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Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in Gods work to save the world.

God's Radical Call of Peacemaking

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GOD'S RADICAL CALL OF PEACEMAKING

by Jarrod Cochran

I recently had the privilege to have an open dialogue with James Dobson's group, Focus On The Family (FOTF). One of the topics of our discussion was just what Jesus meant by calling His followers to be peacemakers.

One of the political/religious pillars that FOTF stands upon is their support of America's most recent war in Iraq. FOTF contends that this war is completely justified by theory of Just War. While I do not want to get into the argument of whether or not this war was justified, I do want to pose this question: What war has ever been halted due to the Just War theory?

As a Christian, I do not see how anyone, after reading Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, cannot walk away a peacemaker opposed to violence of any kind. Along with teaching us how to change our hearts and minds and live for God, peacemaking is at the very heart of Jesus' teachings; living for God and peacemaking are interwoven. This is something that we all must strive for daily (for I am not even close to being a full-time peacemaker; I fall short every day).

There was a German Episcopal Minister during World War I who very much thought this war was a "just war". That was until he witnessed first-hand a bloody fight between German and American soldiers - all of them claiming to be Christian - who each believed that they "had God on their side". Christians killing other Christians in the name of God broke this minister's heart and drove him to be opposed to any war.

Even if people do grasp that Jesus' teachings call us to be peacemakers, I think our American pro-war society and culture causes individuals to feel like they must come up with another interpretation of what Christ is telling us. In the face of a pro-militaristic/pro-war society, we begin to develop excuses and theories as to what Jesus really meant by "blessed are the peacemakers," "if someone strikes your right cheek, turn to them your left as well," and "do not repay evil with evil". When we do this, we water down the bible and diminish the powerful message that it contains.

Lets make an effort to not only be believers of Jesus' call but also become doers as well. It is not enough for us to just believe the right things - Satan believes the right things, but does nothing about it. God is calling us to be difference makers in the world to further His Kingdom on this earth. This includes the radical call to be a peacemaker. May we be able to answer this call in the same way that the medieval Saint Francis of Assisi did in the opening sentence of his great prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

God is calling you and me to be instruments of peace and love in this world. Will you answer His radical call to be an agent of His great change?

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