Last Saturday with some others I particpated again in the Christian act of witness outside the gates of the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, home to the submarines which carry Britain's independent nuclear detterent (weapons of mass destruction from another perspective).
This is only the second time that this particular event has been organised by SCANA the Scottish Clergy Against Nuclear Arms and in a variety of ways showed improvement on the previous year in terms of the actual location of the gathering (facing the gates) and the symbolism (weaving palm branches into a heart shape) the sharing of bread and wine (Agape for some but Communion for others) etc.
The crucified lamb flag related to the book of Revelation and associated with some anabaptist publications and in this form obtained from the Jesus Radical people attracted some interesting questions and comments as a distinctive contribution to the event - not least because one of our number had created a huge version of it!
A number of issues rumble around my mind about this whole thing:
Why such a low interest in terms of turn out and participation (200?) - where does this issue sit on 'the radar' of Christian interest and priority even among those groups unlike my own (Baptist Union of Scotland) that have a stated position of opposition - or is it that people are concerned about the issue but see no value in the event but if so how is that expressed in practice.
How can what is said by speakers and in liturgy, sung, etc. be consciously shaped as a 'Word Against the Powers'?
How can the drama and performance of the the event as 'witness' be developed beyond the 'stage' centred activities of the speakers?
Would it be significant for a free church, broadly evangelical presence to be more actively and visibly present at such events? Oh I felt the irony of Kathy Galloway, I believe it was, quoting from the Baptist minister and Civil Rights activist Martin Luther King when we are actually one of the groups who choose not to be formal participants.
What next within the Baptist Union of Scotland - should I be content to let the present staus quo of albeit now recognised 'minority interest' stand? Is this simply the necessity of unity in diversity - perhaps. But what does this mean if you come to a conviction that 'peace' is not an option to the core of the gospel but central? Should the issue of our public stance on this issue be caried once more into the debating if not discerning processes of our Union life?
(Thanks to Stephen for the pictures)
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