Category: Peace

The Jesus Way

‘People think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is a cross’ – Flannery O’Connor

Phil Wickham has nailed it. 

Mind you, I don’t know Mr. Wickham.  For all I know he wrote his song in a moment of exuberance and doesn’t really mean what he’s singing (although I suspect he most certainly does).  But the words to his song, The Jesus Way, are precisely what the Christian world needs to hear.  You can listen to the song here.  I particularly appreciate the first and third verses:

If you curse me, then I will bless you

If you hurt me, I will forgive

And if you hate me, then I will love you

I choose the Jesus way –

If you strike me, I will embrace you

And if you chain me, I’ll sing his praise

And I you kill me, my home is heaven

Oh, I choose the Jesus way

Wow.  What a call to radical, nonviolent love!  You just don’t find many popular church songs willing to lay it out so plainly (go ahead, try to find some).  The song has been out for over a year, but I heard it for the first time a week or so ago.  I looked it up and discovered it was only a minor hit on the Christian charts last year.  Perhaps its recent spike in airplay indicates a comeback of sorts.  That would be nice, but I suspect, sadly, that its lyrics won’t find much purchase in the minds and hearts of many contemporary Christians, particularly those who make the most noise these days. 

That’s because many professing Christians don’t understand what it means to follow Jesus.  Too many believe in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed, ‘cheap grace.’  Somehow, we have reduced the beautiful, fathomless mystery of the Atonement to shorthand: ‘Jesus died so we don’t have to.’  There is truth in this, but the repetition of this truncated explanation has its flaws.  For one thing, it’s obviously wrong in that we do still die (last I checked, the death rate was still hovering around 100%).  But beyond this, this shorthand has bled into Christian thinking to the extent that it is commonly believed we need never lay down our lives for Jesus.  Indeed, we never have to suffer for Jesus.  His way does not require it.  There is no cost to following Jesus, because, after all, ‘Jesus paid it all.’

But while Jesus can be said to have paid it all in terms of the wages of sin, he most certainly did not call us to lives of ease.  He calls us to lives of surrender and sacrifice.  He calls us to ‘take up our crosses and follow him’ (Matthew 16:24).  He calls us to imitate him (Luke 6:40).  He tells us that ‘in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).  He calls us to, as Wickham sings, bless those who curse us, forgive those who hurt us, love those who hate us, embrace those who strike us, and, yes, to even die rather than become violent ourselves, knowing that the worst thing the world can ever do to us will only bring about our own resurrection (‘if you kill me, my home is heaven’).  In short, no matter what the world does to us, our call is to love as Jesus loved, even to love our enemies to the point of death. 

This is a hard teaching, and it is no wonder few can accept it.  But it is the 100% Gospel truth.  When we ignore it, we get pretty much the Christian landscape we see before us in our present moment of American history.  Once people decide, ‘Jesus died so I don’t have to,’ a shift takes place in their minds.  If the goal of the Christian life is to stay alive, rather than give your life away, than it becomes easy to hate your enemy instead of loving them.  It becomes easy to join the chorus of demagoguery, scapegoating, war, and violence.  The goal, after all, is self-preservation and life the way you want it.  And so, if someone threatens you or your way of life, even a little, you have every right to curse them, demean them, dehumanize them, propose violence against them, even perpetrate that violence yourself. You no longer have to turn the other cheek when struck. Instead, you strike back as hard as you can even before you have been struck. ‘Do it to them before they do it to us,’ as Robert Prosky’s character on Hill Street Blues used to say.  As a member of Congress put it not too long ago, ‘Jesus could have avoided crucifixion if he’d had an AR-15.’  Remember: Jesus died so you don’t have to. So, while Jesus didn’t have one, maybe you should.

It’s utter blasphemy.  Jesus didn’t die so that we don’t have to.  He died to show us how to live.

The Jesus Way was never supposed to be easy, and it is a sin that we have made it so.  Bonhoeffer wrote, ‘the path of discipleship is unutterably hard,’ and that it is.  ‘To confess and testify to the truth of Jesus,’ he wrote, ‘and at the same time to love the enemies of the truth, his enemies and ours, and to love them with the infinite love of Jesus Christ, is indeed a narrow way.  To believe the promise of Jesus that his followers will possess the earth, and at the same time to face our enemies unarmed and defenseless, preferring to incur injustice rather than do wrong ourselves, is indeed a narrow way.’  But it is the way to which we have been called.    In the early church, it was common for new disciples to be asked, as they joined the community, whether they were willing to die for Jesus.  I don’t suppose that would be considered good marketing these days.  But the hard truth is that until a person becomes willing to give up their life for Jesus and his way, they aren’t really following him.  He said it himself: you cannot be his disciple unless you are willing to take up your cross. 

