Jesus Makes Every Church A Peace Church

What would a church do if it really believed the words of Jesus, “Blessed are the peacemakers” and "love your enemies?" What might such a church be called? Perhaps a “peace church?”

I am impelled by the frightful prospect of economic collapse and expanding wars in our world to ask “What would Jesus do?” This question was popular a few years ago. But now the question seems to have gone out of style. Since many of the same people who asked that question also brought us George Bush, the war in Iraq and the biggest national debt in history, perhaps we should all pay attention now to the disappearance of the question, and ask ourselves why it is suddenly gone. Has the church lost its soul, and perhaps its mind too, in such a short time?

For Christians (my intended audience), asking “What would Jesus do?” is of course a way to ask “What should I do?” What should we Christians do in a time of burgeoning, deadly war and imperial hubris?

Surely the only serious way to ask “What would Jesus do?” in our time is to ask first “What did Jesus do?” in his time. Jesus lived in a time of military occupation, imperial hubris and religious collaboration with state power. How did he respond to those realities?

And we m;ust grant that the people who made “what would Jesus do?” popular twenty years ago did not so much ask the wrong question (as suggested by their ominous political record) as ask the right question the wrong way. That is, they did not, as I insist we must, first ask with intense care, cultural awareness and political insight “What did Jesus do?” In other words, I do not discredit their spiritual instinct which says that our action must be guided by springs of truth (including scripture), compassion, community, love and hope (things associated with religious sensibilities). But I insist that those religious sensibilities can help us find the path only if tapped with wisdom and care.

WHAT DID JESUS DO?

Jesus announced good news of hope for change, he ministered to human need and he unmasked deceptive oppression. His message and his method were hope, healing and truth. If we are Christians, his agenda should be our agenda. His work is our work. What did Jesus do? That is what we do.

But who is willing to make the effort to understand in depth what Jesus did? Instead of such an effort, when it comes to understanding Jesus we see platitudes, assumptions, froth and bubbles. We hear, “Jesus was the saviour, he gave his life for the sins of the world. He paid the debt for our sins.” Well, he gave his life? Was this some new form of animal sacrifice, now a human instead of a sheep or a bull dying for the sins of the world? And he paid the debt? Paid to whom? Did someone need a human sacrifice because we are sinners? Indeed, we are sinners. Humans fail, big time. Look around. We fail each other, we fail the environment, we fail humanity, we fail God. Is all of this to be corrected by the sacrifice of a perfect human?

Again, what did Jesus do? By all accounts he died. But it was a premature death. Who killed him, and why? Was his death connected with the way he lived? Was he killed because of what he did with his life?

There is a yawing gap in the great Christian confessions about Jesus. In the Apostles’ Creed, better known and more widely memorized than any other description of Jesus in all of Christendom, the life and teachings of Jesus are passed over with a comma. The wording goes, “born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” So he was born, suffered, was crucified, died and was buried. You could ask, Did he live? Did he ever live? What did he do in his life and with his life?

Is there any connection between Jesus life and death, any clue as to how his life might have led to his death? Who killed him, and why? To ask these questions is to ask more seriously “What did Jesus do?,” and to do it as the indispensable prelude to asking “What would Jesus do?”

We proceed now to look at the elements of Jesus’ life as the Gospel writers describe them (focusing on Mark’s gospel), as announcing good news (hope), ministering to human need (healing) and unmasking deceptive oppression (telling truth). And because our purpose is not merely theoretical, but practical and extremely urgent, this look at Jesus is linked at each step with asking “What should we do?” That is, if we take Jesus as our guide, how will we act in our historical situation? This, indeed, is not an “exact science” which yields indisputable results. But let’s be clear--if we are not trying to understand Jesus as a guide for our life, we are taking our guidance from somewhere else, some mix of consumerist ideologies, tv preachers, media news, presidents and political functionaries, military histories, national myths and just plain old social conformity (peer pressure).


1. ANNOUNCING GOOD NEWS (HOPE)
The good news is that things can change for the better. They don’t have to get worse, they don’t have to stay as bad as they are, and they can get better. Hope is realistic. Show me a person who does not believe that and I’ll show you a person who does not believe the gospel (good news)!

In Mark’s gospel Jesus comes to the villages of Galilee, to people on the margins of society oppressed by the Roman military occupation and suffocating taxation by both Rome and Jerusalem, and to these people he announces possibilities of transformation and hope for a better future. He preaches good news to them. He gives them reason for hope.

