Canal Street News-- Syria and Shomade Beautiful People, In the four short chapters that comprise the story of Jonah, God orders Jonah to set sail to Nineveh where he is to declare to the evil king and his bad people that they have crossed a red-line. Consequently, in a few short days, God is going to wipe them off the face of the earth. Jonah has other ideas. But after a little divine persuasion that included a storm at sea and being swallowed by a whale, Jonah relents to do God’s bidding. Open receiving word from Jonah about their pending doom, much to everyone’s surprise, the evil Ninevites repent and say they are going to change their ways. God, second guesses himself. God changes his divine mind and does not do what God said God was going to do—destroy Nineveh. Jonah is livid! He lets God have it. “Not very commander-in-chief like! After all this! This is not a game you know, God! I was swallowed by a whale and changed my whole life to deliver your message of doom! Where’s the boom?” We are told that Jonah is bitter for the rest of his days. For God, evidently, the litmus test for being an effective leader is not one’s follow-through on justifiable threats. Rather it is more divine to pause, muddle, second guess oneself, and to be uncomfortable when it comes to killing people— whoever they are— in order to move the world toward peace and justice. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. It is humbling and knee-bending just to say those words. “Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It has been 15 minutes since my last confession.” Everyday my children are more and more astute at pointing out to me my daily hypocrisies. Usually it is more comic relief than embarrassing shame, but those days are surely coming. The gospel points to peaceful nonviolence as the saving way of living this life. Jesus in the moment of his arrest and the gathering, violent injustice all around him, told Peter to re-sheath his sword. This kind of peacemaking is something you must choose to believe in, in spite of all the other facts that are all about you. You believe in peace in spite of the fact that you have to partner with Vladimir Putin, in spite of the fact that the Dutch, and a few American companies—“the good –guys,” also supplied Syria with the chemicals we say are a crime against humanity. And you draw strength from those who have gone before you. How Rev. Martin King must have felt when he shook hands with Lyndon Johnson. PEACE is what is exceptional. Peace is divine. Like in Nineveh and in every relationship I have been in, PEACE is comprised of backbone, patience, grace and merciful justice. Getting to some semblance of real PEACE usually will take us through the spectrum of emotions displayed by God, Jonah, and the Ninevites. A basic divine practice of peace is to re-sheath your sword at every possible opportunity. Such behavior will mean losing face with the world; the kind of world with egos like Jonah. Personally, I am not a pacifist. I am a peace-afist. In this brutalizing world, we have the capacity to bring the ways of peace into our daily decisions, if not Syria. The ways of peace are learned, practiced and divinely witnessed to in committed community where we confess our fears and shortcomings and inspire one another in the ways of peace. As best as I can discern from the wisdom of Scripture and my own life, this walk is one glorious and worthy zigzag. I invite you to join me in prayer on this stretch of the journey. See you Sunday at 10 AM for our Shomade gatherings—small groups that gather to discuss our life together as First Grace. Our Shomade groups will discuss Syria. Please be praying about the ways of peace that you live by. Peace be with you, Pastor Shawn
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 19:38:22 +0000
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