I don’t mean to make myself sound like a brave saint.  In all honesty, I get nervous writing like this.  I do not seek martyrdom.  But the path of discipleship does, for some, require it.  And I, like anyone who desires to follow Jesus, must accept this.  We cannot meet curses with more curses, hurt with more hurt, hate with more hate, violence with more violence.  We face the world armed only with the weapons of prayer and unlimited love.  As Athanasius of Alexandria said in the 4th Century AD, ‘Christians, instead of arming themselves with swords, extend their hands in prayer.’ 

Mr. Wickham, you have thrown down the gauntlet, and for that I thank you.  You have challenged the Church, you have challenged me, to commit once again to the call of Jesus.  And so, begging your pardon for using your words once more, I end with this:

I choose surrender

I choose to love

Oh, God my Savior,

You’ll always be enough

I choose forgiveness

I choose grace

I choose to worship

No matter what I face

I follow Jesus

I follow Jesus

He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear his name

He is the treasure

He is the answer

Oh, I choose the Jesus way

I hope all reading this do too. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Under the Rubble

Under the rubble,

Thousands are dead.

Children felled in the name of security. 

More like revenge.

Accidental, they say.

They were just in the way. 

Collateral Damage, nothing more.    

It’s just the price of war.

Is this the peace announced?

Is this the kingdom come?

If not, why do yours not speak? 

Or are they deaf and dumb? 

This cannot be of you.

You, who turned the cheek,

Who rode an asses’ foal,

Who shouted, ‘Drop your sword!’

Who took the nails,

Whose every breath was love?

At Christmas, we long to see,

But how can we recognize,

When those who bear your name,

Sing as children die?

Or worse, the bombs supply.

Are we looking in the wrong place?

Convinced through sleight of hand,

To look among the victors,

The strong, the safe. 

Those who ‘bravely’ stand.

When you are, in fact,

Where you’ll always be.

Where you choose although you’re free.

Crying in our agony.

Under the Rubble.

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Art courtesy of Kelly Latimore. Inspired by Christians in Bethlehem who placed the Christ statue under the rubble this Christmas in honor of the lives lost in Gaza. When asked where God is as Gaza is being bombed, Pastor Munther Isaac replied, ‘God is under the rubble.’ Prints available at kellylatimoreicons.com

Armed Like Jesus

‘We and the world, my children, will always be at war. Retreat is impossible. Arm yourselves’ – Leif Enger, in Peace Like a River

Today I am almost at a loss for words.  Yesterday, in the wake of so much violence, including mass shootings whose victims made the mistake of engaging in such activities as shopping for groceries, attending church, or going to school, a tone-deaf, ivory-towered, and constitutionally confused majority of the Supreme Court issued a ruling on gun rights that will make it difficult, if not impossible, for federal, state, and local governments to enact reasonable laws governing the possession and use of firearms, and, in fact, calls into question every regulation presently on the books.  While the decision is hot off the presses and needs careful analysis before too much is said about its full scope, there can be no doubt that the Court’s action will result in more guns, and, consequently, more gun violence, in America. 

And once again, there will be those who call themselves Christians cheering in the streets.  No, much worse than that.  They will be heading to gun stores to buy more guns and ammo. 

What can one say to this?  Probably little of value if it comes from my own spinning head.  So I will turn to the story of Jesus, the story in which his followers are to look for guidance in all situations, specifically to an event wherein Jesus expressed his feelings on the subject of arming oneself.[1]

Jesus had gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, knowing that in the coming hours, he would be arrested, convicted, and sentenced to die on a cross.  One of his followers, Judas, who had already betrayed him, knew to find him there.  He therefore came to the garden, guiding both religious officials and a detachment of soldiers (Jewish and Roman) armed with swords and clubs. 

Judas had told the soldiers, ‘Arrest the man I greet with a kiss.’  And so, upon seeing Jesus, Judas approached and kissed him.  The soldiers then moved in for the take down. 

That’s when Simon Peter, one of two disciples who had brought swords with them to the garden, drew his and swung wildly in defense of his Master.  His attempt was somewhat lame, as he only succeeded in cutting off the ear of Malchus, the High Priest’s servant. 

Jesus immediately rebuked his violent disciple. ‘Drop your Sword!’ he shouted.  ‘Everyone who lives by a sword dies by the sword.  Do you not know that I could call upon my Father for twelve legions of angels to fight for me?  But how then could the scriptures me fulfilled?’ 

Turning to the mob, he chastised them for thinking he would ever use force or lead a violent rebellion, even in self-defense.  He had come to save, not to kill.  As if to drive the point home, he healed Malchus before their eyes.    