Jesus announces the reign of God. The kingship of God meant the implementation of the economic and social principles of the ancient covenant of Moses. That is, the message of Jesus arose from the rich tradition of God’s covenant with Israel. But that covenant was being transgressed in his time by political and religious leaders who abused their position and power to garner wealth and increase the power of their institutions. This meant that Jesus would have to be a courageous critic of the abusers of the covenant at the same time as he was the proponent of his positive program of implementing the covenant. If we are following Jesus, we will also have to be both critics and proponents.

So let us understand Jesus, and the social dynamics of what he did. The preaching of Jesus had a prophetic edge which disturbed the abusers of power in his community. His good news did not sound like good news to Pharisees and Herodians who abused their power to prop up their privilege in the temple and the empire (church and state.) He was not welcomed in his own home town--a fate which he claimed to share with all the prophets (Mark 6).

Moreover, Jesus sent out his disciples to be prophets, and hinted more than incidentally that the fate of John the Baptist could be theirs as well (ch. 6). He gave his disciples, we’re told, authority to preach, to heal the sick, and to cast out demons. But their struggle of faith to believe that personal and social transformation was possible seemed more often to lose than to win. At times women stepped in, believing and doing what the twelve chosen men were either failing or refusing to do. Women are the most faithful witnesses in Mark’s gospel (e.g. 7:24-30, 16:18), which was an astonishing reversal of cultural patterns and expectations. But Jesus never stopped laying the prophetic vocation to speak good news upon all who claimed to be his followers. This is our vocation as well.

The content of the prophetic good news message is summarized in Mark 1:15:

The time is fulfilled,
the kingship of God is at hand,
repent,
and believe the good news.

Jesus spoke this message in a time of excruciating political and religious conflict, a crisis of history which was more like our time than different from it. For that reason it makes sense to look directly to him for guidance (though not for neat prescriptions in every detail).

Paying attention to each element of his message, first we hear the time is fulfilled. In other words, the time for things being as they are hs been used up. Caesar’s claim to be lord and the Jerusalem temple establishment’s claim to the resources and loyalties of the people are oppressive powers whose time has been used up. The time for change has come. In the words of a prophet of our time, Cornel West, the time of “free-market fundamentalism, aggressive militarism and escalating authoritarianism” is over. These have ruined the lives of millions--no, billions--of people long enough. Their time is fulfilled.

History is not an endless treadmill of inevitable exploitation, homicide and oppression. Change is possible, and the time for change has come. Change is the fundamental premise of all education. Parents and teachers believe that it is possible to learn new things and do better things. Moreover, change is the premise of all genuine worship of God and embrace of the good. The human sprit can rise above despair and defeat by choosing the path of justice, healing and truth over the ways of economic oppression, homicidal militarism and deceptive authoritarianism.

The good news continues, announcing that the reign of God is at hand. The human question is always, who is in charge? Whose values, will, and views are being lived out in this culture or this nation? Americans imagine that they are living their own lives by their own values and wisdom--an assumed individualism. But they are probably more conformed to popular ideology and communal “values” than any people on the face of the earth. Their ideology and values are shaped and communicated by corporate media (Fox , etc. “news,” talk shows) “Christian” leaders (tv preachers and writers--Tim LaHaye's LEFT BEHIND series, etc.) and political functionaries (presidents, cabinet officials, senators, other talking heads). Jesus announced that the rulership of God was at hand. His message challenged the reign/kingship of Caesar and the Jerusalem temple establishment working in collusion with Rome. Today his message challenges those who claim to rule the world with their ideas, money and empire.

The good news continues, repent. To repent means to change one’s mind, to alter one’s way of thinking about things. As such, to repent is not easy. It is radical, and for that reason it is resisted. People do not easily change their minds. There’s a good side to that, but also a bad one. The bad side is that when present ways of thinking and acting are not working, but are driving the world toward destruction, to refuse to change one’s mind is to make a pact with the devil to continue the path toward destruction. And so the call to repentance is good news, because only repentance can give hope for a better future. They say that to continue to do the same thing and expect a different result is a sure sign of insanity. Repentance is rational and it is hopeful.

Finally, the good news of Jesus says, believe the good news. In other words, get a grip, and begin to act as if change is possible.

