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SermonChallenged to Seek God’s Way
Peace Keeps Coming I’m having a party They say peace is coming I’m having a party They say Peace is coming They say Peace is coming . . . ( Copyright © 1997 by Carol Prejean Zippert. Used with permission.) From America’s most famous cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, to small town and rural cemeteries and even neglected cemeteries, people of the United States are encouraged to pause today and tomorrow to remember men and women who have served in the armed services of this country. First celebrated in 1866 to honor the war dead of the Union Army, today we honor the war dead of those who served and lost their lives in any of the armed conflicts and wars in our national history. All of them and all of us, I am sure, would echo Carol Zippert’s enthusiasm to open our doors and windows if we could only declare: Peace is coming! On the one hand, this weekend is a time in the church to remember with sincere thanksgiving men and women who sacrificed their lives for this national experiment called “democracy.” The church is also challenged to keep a reminder before the nation that ultimately our goal is to be a nation where war becomes obsolete as a way of solving problems. All over the world, in numerous countries, men and women citizens of this country are buried where they fell in battle serving the call of country. We can picture the rows of white crosses on a hillside in France; we can still sense the unfinished business of Vietnam with so many of our service men and women still unaccounted for; the first World War has almost faded from memory except in history books; World War II is poignant because we still have etched in our collective memory Pearl Harbor and a Holocaust we could not have imagined. The 38 th parallel still stands as a reminder of a Korean conflict that to this day divides a nation into two countries with two political ideologies. Vietnam veterans have often felt unappreciated and it has been difficult to talk about a war we did not outright win. The Persian Gulf War and our quagmire in Iraq continue to remind us of the dangers of our dependence on foreign oil and of trying to police the world and rule by might. Still, the war between the states, the Civil War, the war that led to the proclamation of a memorial day of remembrance, remains the bloodiest loss of lives when northern and southern soldiers in this country killed each other in a battle to free a group of people held in slavery. I am aware when we celebrate these national holidays how fortunate I am to be able to stand in a pulpit and express my discernments of scripture. I am aware how fortunate all of us are to agree or disagree with our own government and to be able to express those thoughts without fear of retribution. I am also aware that I am a citizen of the world and can never put love of one country on such a pedestal that it permits me to destroy other countries. The prophet Micah is a sobering voice of reality amid the world’s war music: a day must come when nations “shall beat their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they know war anymore, but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Those of us living today, I believe, are called to work for a world where peace and justice reign in every land. The men and women we remember today did not die so that present and future generations would be called to more wars. No – they died that present and future generations would have opportunities to live in peace. I believe they would be restless in their graves to see the divisions that have developed in our country and the lack of tolerance between those with differing views of how to solve world problems. The strength of this democracy is that we tolerate and try to understand differences of opinion, differences of philosophy, different life-styles, different religious beliefs and traditions. All of us need to understand how fragile freedom really is unless we are all dedicated to building a just and free society and world. In truth, I am free only to the point that my freedom does nothing to take away or diminish your freedom. That is a precious balance to be preserved. Perhaps our greatest memorial to those who have died in the past is to work for a world where we no longer judge strength on the basis of the power of war machinery, but rather judge strength on the basis of our ability to mobilize forces to help or assist those who are powerless and hurting and marginalized in society. War and the cost of war not only affect those who fight and their families, but all of us are eventually impacted. The cost of war, as we are currently seeing, reduces our funds to address critical needs within our country. Programs urgently needed in the nation often have to go begging as defense costs eat up the national budget. Often the long years of battle fatigues us and hardens our hearts. A spurious type of patriotism challenges the right of dissent and of the open debate held sacred in a free society. Financial and psychological preoccupation with war can destroy creative plans to end poverty, to overcome disease, to extend education, to rebuild the infrastructures of cities, and can even cause us to denigrate human dignity. We grieve over lost opportunities that may never be reclaimed. So even as we honor those men and women who fought and died bravely, let us dedicate ourselves to being a nation of peace with war always being the very last tool used in solving disputes. As Christians our call is clear to work for peace and justice. Not just peace and justice with and among our friends, but also with those who are currently our foes. Our goal should always be to try and make enemies into friends; to make adversaries into allies. Jesus of Nazareth dedicated his life to transforming people. As his followers our calling is clear - to be about the same transformation among individuals and among nations. Unless we stayed focused on that higher goal we are danger of losing our spiritual souls and our ethical and moral sensitivity. If you look and listen closely you can see and hear that a casualty of the current war is a diminishing of those sensitivities. In difficult times our priority is still one of peace