The God of Friday - A Conversation with Patrick Mason

This week, we’re sitting down with our good friend Patrick Mason for a conversation that is as deeply challenging. Patrick recently returned from a transformative trip to Rwanda, where he was confronted with the enduring impact of the 1994 genocide. In our discussion, Patrick shares his reflections on witnessing both the unimaginable horrors of the past and the remarkable steps toward reconciliation and peace that are happening today.

We also dive into the hard questions: Where is God in the midst of such suffering? How can communities possibly recover from such deep wounds? And how do we respond to scripture that seems to contradict our understanding of a loving God? Patrick draws on his experience as a peacebuilder, scholar, and a person of faith to address these issues, and we explore how the lessons from Rwanda resonate with us here and now in conflicts within our own communities.

[grayruffell]

Powerful! Thanks so much! God bless you Patrick

[meemwhale]

Thank you for this powerful, moving conversation.

[dl]

Any paradigm which separates people into "us and them" offers evil the opportunity hurdle the guardrails. But evil has no traction when the paradigm is "there is only 'us'". Individuals need not wait until their religious leaders give them permission to shift their paradigm to "there is only 'us'".

[FredLane-it]

It’s not the same, but had similar dynamics and an approach to reparations. It’s recorded in the book “No Future Without Forgiveness” by Desmond Tutu about the ending of Apartheid. It’s a good read that will further the discussion.

[shandrews]

When a prophet says “the spirit constraineth me” we can believe him and not think “he got it wrong.”

[jandyson]

The only way I can sleep at night is to remember that Mortality is the 2nd Act of a 3 Act Play...and most of our understanding and resolution of these tragedies (personal and universal) will not come until the next Act. And in the meantime, we, who profess to follow Jesus Christ, have to "love our enemies" and speak out against HATE.

[shannonestarks]

Valuable conversation! Alma undoubtedly felt he had no power given him to stop the massacre, but his reason seems like more of a stretch to explain, when there IS NO explanation available to human understanding. I appreciate this question: “Why in the world would God want, allow, permit evil to happen simply for the sake of putting demerits on people’s records?”

[jillmcauley]

VERY MOVING. Can you share the link to his essay?

[terrigeorge]

With respect, I must offer a different perspective to your take on Alma's impossibly difficult decision to not intercede in the midst of a genocide. First, I must Thank You for your sincerity and your perspective, Patrick! Falling back on the most basic principles of human kindness is a WISE answer to an absolute evil, and what Christ taught. Personally, in a simple visit to Auschwitz and relatively little study of the haulocaust, I, too, have known that to be evil and agree these acts are nothing less. That is why I feel Alma got it right. In the horror of watching, helplessly bound, the ONLY intercession he could have made would have been by calling upon the name of God and His power and demanding HE intercede, or by using the priesthood power to do so. Even after "the spirit constrained him" to step back. God, as you said, is GOD, and all-powerful, and can intercede. Just because we do not understand His ways does not mean we get to usurp His power and wisdom. THAT is exactly what the "Son of the Morning" did, and why he fell from Grace and IS evil. It is a narrow perspective we have in the small blip of an earth life. Alma was right. Does that mean we, as a church, allow or tolerate genocide when we can do something about it? Not at all. Just, in his scenario, the ONLY option was to go against God's will to stop it, or trust God, let it happen, and the curse be on the heads of the perpetrators. He had no real choice. I think your heart is in the right place - that you would rather die than watch it, but Alma followed the spirit in faith, and that, ultimately, is all any of us can do in the face of evil.