That Sounds About Right

"Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration - whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone's death or or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday - I thought we could mark this November the fifth, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?Cruelty and injustice...intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told...if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the now High Chancellor. He promised you order. He promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent."

- Posted a day later than I meant to. These words and the entire dialogue from the graphic novel V for Vendetta were words that led me as a teenage boy to first think about the world around me and the "powers that be." I just thought that today would be a good day to read and post these words today as we look at the social landscape around us.

While the novel these words came from called for anarchy, I think we should look around us and possibly remember God's promises linked to prayer and reliance on His word. It seems that despite all of the conforming to society that so many of the churches in the U.S. are undergoing, the problem does not seem to be getting better. Maybe some of you should abandon that strategy. Along those same lines, if you are a preacher, please do not take this idea or speech from this novel and try to form a sermon around it. You only have permission to teach the word of God, not graphic novels. This is a blog, not a pulpit.