Jesus then allowed the soldiers to arrest him.  They took him first to the religious authorities, and subsequently to Pilate, the Roman Governor, before whom he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to die.  Then he went to Calvary, where he prayed for his enemies even as they killed him.

At no point did he call on the angels. 

Apparently, not every professing Christian believes Jesus made the right call.  A member of the United States Congress, Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who claims to be a follower of Jesus, recently told a church gathering that Jesus didn’t have enough AR-15s to craft a different ending to the story.  If only Jesus had been a little more attached to the idea of self-defense.  If only he had allowed Peter to swing that sword.  If only he had armed himself with the legions of heaven.  If only he had armed his disciples with guns. 

Talk about missing the point.     

The point is that Jesus, when confronted with his impending death, refused the use of swords (or AR-15s, or handguns, or anything else) in his defense.  He clearly stated that the way of the sword was not his way.  Nor would it be for his followers.  The early church father Tertullian put it well when he said that when Christ disarmed Peter, he disarmed every Christian.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling, I fear what it will be like to live in a world where anyone can simply carry guns on their person, concealed or otherwise, wherever they go.  I fear what it will be like to live in a world where the people carrying them include those whose anger is already sent to full rage and ready to explode at the slightest provocation.  I fear what it will be like to live in a world where so many well-armed men and women are ready, willing, and able to carry out the violent rage fantasies of the political leaders they follow.  I fear what it will be like for my children to live a world where people who may hate them for their beliefs, the color of their skin, or some other ridiculous reason, will be both armed and enraged by their mere existence. 

How does one navigate through such a world? 

Maybe Tertullian is wrong and Boebert is right.  In a world such as this, perhaps the only thing to do world is to arm ourselves.  To take advantage of the Supreme Court’s decision and start packing heat. 

But no, we must instead look to Jesus.  Jesus lived in a violent world.  In fact, he lived in a world that was armed to the teeth.  Roman soldiers carried swords and were not afraid to use them.  Temple Guards carried swords and clubs.  Nationalist zealots carried daggers, eager to wield them at any moment against their enemies (their goal, by the way, was to toss out the Romans and make Israel great again).  Even Jesus’ disciples, despite everything he had taught them over the course of years, carried two swords with them to the table of the Last Supper, and on to the Garden.  One was even foolish enough to swing one. 

How did Jesus navigate through such a world?  By doing the opposite of the fools around him.  By refusing to arm himself.   

And yet, that isn’t exactly true, is it?  For while he did not carry a sword, he did carry the weapons of love and trust.  As he went about his business in a world that was armed with swords, even as he journeyed to the cross, he armed himself only with limitless love for the world and relentless trust in his Father – and called his followers to do the same.[2]

It is Tertullian, not Boebert, who understands Jesus correctly. 

Folks, the world we live in is violent and becoming more so.  And in such a world, there is only one thing to do for those who follow Jesus.  Drop our swords, trust our Father, and walk in love. 

We and the world are indeed at war.  The world loves violence.  It loves guns.  It believes the best thing in the world is a ‘good guy with a gun.’  Jesus says that the best thing in the world is a good guy without one. 

So yes, by all means, arm yourselves. 

But arm yourselves like Jesus. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

[1] For the original Gospel versions, see Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; and John 18:1-11.

[2] See, Matthew 16:24.

Until the Next Time

‘Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?’ – Jeremiah 8:22

Last Thursday, the church I pastor hosted a candlelight vigil to honor the ten men and women cut down by an assault-style semi-automatic rifle with a high-capacity magazine in the racially motivated mass shooting at the Tops Market in Buffalo, NY.  While planning the event, another episode of gun violence occurred at a church in Laguna Woods, CA, adding yet another victim to those we recognized at the service.   The vigil was a somber attempt to create sacred space for lamentation and reflection, and, from that space, generate constructive action toward the goal of eradicating the twin evils of hate and gun violence that characterize so much of American life these days.    

On the following Sunday, a member of our congregation, one of the most socially active I know, apologized that he had been unable to attend the vigil because of work.  He expressed his hope that we would not need another one any time soon.  The moment those latter words passed his lips, we looked at each other and sighed; we both knew it would only be a matter of time before the next high-profile act of violence involving guns would occur.[1]  The only question was: how long would it take? 

Two days. 

Tuesday evening I came home from work and saw the news.  Another gunman, armed with an AR-15, the assault-style weapon of choice for mass shooters in America, had shot up a fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas.  By the following morning, the death toll had risen to twenty-one: nineteen children and two teachers.  Nineteen children, each about 10 years-old, who simply went to school that morning to learn.  Each with hopes and dreams for the future.  Each who now, if I may paraphrase Neil Young, will never get to grow up, never get to finish school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool.  Their teachers, two women with families of their own, died as heroes while attempting to shield the children with their bodies. 

