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3.10.2006

Our Loss

The Gospel of John 10:17-18


17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My own life--to take it back again.
18 No one takes it away from Me. On the contrary, I lay it down voluntarily. I have set it aside.


"What no man can own, no man can take" Bono in "Yahweh"

Tom Fox's life was not taken from him. Tom Fox laid his life down a long time ago. He surrendered it into the hands of the Divine. Because he knew it was safe there, he was able to walk unbound by fear, letting the Light within him control and impel him forward into the work of peace. Tom lived for two years in the most dangerous place on the planet without guard or gun. Tom's life was safe in the hands of God before he went to Baghdad, it was safe in Baghdad, it was safe in captivity and it is safe now. The loss is ours to bear. But it is a temporary, perceptual loss. For we have also put our lives into the hands of the Divine, and so our lives and his remain together.

Paul's letter to the Thessalonians


Therefore I would not have you ignorant, my brothers, we do not grieve as those who have no hope of the resurrection, for as Jesus died and was brought to life, so those who die among us will be brought to life.
Comments:
Thank you for these words, Peggy.
 
This is so true. But it's still hard to bear. And harder still to know that some who call themselves Christian are vilifying him and his action.
 
I fortunately have not heard anyone, Christian or not, vilifying him. Don't really wish to either. The clerk of his meeting was on CNN saturday night, and I think he did a good job and Anderson Cooper did a good interview. They did not seem to feel the need to present any other 'side'. I was grateful. I have submitted a longer version of this for my UPI colum tomorrow.
 
I know Tom, and I know that he has endured significant fear, isolation, and suffering to serve the families and communities in Iraq. His courage and commitment to advance the Peaceable Kingdom are a heritable legacy only if we can endure the human struggle and human pain that he – and his master – chose to endure.

I am dismayed by the omnipresent reports calling Tom a "peace activist." If you did that work anywhere else on earth, you would be called a "social worker," or perhaps a "friend." In our community, Tom was a musician, a baker, a dad, a 1st-day-school teacher, a youth leader, and a friend to all, quietly mentoring and fostering the best in all of us. The practical means of feeding, serving, healing, and loving reveal Tom's concrete commitment to peace in every community.

Without the baker, there can be no communion. Without sharing meals, there is no community.

warmest regards at a painful time,
john paul
--
Free the Captives
 
Thank you john paul for taking the time to write here. Our sincere prayers are with your community as they are with the three still held.

Tom embodied the word "friend" - truly it is all that we can be to people.

When I said he was 'unbound by fear' it never occurred to me to think that he had no fear. I have known CPT'ers - they are not stupid. But Tom was obviously not paralyized by his fear - he was not bound by it.

He did not let his fear keep him from being a true friend to the world.

for his example, I am grateful
 
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