with justice. The imperatives of the Christian faith are written clearly in the gospels and in the early letters to the churches: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. If your enemy is hungry feed your enemy.” And there is that challenging scripture: “God made from one every nation of humankind to live on the face of the earth.” “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” For me, those are often difficult instructions to follow. This Memorial Day weekend and the days ahead give us new opportunities to rethink and determine anew the kind of society in which we want our children and grandchildren to be reared. What kind of future memorials do we want them to remember? It is not simply as mere men and women, but rather as Christ’s men and women that we face the tensions of our time. This is a time to remember the greatness of our nation and, equally, a time to remember that the people of all nations desire to live at peace and be treated justly. I was struck, for example, when I was in Beijing a few weeks ago, by the gentleness of the people and by the harshness of the government. It would be great if we had a way to communicate people to people without governmental bureaucracies blocking us from talking and from getting to know each other. In listening to the many sides of the debate about our involvement in Iraq, it seems to me that a cessation of fighting in Iraq will not (at least for sometime) heal the divisions that have developed over the past six years. There is much work to be done. And there is very much more work to be done to make sure the veterans of this war are treated with respect and their needs are met. They are going to need jobs and employment training. Wounded men and women need extended medical care and rehabilitation; many will need to readjust to this swiftly changing society; many will face years of contending with Post Traumatic Stress. There are also the families of those still missing in action as far back as Vietnam who continue to need our prayers and support. One of the saddest funerals I’ve conducted was a few years ago when the remains of a Vietnam veteran was returned after his remains were found and identified in a remote area of Vietnam. His daughter, who was four years old when her father went to Vietnam, is now a married woman with her own children. All those years she lived with the knowledge that her father was missing, probably dead or perhaps still a prisoner, in Vietnam. She was robbed of knowing her father, and her grandchildren never had the opportunity to know a grandfather at all. Even when his remains were brought home, she did not have the comfort of seeing her father, as the box contained only bone fragments identified through DNA testing. In our witness as Christians the church has the potential to be a reconciling force in the world. We boldly declare that we are a community of the people of God and that we are willing to witness to God’s love throughout the world. We live in a time where we cannot give in to “easy” Christianity. If we are to follow Jesus the Christ we will bear his image. We will remember that Jesus called disciples, not church members. As a nation we will continue to mourn if our vision becomes blurred because we turn inward to glorify our own importance. We should boldly declare that we are a people who witness to the power of a living God, to the power of a gospel that clearly declares this is God’s world – every nation, every person is God’s unique creation. In the days ahead we cannot allow political and social divisions to reach divisive proportions. Rather, I pray we can keep in mind that the gospel of Jesus Christ is our strength. A steadfast faith in God can defeat those conditions that deprive and destroy. Faith – the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith – hold on to it even in your darkest hours. Despair will be our fate if we shut out the world and seek to compartmentalize life so that our Christian faith is securely locked in holy places or practiced only within the beauty of a sanctuary. The joy promised in the gospel is ours when life is a unity and when there are no more holy places because every place is holy. The spirit in our beloved country will be challenged if we cannot tolerate diversity in our household or if we seek to silence those who disagree with us. But the hope of new tomorrows is ours when diversity becomes a stimulus to encourage our growth and our acceptance of others. The church is in a unique position to lead people from destruction to life, from despair to hope, from sorrow to joy, from violence to peace, from injustice to justice for all. By our witness we offer the good news of God’s love and of the salvation for all. The power of the gospel can change hearts and minds. As a Christian, I believe that God offers freedom from the shackles that often bind us when we erroneously believe that we are the center of the world. I am also convinced that even in our weaknesses, even if we have little faith at times, even if we are steeped in sin or evil intents, even when we are mourning and feel hopeless – even with all of that, God can use us and can and will call us out of ourselves to go forth to witness to a living Christ who not only changes our lives but in fact totally transforms our lives. The power of the gospel is ours if we will but grasp it, believe it and live it. Each national day of mourning and remembering is a reminder of the presence of violence in our midst. That violence may be half-way around the world or it may await us outside our front doors in our own neighborhoods. So let us rise up, men and women of God. We are called to be a holy nation and a royal priesthood. Our call is to witness in such a way that the world will see clearly that God’s intention is for creation to live in harmony; that peace is greater than simply not being at war; that justice is basic for people in every land; that injustice can be defeated through the power of prayer and a dedication to work for a world which is indeed one family. When we allow God to use us as instruments of God’s peace, then we truly are witnessing to the power of God promised in the gospel to all who repent and believe. Jim Bell 5/25/08 |
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