2. MINISTERING TO HUMAN NEED (HEALING)

Jesus “healed the sick,” and sent his disciples out to do the same. Sickness in the ancient world and Hebrew culture was never limited to or defined as merely biological malfunction or cellular pathology. Sickness was seen as evidence of brokenness in the fabric of the community. That is why the sick were often viewed and treated as outsiders, estranged from the community.
Healing had as much to do with restoring relationship with the community, the family and the village, as with changing biological function.

Healings in the ministry of Jesus usually took place in the homes of the people, or in the common places of their lives--the village streets. Notably, healings did not usually happen in the great temple. This could lead us to ask whether our homes, moreso than our churches, should be the site of healing and ministering to human need. Yet we may not need to choose between the two. Let us look at two sites and plans for ministering to human need: the home and peacemaker groups.

Home Hospitality, which makes our homes havens of peace, can bring neighbors in need to a place of healing and hope. Using our homes to meet human need should become a family value which brings the healing of Jesus to a hurting world.

People who have grown up in the church find it hard to imagine how difficult it is for “unchurched” folks to walk through the doors of a church. I have called those doors “the flaming doors of the church.” Yes, to an outsider those doors look like the flaming hoops through which the circus lions are trained to jump. The doors of our homes can have a different look, when our personal invitation to a neighbor or co-worker invites them to share the fellowship of our table and fireside.

In our homes we can share good food, conversation, and patient listening. Healthy people are partly the consequence of good genetic inheritance, but they are also very much the result of lifestyles which nurture the wholeness of body, soul and spirit. We can meet human need, including even economic and health care needs, by making our homes available to others for a common experience of healthy habits of living. Healthy habits are the best preventative medicine there is; more fundamental to good health than medicine or insurance. But do we think about this? The national crisis in health care is very much a crisis of national taxation and social policy, but it is also a crisis of inherited health dissipated by bad habits and ignorance. Let us be reflective about the importance of social relationships in the maintenance of good health.

Imagination and creativity can help families of all kinds discover ways to make their homes places of healing for individuals and hope for social transformation. Here there is space only to identify some possibilities which determined, creative families and churches can flesh out with action. Among the things which can be accomplished by inviting neighbors in need to our homes would be the following:
Dietary improvement. Observing the eating habits of Americans, one can be amazed that the general health of the population is not worse than it is. A cooked meal made from fresh vegetables with perhaps a taste of meat too is a rare occurrence in most homes. By sharing the very food of our tables with others, we can impact their ideas of diet was well as their hunger of the moment.

Exercise and physical work. In our homes we can talk about the benefits of physical activity, work and exercise. Couch potatoes are prime candidates for sickness. Walking instead of watching tv contributes to health and the life of prayer.

Nonviolent parenting. Peace begins in the home. Children become what they see and experience. Parents who have worked at the skills of negotiation and mutual appreciation to maintain a marriage have something to share with other couples. Parents are not born knowing how to raise children. In our homes we can model (not perfectly, of course!) ways to deal with conflict between parents and children, and children and children, helping others to see new possibilities. We did not teach ourselves these things, we learned them from others. Let us share.

Welcoming military veterans. Military veterans, from Iraq clear on back to WW II, carry with them injuries to body and soul which constitute perhaps the greatest health crisis facing our nation. These wounded people have a tremendous ripple effect in their extended families and communities. If we are not healing them, they weakening us. That is, their trauma comes out, and it either makes us more defensive and fearful of our world, or we hear their pain and contribute something to their restoration as human beings.

Discuss history, truth and art. People talk when they get together. When we take seriously the thoughts of others, and share our own thoughts, we help one another in the search for the way. Even the Bible could come into these conversations. But do not limit or prejudice the sources of truth before you have listened well.

Cultural diversity. Our homes can begin to model a welcoming attitude to the diversity of human family by opening doors to people who are different from ourselves. Immigrants, racial minorities, victims of economic exploitation/credit card rip-off, same-gender attracted, and other marginalized people can find a welcome in our homes which they do not yet find in our churches. Martin Luther Kings vision of a global house can begin to take shape in your house and mine.

As our homes become places of ministering to human need, our culture and society will feel the impact. Such homes are “peace homes,” doing the things which “peace churches” need to do. Government power, moreover, will be pleased to see this happening if it is good government, and will be unable to put a stop to such decentralized peacemaking if it is bad government. We will find ways to identify such homes publicly, to make them visible in our communities, so that the power of this new family value will shine into the world. We could erect rock "cairns of hope" in the ancient tradition of marking significant times and places with stones from this earth which God has asked us to steward.