One would think nothing could be worse than this.  But what makes it worse is that this is nothing new.  Shootings of the kind we have just experienced in Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and Uvalde are pretty much part of the landscape these days.  They have been for decades.  I thought of listing some of the place names, but the list would be so long it would probably crash your server.  The stories are somewhat different in each one, but the vast majority of the time, there are common denominators: an assault-style weapon was involved; and/or a person who should not have had access to the weapon used obtained it lawfully for lack of appropriate background checks and screening; and/or there were warning signs flashing (a documented history of mental illness, a published manifesto, a string of violent social media posts, a record of threats or violent behavior, etc.), the kind that should have alerted someone in authority to have acted before it was too late, or at least have served as an impediment to the purchase of a gun or ammunition had appropriate background checks and screening been employed.  Any and all of which could easily be addressed with sensible gun legislation that would have, if it had been enacted in time, prevented at least some of the shootings; that would have saved at least some of the innocent lives.  That could, even if enacted after the fact, save countless lives in the future. 

Which leads, of course, to the infuriating common denominator we experience in the aftermath of every mass shooting: the hard reality that no commonsense gun legislation ever passes.  What happens instead is as predictable as the rising of the sun.  Within hours of a mass shooting, politicians and pundits on the left call for common sense gun control measures while politicians and pundits on the right talk about the loss of life, including the lives of children, being the ‘cost of freedom’ (an expression that makes my blood boil even as I write it).  This plays out over a couple days, maybe a week, until the pro-gun forces of intransigence prevail, and nothing is done.  Then, most of the public gets bored, forgets, and moves on to think about happier things. 

Until the next time, when the cycle starts all over again.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Oh, and bury the bodies. 

Predictably, the politicians and pundits are at it even as I type.  The script is being followed to the letter.  And while people are hot today, if history is any predictor of what is to come, we know that as soon as there is a lull in the violence, people will just move on to happier things. 

And so, Jeremiah’s lament, ‘Is there no balm in Gilead?’ echoes in my soul today.  For like him I ask, ‘Is there no hope?  Is there no one who can bring healing to this land?  Why is there no healing for my people?’

Five years ago, I wrote Jeremiah’s words at the head of another blog post about another mass shooting.   Over the course of a month, in fact, I had written two posts in reaction to high-profile mass shootings in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs.  In them, I decried the fact that nothing had been done and nothing would likely be done.  I called for a time of lamentation, of sackcloth and ashes, in which we would sit in the dust and grieve the violence of our society.  I urged people not to simply move on to happier things, not to seek solace in something more comfortable, but to wade into the misery, to let it sink in, to empathize with the victims and survivors, and to then leverage what they felt toward constructive action. 

My response is the same now, with one difference.  Our lamentation time, as necessary as it is, cannot go on for too long.  We must cut it short and get about the business of making a better world before the next shooter strikes.  It is time to step up and do something.  It is time to engage in creative, nonviolent actions which push for an end to gun violence and create more beauty and peace in the world.[2]  It is time to act politically and vote the fools who think that dead school children are the ‘cost of freedom’ out of office.  It is time to demand our state and federal legislators pass common sense gun legislation and that our governors and President sign it. 

If there is a balm in Gilead, we are going to have to make it.  I for one, will begin today. 

I’m no longer waiting until the next time. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

[1] I say high profile, for, as we should all know, gun violence happens every minute of every day in America. 

[2] E.g., in the church I serve, we are partnering with RAWTools to decommission guns and turn them into garden tools (see www.rawtools.org).

A Non-Military Solution

‘I never saw no military solution that didn’t always end up as something worse’

– Sting, from the song, If I Ever Lose My Faith in You

A week or so ago, two plus weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts.  The hosts are Christians for whom I have the deepest respect.  But I became troubled as they began recounting with pride the violent resistance being offered by Ukrainians.  Please don’t get me wrong.  What Putin and his armies are doing is evil.  They are the aggressors, the Ukrainians the victims, and her resisters have shown remarkable courage over the past several weeks.  Outmanned and outgunned, they have stood against overwhelming odds.  I take nothing away from them in the bravery department.  Moreover, I get why they are fighting back.  No one wants to see their land, their homes, their national and cultural identity stolen from them.  I understand the Ukrainian willingness to fight, the courage being displayed as they do so, and the natural response, even among Christians, to cheer them on. 

But here’s the thing, Jesus told us not to. 

