My dear friends,
Peace is heavy on my heart today.
Why is the reality of peace so hard to enact? What makes peace so elusive to us? I know I talk a lot about the current state of things. I comment on the divisions here in the United States. I allude to the acrimonious atmosphere in our political discourse. We can get very narrowly focused on our own issues and what we are confronting, and fail to see the wider circumstances occurring on the world at large. Is it possible, what we and the world are going through is because of an absence of will to seek and find peace?
There are those who believe the best way to get their way, to obtain and hold power, is to stoke the fires of anger and “other-isms.” There’s a long and tragic history of “divide and conquer.” It seems to hold true, when neighbors can be pitted against neighbors, there’s an inherent power ceded to those who stoke those divisions. That kind of power grab never bodes well for the world at large. There’s always an enemy to be vanquished. As long as there’s an “us against them” mentality, the petty, dishonest, power brokers will always have the upper hand.
I know I have an innate naiveté which leads me to think in simpler terms. I don’t always grasp the intricacies, the complexities, the nitty and gritty. I like to think if one thing is good, and one thing is bad, it should be a no-brainer to choose the good. Unfortunately, that’s not how life happens. The reality is, there are movers and shakers among us who seek to have their way. They want what they want, and for them there is no compromise. There’s no seeking a middle ground. There’s no desire to stand in another’s shoes to see how decisions affect them.
Much of how we conduct ourselves in the world is a zero sum game. One side wins at the expense of the other side. My friends, we cannot continue down this path of living. Its neither moral, nor ethical. It stands over and against what Jesus tells us about the greatest commandment: “Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And love our neighbor, as we love ourself.”
When we look at the absence of peace in the world, is it the result of intractable issues? I don’t happen to think so. Avarice and sloth are at work in those who see no end to the horrors of retribution, war, and genocide. If we take greed and laziness out of the equation, there are answers which can and will lead to peace.
Walter Cronkite, the famous CBS news anchor said, “War is, of course, a form of madness.” He went on to say, “It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace.”
In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” Jesus knew the world on its own could never provide peace, but through how he was trying to lead us, we could find and have a real and lasting peace.
For our neighbors in Ukraine, for our neighbors in Palestine, for our neighbors in Israel, for our neighbors in Russia, we MUST pray and work for peace. Again, I’m just naive enough to believe there is a peaceful solution to every situation. It cannot be a zero sum game. We don’t have to have winners and losers, friends and enemies. We can do better. We must do better.
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “In order to think great thoughts you must be heroes as well as idealists.” I might be an idealist, but its time for each of us to reach down inside ourselves and call to the fore, the hero that lives in us. Our community, our state, our nation, our world cannot go on with business as usual. What is raging around us IS madness. We are better than this. We are all God’s children, and I believe peace can become a reality, if we will work and pray to that end.
Your companion on The Way,
Pastor Tom