Olive Crest United Methodist Church
7180 North 60th Street
Omaha, Nebraska 68152

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Rev. Debra Tompsett-Welch

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The Spiritual Life

October 1997

Despair Prevention, and fighting that helpless feeling.

By Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

I was invited to go see a movie, and since the invitation included a movie ticket and a threat of violence if I didn't go, I said, "Sure, I'd love to." "What are we going to see?" Well the consensus was Peacemaker. A good pulse pounding adventure film should get my mind off real world issues and help me relax and smell the roses. So we took off for the unreal world of Hollywood and a "hold on to your seat" adventure.

I have often thought that my experience of a movie is a little different from anyone else's on the planet. I have a tendency to get too "into" them and treat them as real. Even to the part of complaining about some dumb thing the character is doing, or warning them of a mistake. This annoys some of my friends quite a bit, so I try and do it quietly. But Peacemaker pushed some real world buttons in me. I faced some of those problems that leave you feeling helpless. Feeling powerless to make any difference in the face of overwhelming human suffering and despair. Suffering that is directly caused by human sin and can make life on earth hellish. The kind of sin and suffering that breeds despair. And despair, along with the anger that comes with it, drives people to unimaginable acts of revenge. The villain was a man whose wife and daughter had been killed by a sniper in Sarajevo right in front of his eyes. That was true, many people have had that experience, the suffering is real. The pain and how it went on and on, for both him and those around him convinced him that the only solution was to get the western nations out of Bosnia and let them figure out a solution by themselves. He blamed the west for selling weapons and doing nothing to stop the violence. He decided to force them out by having nuclear weapons stolen from Russia and blowing one up in New York. His plan was believable and terrifying. The pain in his soul flowed out in a dark cloud of hate that would stain the world in blood. It would inflict his suffering, and that of his people, on everyone. Then everyone would know what it felt like to hurt like he did.

It hurt to see it. It hurt to know that there are people in our world who feel that way. It hurts to know our world has that much suffering in it and the causes of that suffering are so powerful that I can make no difference in the face of the coming storm. The storm that threatens to tear apart nations and inflict mass terrorism on our world.

Yet that is not true. I turned to my friend, in the middle of the movie, and said, "That is not true." I am not alone in this, I am part of a "peculiar" people, as John Wesley called us. When I am in worship and contribute to our apportionment's, or to a special offerings, I am striking back at those forces of destruction. Light burns away at those terrifying clouds, and that light has the power to change pain into peace and calm the rage of hate. It has been done. It can be done again.

In the movie we saw miles and miles of trucks backed up by thousands of refugees fleeing another outbreak of fighting in one of the countries around Russia. The driver of the truck smuggling the nuclear bombs said; "Refugees, I hate them." "I hate them because they are poor." Then he spit on their exhausted fear. That is not what my people do. We work to end the causes of poverty. We change minds and hearts, one at a time in the middle of the pain and chaos. We value those people in their suffering because they are our brothers and sisters, and part of our family. By myself I can not help them. By myself I am helpless in the face of such pain. But I am not by myself. I am surrounded by a family. A family dedicated to loving and helping the world for whom our brother Christ Jesus died. By myself the trouble is too great. But I am not alone in the struggle. We are in it together. We are making a difference. Read about our work in God's name around the world in the Board of Global Ministries Annual Report. Then be part of that work. Then you too can look at the darkness and say, "It is not forever, change is coming."

Your brother-in-Christ, Reverend Michael Lee Burgess

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