I’ve written frequently about Jesus’ position on violence (e.g., check out my previous post on Ukraine).  Suffice it to say he was against it.  He commanded his followers to love their enemies.  To turn the other cheek.  To offer up creative nonviolent protest, as opposed to violent resistance, in the face of evil.  When the powers came for him in Gethsemane, he refrained from calling on the angels of heaven (something he specifically said he could do) and commanded Simon Peter to put away his sword, adding, ‘anyone who lives by the sword will die by the sword’ (Matthew 26:52).  At the cross, he really put his money where his mouth was by praying for, as opposed to fighting, his enemies, choosing to love them to the end (and, I might add, winning a couple of them over). Later, after his Resurrection and Ascension (ahem, proof of the wisdom of his approach), he revealed to his disciple John the importance of following the peaceable way of the Lamb rather than the violent way of the dragon (See, generally Revelation).  And his disciples, Simon Peter included, threw away their swords forever, forsaking them to pursue the Gospel of peace. 

So why would Christians advocate for violent resistance against the Russians?  And why are so many seemingly chomping at the bit, increasingly with each passing day, to adopt policies that will only escalate the violence? 

Well, again, I kind of get why.  The atrocities we are witnessing are horrifying.  It is callous, even cruel, to sit by and do nothing.  That does not, however, mean that doing something requires violence.  There are other options that do not require the sword.    

In fact (again, see my previous post), many Ukrainians have been living out those other options.  They have prayed and sang hymns.  They have resisted nonviolently.  They have stood in the way of tanks and made them turn around.  They have blocked streets with cranes and cement blocks.  They have removed street signs to confuse Russian troops.  They have shown comfort and mercy to Russian soldiers.  They have demonstrated their dignity and humanity to the oppressor.  They have provided witness to the very sort of creative, nonviolent resistance that Jesus encouraged his disciples to engage in.  The kind that, believe it or not, has worked repeatedly in history.  In Gandhi’s movement for independence in India.  In the candlelight vigils and non-violent protests that removed the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe.  In the actions of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his allies during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s.  In the 2004 Orange Revolution in…wait for it, Ukraine!

So why aren’t we talking about that?  Why are we not telling those inspiring tales? Why are we not talking about mobilizing a sustained non-violent effort against the Russian invaders? 

The hard fact is that Putin and his forces are hell bent on taking Ukraine, and a martial response will gain nothing but death (as Edwin Starr sang, ‘war ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker/friend only to the undertaker’).  People cheered in the days prior to the invasion as Ukraine armed grandmothers and children.  Now grandmothers and children are dying.  There is no viable military solution here.  Strike back at Putin and the Russians, and they fire more bullets and drop more bombs.  Get NATO involved, and there will be a broader war with even more bombs.  Some of which may be nukes.  I repeat: there is no viable military solution here, no way to take up the sword, that doesn’t both result in increased casualties (both military and civilian) and threaten a regional, perhaps even global, war the likes of which we have never seen.  We may be able to understand why people would take up arms against an invader, but in the final analysis Jesus was right: those who take up the sword die by the sword even as they kill their enemies.  Violence begets violence. 

And here’s the bottom line for followers of Jesus (I presume most reading this post are): even if there were a viable military solution, that solution would be off limits for us.  We can neither pursue nor champion such a solution, for we belong to the Kingdom of the Lamb.  We must, instead, pursue and champion the long hard path of creative, nonviolent resistance.

That is our only option.  Not to fight, but to love.  Not to strike, but to pray.  To wage war not as the world does, but as Christ has (See, 2 Corinthians 10:4). 

Again, I understand why Christians are enthralled by the Ukrainian stand and why they want to do something to help.  But all Christians, both those in Ukraine and elsewhere, must remember who they are.  They, that is, we, must remain true to the Gospel call to creative nonviolent resistance and lift up such means as an alternative to war.

For that, as hard as it may be, is the way of Jesus. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Pray for Peace

‘He is risen, and he reigns in the hearts of the children who will love while the nations rage‘ – Rich Mullins

This morning I awoke to the news that, as expected, Russia had invaded Ukraine.  As I searched for some sort of response to this tragedy, a couple of things happened. 

The first was that I remembered the story of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20.  Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, received terrible news that an alliance of nations had arrayed against him and was marching on Jerusalem.  The Chronicler reports that he was ‘terrified by the news and begged the Lord for guidance.’  Jehoshaphat ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting, stood before his community in front of the Temple courtyard, and offered up one of the most amazing prayers in all of scripture:

‘O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven.  You are the ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth.  You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you!  O our God, did you not drive out those who lived in this land when your people Israel arrived?  And did you not give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham?  Your people settled here and built this Temple to honor your name.  They said, ‘Whenever we are faced with any calamity, such as war, plague, or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is honored.  We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear and rescue us.  And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing.  You would not let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so they went around them and did not destroy them.  Now see how they reward us!  For they have come to throw us out of your land, which you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, won’t you stop them?  We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us.  We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help’ (2 Chronicles 20:6-12, NLT).

