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inevitable, the last and often first resort in conflicts. If agod is what you turn to when all else fails, violence certainlyfunctions as a god. What people overlook, then,is the religious character of violence. It demands fromits devotees an absolute obedience-unto-death.”A full article can be found at www.biblesociety.org.uk/exploratory/articles/wink99.docThe consumer cultureThe disease of consumerism has eaten deeply into oursouls. The more we have the more we crave and themore we crave the more we have to make room for.These things are so precious to us that they have to beprotected and guaranteed to remain ours. This is onlyone step away from reasoning that is justified to havean army to protect what we have acquired. We begin tofeel threatened by those who have less. The desire forsecurity takes over. Then it is easy to let go of theGospel of peace for the sake of security.—Siegfried Bartel, The Challenge of Living withConviction, Alternative Service for PeaceThe language of warAs a peacemaker, I’ve begun to notice how the languageof war is interwoven into everyday conversation.We declare endless wars—on drugs, poverty, corruption,crime, rust.We shoot down ideas, attack a problem. We search formore ammunition for the argument or talk of magicbullets.We combat illness and launch endless campaigns andcrusades for the issues what we believe in.Making PeaceA voice from the dark called out,“The poets must give usimagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiarimagination of disaster. Peace, not onlythe absence of war.”But peace, like a poem,Is not there ahead of itself,can’t be imagined before it is made,can’t be known exceptin the words of its making,grammar of justice,syntax of mutual aid.A feeling towards it,dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we haveuntil we begin to utter its metaphors,learning them as we speak.A line of peace might appearif we restructured the sentence our lives are making,revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,questioned our needs, allowedlong pauses…A cadence of peace might balance its weighton that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,an energy field more intense than war,might pulse then,stanza by stanza into the world,each act of livingone of its words, each worda vibration of light – facetsof the forming crystal.Denise Levertov, Women on WarWhen our teenagers fail at something, they say thatit bombed. We are urged to arm ourselves againstignorance, insurance fraud, termites…We aim our sights higher. We fight for justice. We speak of being in the trenches or doingbattle with our kids. We charge into a situation, ideally armed with the facts. When thatgoes badly, we take the flak for it.What does it mean to live among the metaphors of war?Does language move us toward becoming a sponge, soaking up the violence of society? Ifit does, then our words will surely contribute to lack of shalom.We know that Jesus was surrounded by heavily armed occupation forces. Yet his languagedidn’t take on the warlike imagery of his times.Digging Deeper28
Praying for enemiesSoldiers are not themain problem regardingwar and violence.So who is? Policymakers, law makers,those who prepareweapons, those whopay for war? WhenJesus entreats us to prayfor our enemies, whoare we really supposedto be praying for?Sometimes I simplypray that thosein power will hearthe voice of Godand obey it.—Hedy M. SawadskyInstead we read of a farmer tenderly sowing and tending his crop; a builder; atemple; a kingdom that children shall see; a mustard see; and yeast. His parablesfeature virgins and their lamps; a king preparing for a wedding banquet; alandowner and his vineyard; a king settling accounts, fishing nets let down intothe sea; and a treasure hidden in a field. Christians must develop a new languagethat rejects militant and militaristic metaphors and returns to that which is lifegiving,reconciling and congruous with Jesus’ life and ministry. —Jon Rudy, MCCIntercomPeace extends to those in the militaryOur compassion and non-violent approach extends to the way we talk aboutthose who have made a military choice.“We ought to have genuine sympathy for the soldier who was asked by his governmentto leave a quiet life and suddenly engage in wholesale murder of hisfellowmen whom he never knew and toward whom he had no cause forvengeance.” —E.J. Swalm, Nonresistance to the Test“The ‘peace’ that comes through military action is a weak creature that developsthrough submission and fear, not the deep peace of Christ rooted in righteousnessand justice. Conversely, the ‘sword of righteousness’ wielded by the Christianpeacemaker is a metaphor for the Word of God that cuts through the gauze of worldlycustom; a sword to prick the conscience; a choice that must be made to take up the crossof Christ. …It would be easy to pit the peacemaker against the soldier—but it would be wrong to doso. There are soldiers who serve “the least of these” in Iraq…. And there are peacemakerswho thrive more on their own anger, self-righteousness, and personal purity, than onauthentic deeply rooted sacrificial love. —Rose Marie Berger, Free at Last, SojournersMagazineTough questionsWhen talking about resistance to war, sooner or later “what if?” objections begin to arise.The most commonly posed scenarios involve stopping Hitler or needing to intervene whensomeone is harming a loved one.“The Hitler argument often emphasizes that military force was needed to ‘preserve ourfreedom.’ Without the allied military effort to resist Hitler, the entire western world mayhave come under Hitler’s sway. We hear that argument often nowadays too with respect toCanadian involvement in Afghanistan. We need to question that assumption. Historydemonstrates that democracy and freedom have also been preserved by those who werewilling to stand up for what was right regardless of the cost to themselves. Scholars areincreasingly noting that ideas about the separation of church and state, freedom of religionand conscience (which are an essential part of democracy today) came from the 16th centuryradical reformation (the Anabaptists), who were willing to die for their convictionsrather than kill.” —Esther Epp-Tiessen, MCC CanadaFor more insights into how to enter into dialogue with such objections, see the book WhatWould You Do? by John H. Yoder. The Alternative Service website (www.alternativeservice.ca)also has discussion questions along these lines.29 Digging Deeper
Page 1 and 2: Cultivating Peace:Courage, Conscien
Page 5 and 6: Cultivating Peace:Courage, Conscien
Page 8 and 9: FridayA different way of lifePut yo
Page 10 and 11: On becoming a COHow does one learn
Page 12 and 13: swords into ploughshares. Is.2:4Str
Page 14 and 15: Committed even unto death:the story
Page 16 and 17: Public witness for peaceToday there
Page 18 and 19: Objecting to paying for warCanadian
Page 20 and 21: Our task is not only to keep our so
Page 22 and 23: Litany of ResistanceJim Loney, who
Page 24 and 25: Mennonite Church ManitobaTo listen
Page 26 and 27: Love your enemies. Mt 5:44More Old
Page 28 and 29: Digging deeperThese reflections on
Page 32 and 33: Learning in ActionCO RegistryA numb
Page 34 and 35: Peacemakerswho sow inpeace raise ah
Page 36 and 37: The Powers That Be: Theology for a
Page 38 and 39: AppendixSample sermonBlessed Are th
Page 40 and 41: Readers’ theatreO Bind Us in That
Page 42 and 43: Voice 3: Blessed are those who trus
Page 44 and 45: How did the church/family react to
Page 46 and 47: pious answers, and sitting back to
Page 48 and 49: “Our beards,” Joseph interjects
Page 50: Peacemakerswho sow inpeace raise ah

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