesn’t turn up

I haven’t written anything here for a while I’ve got some notes together but I just haven’t published anything yet so please hold on, there will be some more blogging. I just keep thinking about things and then letting the thoughts just wonder so its about time I just wrote something down before it all goes completely.

Today I heard a good sermon on 1 Samuel 4 which is the bit when the Philistines go to war against Israel and the Israelites are defeated. It worked well for Remembrance Day, showing the violence, hurt, death and darkness associated with war. We thought about how the Israelites had taken the Ark of the Covenant into the war and they believed that God was on their side, however Israel was defeated and we were left pondering about bringing God into battles like some kind of talisman.

It got me thinking about  war and how patriotic we all get which is not very surprising really but then we dress it up with churchy language, services, and going to heaven. The news on TV broadcasts the special parade services with the Queen and a brass band, and everyone waves flags, saying a small prayer for those killed in wars.  I even heard someone on the TV saying that war brings out faith in young adults in the army, a faith that has been there since their youth as if war and Christianity were so intimately combined that there was no question that faith and war went hand in hand. Of course there are a number of biblical texts about the Israelites going to war and some texts say that God told the Israelites to wage war on others. However, how can we reconcile this with other scriptural references about peacemaking and turning swords into plowshares. I also wonder if Britain or even the US lost some battles would they still say that God was on their side?

So what happens when God doesn’t seem to turn up? When he seems to abandon people? Mike suggested in his sermon that perhaps its in this place of abandonment when we’re forced to give up the box that we’ve put God into, when we can no longer fathom God out, when God leads us in uncomfortable ways. Its in that place that we learn to let God be God.