In the wake of this prayer, God spoke to the people of Judah through a prophet who told the people not to be afraid, but to go out to meet the enemy, not to fight, but to watch the Lord deliver them.  The people received this news by bowing before the Lord and worshipping. 

The next morning, they marched out to meet the enemy.  At the front were neither warriors nor chariots, but a choir, singing, ‘Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!’  The moment their song began, the armies arrayed against Judah began fighting among themselves.  By the time the Judeans arrived at the battlefield, the enemy was gone.  Victory had been won without the raising of a single Judean sword, and the Lord established peace for Judah throughout the remainder of Jehoshaphat’s reign. 

Now, I know, things don’t always work out like that.  It may not in Ukraine.  But the story is nonetheless a beautiful example of what can happen when God’s people pray.  It is a beautiful example of what God’s people should do when threatened: instead of relying on their own power, or trusting in chariots, as the Psalmist puts it (see, Psalm 20:7), they should rely solely on the power of the Living God.  As Jehoshaphat prayed, when we don’t know what to do (and in all honesty and humility, we never do), we must turn to God for help. 

The second thing that happened was that I received an image from my son in Rwanda, Emmanuel, of a group of Ukrainian Christians kneeling in the snow, praying for the deliverance of their country.

I didn’t know what the picture was at first, but when Emmanuel told me, tears came to my eyes.  Here was the remnant of Jehoshaphat’s people.  Here was the Kingdom of the Lamb. 

In recent weeks, I have read reports of grandmothers and small children training to fight the Russians when they come (which they now have).  The images were startling.  It seems that many believe the answer to war is more war; to strike against one’s enemies by using their tactics.  As I’ve beheld those images, I’ve recalled Jesus’ warning in Gethsemane to Peter to put his sword away, to not meet violence with violence, because ‘those who live by the sword die by the sword’ (Matthew 26:52). 

Jesus teaches us that there are other forms of resistance, other ways to stand against the dark powers that seek our destruction.  Paul refers to these other ways in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, where he wrote:

‘For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.’

I love Paul’s use of the words, ‘on the contrary;’ he is telling us that while the weapons of the world do not ultimately work (they only beget more violence), the weapons in the arsenal of Christianity have power to achieve things.  Weapons such as prayer and love are, he is telling us, the most powerful weapons in the world.  And, more importantly, the only weapons followers of Jesus are permitted to use.  In the Kingdom of the Lamb, the only way to overcome enemies is with love and prayer. 

Jesus himself is our example in this.  As is the early church, who, when beset by enemies, gathered and prayed:

‘Why do the nations rage, and the people’s plot in vain?  The kings of the earth prepared for battle; they gathered together against the Lord and his anointed one…Oh Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, boldness in preaching your word.  Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus’ (See, Acts 4:25-30). 

We need to take the example of Jehoshaphat, the early church, and those Ukrainian believers kneeling in the snow, to heart.  We live in unraveling times.  The leader of Russia has become (likely has always been) a madman intent on building an empire.  China too is eyeing the expansion of their own.  In America, we have a former President, who may become one again, praising Putin even as he makes his power grab, and the bitter prospect of rising autocracy within our own borders.  What does one do in times such as these? 

The nations rage.  The peoples plot in vain.  Those with worldly minds, who follow the way of the dragon, strike back, meet force with force, violence with violence, hurt with hurt. 

But the children of the Lamb pray, in the snow and elsewhere.  They sing ‘Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!’  They conquer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony (see, Revelation 12:11).  They pray for the redemption of their enemies, or, failing that, some other intervention by God to establish peace.  They do not live by the sword.  They live by love.  They pray.  They model peace.  They may not know what to do themselves, but they look to the Living God for help. 

Today I ask all who read this to pray.  Pray for the people of Ukraine.  Pray for the miraculous transformation of Vladimir Putin’s heart.  Pray for the transformation of all who would use violence or do evil in this world.  Pray for the dramatic intervention of God.  Pray for the establishment of peace.  Pray believing that the God of Jehoshaphat is still on His throne and still mighty to save.  For He most certainly is. 

This is the way of the Lamb’s Kingdom. 

May we walk in it.

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Give Peace a Chance

‘We prepare for war, and we get it’ – Stanley Hauerwas

Over a month has passed since the Kabul bombing that took place as American forces withdrew from Afghanistan.  169 Afghani’s died in the attack, as well as 13 American service members.  It was an emblematic, if horrific, exclamation point to a mostly neglected twenty-year war.  President Biden responded as national leaders often do in such circumstances, promising swift and decisive retaliation.[1]  While many cheered, my immediate thought was: ‘have we learned anything?’

