Wednesday 17 September 2008

We continue to turn to Jesus as we long to see the Reign of God and its character. Again - Stanley Hauerwas.

Through Jesus' life and teachings we see how the church came to understand that God's kingship and power consists not in coercion but in God's willingness to forgive and have mercy on us. God wills nothing less than that men and women should love their enemies and forgive one another; thus we will be perfect as God is perfect. Jesus challenged both the militaristic and ritualistic notions of what God's kingdom required - the former by denying the right of violence even if attacked, and the latter by his steadfast refusal to be separated from those "outside."

Here is the essential reason why we can, as followers of Jesus, say no to military service. This does not mean that we cannot be patriotic citizens as we can still be those who serve our neighbors and those who are not our neighbors in ways that are self-giving and risky and creative. The historic peace churches are automatically considered able to avoid mandatory military service during the times of a draft, simply because of who they claim to be. Their church practice as displayed everyday in a very public manner is evidence of their unwillingness to go to war and participate in the violence that we have come to expect of one another. Beyond military service, I would suggest that we are being invited into a life that is just as contrary to the flow of the life around us when we insist on forgiveness and are unwilling to be separated from others. Rather, we will continue to move toward the strangers and those who can so easily be cast as our enemies.

Connection: We are no longer mere readers of the story. This day we are once again invited to be a part of the story that displays this quite contrary life in the world.

Blessed Lord, take our hand and walk with us beyond our anger and fear and need for revenge. Walk with us and help us to see your way as a path we can claim and a path on which we too can walk through these days. Amen.