SPEAK against the arms trade

Today I participated in an inspiring prayer and protest action against the arms trade. About 400 young people from SPEAK gathered at the Defence Export Service Organisation to repent of our nation's involvement in the arms trade and pray for its abolishment. DESO is funded with £16m a year of British taxpayers money and exists to push the arms trade, often to poor countries and oppressive regimes.

(see my photos from the event - they're not great unfortunately because I was in the thick of it).

The day began in nearby Bloomsberry Baptist Church for teaching and prayer. We then walked to DESO in a silent funeral procession. On the way a guy in the top floor of a building we passedspontaneouslyy stuck his head out and added some beautiful mournful harmonica music to the slow drum beat at the head of the procession. A mock World War 1 trench had been constructed in the road opposite DESO, to symbolise the horror and pointlessness of war, and we all descended into the trench. The trench also represented the "gap"referredd to in Ezekiel "The people of the land practiceextraordinaryn and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice. I looked for a man among them who would stand before me in the gap onbehalfd of the land so I would not have to destroy it." (Ezekiel.22.29-30) The gap of sinfulnessseparatingg God and people has been bridged by Jesus'sacrificiall death.

The main action began with a drama about the lies of the arms trade (it brings security, it is essential to our economy etc.) and using the light of God's word to reveal them as falsehoods. Next we all participated in a liturgy of repentance for the sins of our nations, involving reflection on the terrible facts about the arms trade and confession on behalf of ourselves and our nation.

(some extracts)

"We pray for those who are starving whilst their leaders buy more weapons. We pray for those trapped in a land full of war. We pray for child soldiers who have never had childhoods... Set us all free God"

"In permitting the continuation of this brutal trade: Lord we have sinned.Inn our worship of money and materialism: Lord we have sinned. In walking past on the other side: Lord we have sinned. In failing to pray for change: Lord we have sinned. In our unjust colonial history: Lord we have sinned...."

After the litugy we all shared communion. By this stage we were freezing from kneeling on concrete on a cold, rainy February day - but it was appropriate that our repentance for the arms trade involved discomfort. As you'll see from the photos, we were kneeling in quite a disordered way, and could learn a lot from muslim friends about how to organise into neat ranks. As Christians we need to rediscover communal prayer involving kneeling and prostration which was common in the early church - in fact in many ways the style of Islamic prayer would be very familiar to early Christians.

Next we prayed for strength to bring about change and advocate for the rights of the poor. Here we tied messages calling for an end to government support for the arms to daffodils (representing the alternative to war: life) which were handed into DESO. We ended the day with drumming and song in praise of God's love and justice.