Peacemaker groups based in our churches will expand the impact of home ministries and move toward the transformation of our congregations. It is important, but not enough, to turn our homes into havens of peace. Our churches too must become havens of peace. Our task is to work for peace in expanding circles of human organization, from the individual, to the home, to the church, the community, nation, and world.

Peacemaker groups in churches will explore what it means to be “peace churches” in an atmosphere of church-supported militarism and imperial global aspirations. Here my discussion can be brief, because Every Church A Peace Church (ECAPC) has published an 8-page booklet “How to Start a Church-Based Peacemaker Group” which is available online at www.ecapc.org or from ECAPC, PO Box 248, Akron PA 17501.

The genius of this booklet is that (1) it takes you as an individual seriously. It actually assumes that you are one who can lead the church where it needs to go. Yes, you heard me: we cannot leave it up to pastors, elders and deacons. The initiative to be peace churches must come from those who hold the vision. If you hold the vision, the initiative is in your hands. This booklet will guide you through the process of moving your vision toward reality. (2) “How to Start...” is practical and realistic about the challenges of group formation and group action. This is not easy stuff! But it is possible, especially because every human being is gifted in ways that can make the group process work! This booklet outlines a process for employing every member’s gift. It draws everyone in, and it sends them out to make an impact on the community--church and world.

Jesus’ ministry of healing,, of meeting human need, took place in specific social spaces. For us, the spaces of our homes and our churches hold tremendous, unrealized potential for healing of lives, of the social fabric of our communities, and the ecology of our planet. ECAPC believes that the process of walking with Jesus to make every church a peace church will prove to be an important landmark on the way toward world peace.


3. UNMASKING DECEPTIVE OPPRESSION (TELLING TRUTH)

Jesus practised a thing strange to our ears, and commissioned his disciples to do the same: he cast out demons. Is this relevant to our time and place? Can we do this? Should we?

The answers are “yes.”

What happened in those exorcisms? What power was at work? Let us look at two accounts reporting how Jesus lived and taught the practice of exorcism.

The first is in Mark 1. In Capernaum on the sabbath, “Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” This is an inflammatory comment, to be sure. Sort of like, “The guest preacher spoke with authority, and not like the church’s own pastors.” The honored and recognized authority of the scribes has been frontally challenged.

In the synagogue Jesus encounters a man who cries out at him “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ’Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.”

We wonder, Who are the ‘we” who feel threatened? Why this strange back and forth between singular and plural (us/I) in the speech of the possessed man? And why Jesus’ command to be silent, with a loud cry in response?

Consider the man, and the setting. Demon possession is the control of a person by alien forces--a person not in control of their own agency of choice and action. Could it be that the plural forces and voices controlling this man are the scribes, with their religious ideology and hegemony? The scribes had become a deceptive oppressive force over the people. They were linked with the Jerusalem temple establishment, which bestowed on them the holy aura of sacred space and authority. But the temple establishment also linked them with the onerous taxation of village peasants and struggling households. And they used their interpretation of Israel’s tradition and scripture to protected their own privileged status even as they stifled the thoughts of the common people. Their holiness and authority were deceptive.

So when the demonic powers which possess the man ask “Have you come to destroy us [plural]?” it is the voice of the scribes speaking! But the encounter concludes with the oppressive religious power overcome by the truth spoken by Jesus--his command to the scribal voice to ”be silent.” The authority of Jesus ‘voice and teaching has been established in the religious precincts of Israel’s synagogues.

The second encounter with the demonic in Mark’s story takes place in the Roman/Gentile controlled space of the Gerasenes (ch. 5) A man wildly out of control, who cannot be restrained with shackles and chains, runs up to Jesus and shouts at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? [a Gentile name for God, but the same question we heard in the synagogue, except the subject is “me” rather than “us”]. Jesus had already said to him, “come out of the man, you unclean spirit.” Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many” (the singular/plural play again). And he begged him not to send him out of the country.

Who was legion in the country? The Roman occupying military forces were named legions. No one hearing the man say "legion" could think anything else. And so who is pleading not to be sent out of the country? The occupying military forces.

Jesus asserted his own authority in the situation by commanding the man to say his name. So from the possessed man’s own lips Jesus forces the truth to be spoken, “I am Legion,” and moments later the oppressive demons are driven to the depths of the sea. A herd of swine, with the demons in them, rushes like troops charging into battle (Greek) and are drowned like Pharaoh’s army in the abyss.