Retaliation is what got us into the mess in Afghanistan in the first place. If you were alive at the time, you certainly remember 9/11.  It was a day that is impossible to forget.  I remember it well, as I do the rush to retaliation that took place in its wake.  In Congress, only one member of the House of Representatives counseled forbearance, and was viciously attacked for doing so.  Even in the Church, the desire to strike back, to get even, ran high.  ‘An eye for an eye’ was the typical response of Americans, including American Christians, in those days.  It seemed so right to so many. 

Twenty years later, some at least are reconsidering.  America has pulled out of Afghanistan.  The war is lost, the Taliban back in control, and the Afghani people once again face a bleak and oppressive future.  The futility of the ‘war on terror’ is more apparent than ever.  The world isn’t any safer now than it was on September 11, 2001.  Indeed, one could make a convincing argument that America, and the global community, is less safe.  One could even argue that the desire for retaliation and revenge has fueled movements of hate right here at home; movements that threaten the very existence of the American experiment.  Our lust for retaliation didn’t, after all, help us in the wake of 9/11; and folks, it isn’t going to help us now.  

It certainly didn’t help in the aftermath of the airport bombing.  America delivered on Biden’s promise with a drone strike aimed at what was believed to be a car bomb.  It was not.  It was the car of an aide worker, Zemarey Ahmadi, who was trying to get his family out of Afghanistan before the Taliban took control.  The strike killed 10 civilians, including Zemarey and seven children (four boys and three girls) aged 2-10 years old.  Their names, if anyone cares to know, were Faisel, Farzad, Binyamin, Armin, Haya, Sumaya, and Malika.  Retaliation, in both the case of 9/11 and in the case of the Kabul airport bombing, didn’t exactly deliver what it promised, did it? 

There simply has to be a better way. 

Two Sundays ago, I preached on Jesus words in Matthew 5:38-42.  It’s a passage about nonretaliation.  Instead of striking back at your enemies, Jesus teaches, his followers are to, ‘turn the other cheek,’ ‘hand over their cloaks,’ and ‘go the extra mile.’  I won’t spend time fully exegeting those examples here (you can listen to the sermon on the Facebook page of the First Baptist Church of Collingswood; it includes an exploration of how we might have responded nonviolently to 9/11), but essentially, Jesus was telling his disciples and would-be disciples that when wronged, even egregiously so, they should respond, not by retaliating in kind, but by employing nonviolent strategies that assert one’s dignity, surprise and disarm evil, witness to the way of the kingdom, and extend the possibility of friendship.  Rejecting the notion of an eye for an eye, Jesus called his followers to seek more creative solutions to the problem of evil.  Jesus understood what Gandhi would say many centuries later as he himself creatively employed Jesus’ strategy, that ‘an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.’

Alas, most of the world scoffs at such advice. 

I recently read an article about the National Peace Museum in Washington D.C.  Never heard of it?  Well, that’s because it doesn’t exist.  Originally chartered in 1984 as an extension of the U.S. Institute of Peace, it was to have borne witness to the possibility of creative peacemaking and peacebuilding.  It would have championed the efforts of those who had, whether they realized it or not, heeded the advice of Jesus; those who sought, and often found, creative and nonviolent solutions to seemingly intractable problems.  Sadly, to this day, the museum remains but a dream.  It has never received the needed funding or support from the United States government. 

Big surprise.    

Wendell Berry, in his essay, The Failure of War, offers words that help explain why such a museum has never come to be.  Berry writes:

‘Our century of war, militarism, and political terror has produced great – and successful – advocates of true peace, among whom Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., are the paramount examples.  The considerable success that they achieved testifies to the presence, in the midst of violence, of an authentic and powerful desire for peace and, more important, of the proven will to make the necessary sacrifices.  But so far as our government is concerned, these men and their great and authenticating accomplishments might as well never have existed.  To achieve peace by peaceable means is not yet our goal.  We cling to the hopeless paradox of making peace by making war.’

Tragically, Berry is right.  Our government clings to such a hopeless paradox.  I suppose we can’t expect them to change overnight, but certainly among the followers of Jesus, it should be different.  Jesus’ disciples should respond to evil with creativity and generosity, and in so doing, provide witness to another way.  We should advocate for creative, nonviolent responses that encourage even the government in the direction of peace.  Perhaps we will never fully persuade those whose default response is to wield the sword, but we might get them to at take a few positive steps in the direction of peacemaking, and exchange at least some of their swords for plowshares. 

