A Message from Bishop Diana Akiyama
“Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.”
—Elie Wiesel
In 2009, I made my vows and became an oblate of a Benedictine monastery in Middleton, Wisconsin. At the center of the Benedictine spiritual practice is praying the Psalms. Before I knew about the Benedictine order and its relationship with the Psalms, I found them one day as I sat in quiet reflection in an empty church. After sitting with my own jumbled petitions, I decided I wanted to read a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. I leafed through the prayer book and ended up in the back pages where the Psalms are printed. This began my relationship with the Psalms. Finding a religious order centered on praying the Psalms some 25 years later added structure and depth to my practice.
One of the Psalms for today Thursday, March 18 in memory of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, is Psalm 34: 1-8. Verses 4-6 resonated strongly as I prayed over the Asian women in Atlanta who were murdered by a gunman on Tuesday, March 16.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him, and be radiant;
and let not your faces be ashamed.
I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me
and saved me from all my troubles.
The violence in our communities is staggering. It is difficult to resist despair as we struggle with feeling helpless. Often our thoughts go to grand and magical remedies, “If I could just wave a wand and make all lethal weapons disappear, then we could live in peace.” While reasonable laws about owning guns would help protect the innocent, the quest for peace will persist. We can legislate for civil peace, but no law will help us find spiritual peace…at least no human law.
Jesus’ summary of the law to love God and love your neighbor, is the way to peace. And we can’t get there without prayer. Our life in Christ must be centered in prayer. There is no other way to peace because there is no other way to God than through prayer. If we’re honest, days like Tuesday are a challenge to kneel in quiet prayer. We want to scream “somebody should do something!” This is where the honesty of the Psalms can ground our prayer. Sometimes the suitable prayer is a wail of sorrow and deep grief. Sometimes it is an outright complaint, how long, O Lord, how long? The Psalms reflect our human condition in all our complexity; and they always bring us back to God.
I am filled with deep sorrow over the shootings in Atlanta. When I first heard the news, I was speechless. It has taken me a while to find the words because my first reaction was to weep and wail. What followed after silence and prayer, was a petition to God for the troubled man with the gun. For peace to replace the violence in his heart. For love to replace his indifference to human life. For healing to replace his broken spirit. For a relationship with one kind person to replace the demons that torment him. And I also pray that we will, each of us, take the practice of prayer seriously because, without prayer, we begin to believe that the demons are “out there” needing to be slayed. In fact, the most deadly demons are within. Let us pray to God to be liberated from our fears. Let us pray to God to become each others beloved in Christ so that our alienation is no more. Let us then, with authentic hope, say to one another, “the Peace of Christ be always with you.”
Yours in Christ,
+Diana