Jesus has overcome the power of military occupation in the life of this unfortunate man. But the townspeople are frightened by this deviation from their familiar habits of accommodation and collaboration with that military occupation, and they plead with Jesus to leave their neighborhood. As the commentator in SAY TO THIS MOUNTAIN puts it: “In political terms, this portrait attests to the power of the state to suppress opposition through fear. In psychological terms, it reminds us that those who are co-dependent with addictive behavior will usually resist changes in the dysfunctional system. Whether personal or political, liberation has a cost, and there will always be those unwilling to risk it” (p. 60, Myers, et. al. 1996). The healed man himself wants to leave with Jesus, but Jesus refuses, telling him to stay and tell his friends what has happened.

In our own day we are called to enter the church (synagogue) and unmask the oppressive power of patriotic church religion, and the public arena (Gerasa) to unmask the power of suicidal global militarism. In the medical language of psycho/social diagnosis, (and we do need careful, precise diagnosis) these demonic oppressions may be named PCR (patriotic church religion) and SGM (suicidal global militarism.). The church cannot become the peace church God intends until it speaks the truth about these deceptive oppressions.

Let us be clear, moreover, that this analysis based on the biblical notions of demonic possession and exorcism is the concrete practice of loving our enemies. It is social/political analysis which takes evil very seriously, but prescribes a response of greater truth and greater love rather than greater evil. This is a radical alternative to war.

In the United States of America, churches festooned with American flags and laced with words of patriotic praise of national history and destiny are preaching a false gospel of PCR--patriotism church religion. PCR is the modern equivalent of the “corban” (an offering to God) which Jesus condemned in the preaching of the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem (Mark 7). Patriotic church religion rejects the commandment of God in order to keep the traditions of men (an accusation twice repeated in the Markan text). PCR deifies a mythical reading of American history as benevolent and God-ordained, constructing a false God of nationalism and homeland security in place of God Almighty, who is the only security of human beings. The first commandment is broken by patriotic church religion.

Patriotic “christian” religion is not the way of Jesus Christ. An enthusiastic love of country, untempered by an equally passionate and demanding love for humanity, is a tribalistic religion which betrays rather than bears witness to Jesus Christ. In the war of bumper stickers, a person who prefers “God Bless America” to “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” should have the decency and honesty to refuse the name of “Christian” for their religion or faith.

PCR fuses church and state in a deadly mix of bullying greed, exclusive tribalism and religious bigotry masked as honorable patriotism, the true church of Jesus Christ, and devotion to God. If this terse description sounds harsh, please be warned--the reality itself is harsher by multiples of ten.

PCR is a demonic possession based on deception which will prove to be suicidal for both the church and the nation. Any church which aligns itself with global imperial domination and military “defense” is not going to die--it is already dead. It has exchanged the true God of grace and mercy for gods of metal (Exodus 20:3,4; Leviticus 19:4), for weapons of war. Such a church has denied the word of the Lord, which is clear in both testaments: “The war horse is a vain hope for victory” (Psalm 33) and “My peace (my security) I give you” (John 14). Three layers of deception hide PCR.

Patriotic church religion (PCR) tries to mask bullying greed as honorable patriotism. Young men and women are trained to kill and sent to war with television evangelists and hometown pastors telling them that they are gloriously serving God and country. What they are really serving is corporate profits, the military industrial complex and America’s greedy rape of world resources to maintain the lifestyles of the rich and the famous. To tell these truths is to exorcise the demon of bullying greed.

Patriotic church religion masks exclusive tribalism as the church of Jesus Christ. Claiming to be superior to Islam and every other religion, demonic PCR builds an edifice of magical personal salvation which excludes the larger community of humanity from the prospect of redemption and the hope of salvation. All who are different, from the GLBT children of the church to the Muslim masses of the East to the worshippers of unknown gods in distant
Asia need not apply. The walls are up and the enforcers are in place. This exclusive tribalism is passed off as the church of Jesus Christ, as the beloved community and the body of Christ. With all of this the humble Jesus, arms outstretched to the good Samaritan, the gay Ethiopian and the despised Syrophoenician woman, is appalled. Our task is to be appalled with Jesus, and to unmask exclusive tribalism by telling the truth about it, and so to exorcise this demon as well.