I hope America eventually builds that peace museum.  I hope that more people come to understand the power of creative nonviolence.  I hope that more people discover the creative way of Jesus. 

And I hope that the next time a terrible attack happens, at home or abroad, Christians might, whatever else the government may do, consider spreading love instead of bombs.  That instead of rushing to support a policy of retaliation in kind, as many did in the wake of 9/11, we might, as the old song goes, give peace a chance. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

[1] In the aftermath of the attack, the President further invoked the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘Here am I, send me,’ and applied them to the soldiers of the United States military.  While one can admire the bravery of those who put their lives on the line for others, the comparison is extremely dangerous, as it advances an insidious Christian Nationalist theology that equates military action with the work of the Kingdom of God.  But that’s for another post.

A Call to Prayer in a Time of Crisis

Today, the Capitol Building of the United States, a symbol of democracy and freedom all over the world, has been stormed.  Congress has been evacuated.  Prevented from performing its constitutional duty of counting the votes of the electoral college and affirming the will of the people as expressed in a fair and open election.  God only knows what happens next.  Who among us, just a few short years ago, would ever have imagined that such a thing could happen? 

As I preached on the Sunday after Christmas, followers of Jesus should not place their hope in the politics of the world.  They should stand for Kingdom values and live with Jesus, and no one else, as their king.  What is happening now has been helped along by many who have rejected such a stance.  Too many professing followers of Jesus have placed their hope in an imperial savior who cannot save, who has fed their grievances and stoked the fires of hate and fear.  What we are seeing now is the fruit of such complicity. 

Whatever side of the political divide you have been on to this point, I call upon all who claim the label Christian to put the politics of the world behind them in this moment and embrace the politics of Jesus by condemning those who would, by force or otherwise, attempt a takeover of a legitimately elected government.  This is not the way of Jesus.  It is the way of imperial madness.  It is the way that always leads to destruction and darkness. 

While as Christians we are not to entangle ourselves in the politics of the empire, we are to seek the welfare of the society in which we live.  To that end, I call upon each of us to work to restore peace to this troubled republic.  And I ask you to pray.  Pray for the safety of Capitol police and members of Congress.  Pray for peace.  Pray for sanity.  Pray for an end to the madness, hate, and fear that has for too long gripped this nation and led to this dark day.  And yes, pray as well for those who would destroy the very fabric of our society – that they will come to their senses before harm comes to anyone, them included.  Pray also for the Church across this nation, much of which has, tragically, accepted a devil’s bargain and sought power, power that has led to violence, the weakening of the Church’s witness, and untold trouble in the days to come.  Pray that she, that is we, will come together in a spirit of repentance and follow the way of the Lamb. 

Pray that somehow, in all of this, people everywhere will wake up and discover that the hope of this world is not found in the politics of empire, but in the politics of the Prince of Peace. 

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Deleting Jesus – Free Starting Today

Hey folks, just a quick reminder that the countdown deal for a free Kindle copy of Deleting Jesus starts today! Here’s a little blurb from the back cover:

Deleting Jesus is an examination of both who Jesus is and what he asked his followers to be. Through a study of the words and actions of Jesus, the witness of the New Testament, and the writings of early Christians, pastor and author Brent David Miller contrasts the Christianity of the early Church with the counterfeit version so prevalent today, and issues a call to follow the radical and loving way of Christ. In this book you will discover the teachings of Jesus and the early Church on such topics as power, politics, enemy love, war, the proper use of wealth, the treatment of refugees and immigrants, racism, and the life of discipleship. Whether you are a believer stuck in the trenches of American pop Christianity, or a non-believer who is turned off by the antics of the so-called Christians around you, prepare to have your perspective rocked. Prepare to discover the real Jesus.

You can download your free copy on Kindle through Monday October 12th.

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent

Deleting Jesus Giveaway

Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ‘I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,’ the devil said, ‘because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me.’ – Luke 4:5-6

This is just a quick post to announce that my book, Deleting Jesus, will be FREE in the Kindle store from this Thursday, October 8th, through Monday, October 12th.

Deleting Jesus laments the mistake Christians make when they accept the devil’s bargain of Luke 4:5-6, trading fidelity to Jesus for the promise of political power. It was written in the wake of the 2016 election but remains relevant as once again, Christians approach another presidential election and wrestle with the intersection of faith and politics.

I am offering this free at this time as my way of helping folks navigate a world where large segments of the Church have traded the way of the Cross for the way of the dragon and its beasts. My hope is that it will be a blessing to you. My only request is that if you like it, take a moment to write a review on Amazon. Positive reviews help the messages of my books reach a wider audience.

Feel free to share this with others! May God bless you as you follow the Lamb in this crazy and stressful time.

Under Christ’s Mercy,

Brent