13 April 2006

More on Christ and Power in "Christ and Violence" by Ronald Sider.

Love must also be the goal or end of acceptable forms of coercion. An economic boycott to end oppression has the loving aim of liberation and justice for the oppressor as well as the oppressed. And, as we just noted, it can be conducted in such a way that one genuinely loves the other person and respects his freedom as a person responsible to God. For coercion to be acceptable, then, love must be both the means and the end. It is undoubtedly wrong to use power over others simply because of a desire to coerce and dominate. But it is not wrong to use nonlethal forms of coercion if the end and means are love for all parties.

This is not a sentimental love that is being discussed here. This is a love that seeks justice and aims to bring all people onto a common footing that does not seek the demise of the other. This does not mean that the coercion or the force will not inflict pain and hardship. Even the best change that takes place for the welfare of all people bears the pains of transition. No one really likes to go through such change whether forced or if the change is that upon which people have agreed. I find this kind of loving coercion to be very much on the level of what we saw in the teaching and action of Gandhi in which the welfare of all really meant all - even the oppressors. And yet, this love can look as though the present structures of order are not being honored and this is not acceptable to the status quo. In reality, the present structures cannot be honored as is. Rather, they are honored for their participation in the process of change and dialogue along with those who have not been a part of the power structures. To sit around the table and to demand that all are heard and all are a part of what is to be demands a love that can seem beyond us.

Connection: We must keep praying for the strength and wisdom to engage our world with a love that alters even our view of the other. In that way, there is a chance that all of us will grow into the vision of peace that is a part of God's Reign.

Come, Holy Spirit, and change our hearts so that as we encounter the world around us it will be with a love that draws us together and enables us to honor those around us, even our enemies, so that resolution of conflicts and our creative imaginations will be a part of the building of communities of hope. Amen.