Patriotic church religion masks religious bigotry as devotion to God. The human impulse for worship is prostituted by songs and sermons which deny the presence of the image of God in people whom national leaders have defined as the enemy. Our soldiers are told they can kill with impunity because the enemy worships false gods and hates our freedom. Chaplains and captains mouth pious prayers as men and women prepare to go to battle against the image of God in their fellow human beings. To unmask the fraud of their religion is to exorcise the demon of religious bigotry. It is a matter of telling the truth.

The second great deceptive oppression to be exorcised is suicidal global militarism (SGM). Jesus said “All who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 26), so it is on his authority that the church says that homicidal violence is suicidal. If global militarism is not suicidal, Jesus is wrong and the behavior of the American empire can continue on with impunity. “Christians” might believe that Jesus is wrong, but if they do, they should be candid and public about the fact that they do think so. At least three layers of deception hide SGM.

Suicidal global militarism (SGM) tries to mask military occupation as teaching democracy. Presidents and senators repeatedly claim that the reason for America’s war against Iraq and the maintenance of more than 700 military bases around the world is that it defends and spreads democracy. For centuries America’s self-congratulatory attitudes of “manifest destiny” and “divine mission” have troubled honest souls, but the levels of deception and hubris which national “leaders” use to market war, militarism, weaponization, forced military service and pre-emptive war today have broken all records. It is sad and frightening to see the public accepting such ideas, and being possessed by a lying spirit which tries to mask military occupation as democracy at work. Exorcism by truth-telling is the only honorable response.

Suicidal global militarism masks civilian massacres as collateral damage. America has been responsible for the deaths, by war and disease, of tens of thousands of Iraqis (to name just one occupied country) in the past 14 years. And the generals, presidents and cabinet officers would dismiss these deaths as unfortunate side-effects--collateral damage. People are not collateral, and homicide is not adequately described as damage. The consequences of such bullying behavior will be suicidal for America. It is painful, immensely painful, to say so, but if we do not change, the saying of it will be exceeded, in spades, by the suffering of it. Again, it is astonishing to see otherwise reasonable, moral people who would advise their child against bullying at school or on the street defending bullying by their president, government and military. Such international behavior is pathological--it needs a diagnosis and a name. Here we call it SGM--suicidal global militarism. The antidote is to exorcise it by telling the truth about it.

Suicidal global militarism masks homicidal war on cultures as fighting terrorism. It creates terrorists like a stick in a hornets nest creates stinging hornets. Trying to overcome terrorism by war is, rationally speaking, in a class with trying to eliminate dandelions by beating dry dandelion heads with a golf club. It is an insult to the intelligence of normal human beings to propose that going to war against nations, cultures or religions out of which a few terrorists might have come will prevent the spread of terrorism. Given that fact, it is sobering indeed to see the high percentage of the American population which is willing to have its intelligence, not to mention its morality, routinely and incessantly insulted by national leaders and war profiteers. The biblical way to understand their behavior is to see it as demonic deception and possession. The deception must be exposed. Homicidal war on cultures creates terrorists, it does not deter them.

Unmasking deceptive oppression is the practice of exorcism in our time. The church is called and disciples are empowered to do it, with the armour of God -- particularly with the belt of truth (Ephesians 6). To tell the truth is risky, as the prophetic vocation to which all of the followers of Jesus are called is risky. But hope lies in the direction of truth; suicide and disaster lie in the direction of militarism camouflaged as democracy, collateral damage and meaningful response to terrorism. Unmasking deceptive oppression opens the way to changed behavior and hopeful action.

CONCLUSION
By answering the question "What would Jesus do?" with a careful study of "What did Jesus do?" we can find guidance for our lives. As Jesus lived and taught faithfulness to Israel's original covenant, we have a commission to call the church to be faithful to its original calling.

A peace church is a church which knows and lives the answer to Jesus’ question in the synagogue in Mark 3: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” We learn how Jesus answered his own question when we ask “What did Jesus do?”

He proclaimed good news, ministered to human need, and unmasked deceptive oppression. By doing that he showed us what we should do in a time as desperate and as pained as ours. We could aim to do more, but surely not less, than to make every church a peace church, faithful to its original calling.

January 12,2005
Published by Every Church A Peace Church, PO Box 240, Akron PA 17501
www.ecapc.org e-mail: jstoner@ecapc.org
(717) 859-1958
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