Blessed are the peacemakers

Joanna Harader, pastor, Peace Mennonite Church, 615 Lincoln St.:

You’ve seen the pictures. An Iraqi woman on her knees, eyes squeezed shut, face tilted back toward heaven, tears streaming down her cheeks, a bloody child in her arms.

You’ve seen the pictures. Rows of caskets with U.S. flags draped over them. Or just one casket. With a young woman dressed in black standing nearby, looking down resolutely at her hands.

You’ve seen the pictures. Muslim men, their heads covered with black cloth bags. Dog collars around their necks.

Or maybe you’ve seen the picture of Marine Staff Sgt. John Jones. His dark hair cropped short, wearing his military uniform. He is seated and leaning forward, his arms resting on his two prosthetic legs.

Maybe you’ve seen the statistics on Iraqi deaths — civilian and otherwise. Or the statistics on U.S. military killed and maimed. Or the statistics on the domestic violence, mental illness and divorce rates for those who make it back alive.

Maybe you’ve seen the pictures and the statistics for other wars, as well.

How does God feel about war?

As a Christian, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth presents the clearest revelation of God that we have. And Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek.” “Blessed are the merciful.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

When the authorities came to arrest Jesus, one of the disciples drew his sword to fight them off. Jesus said, “Put your sword away. All who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

Jesus also said that whatever we do to any other human being — no matter how insignificant they might seem to us — even if they are recorded in the log as “collateral damage” — we do unto him.

The writer of John’s gospel tells us that Jesus was sent because God loves the world so, so very much.

How does God feel about war?

— Send e-mail to Joanna Harader at peacemennonite@gmail.com.

Dreaming of peace

The Rev. Josh Longbottom, associate pastor, Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.:

I really believe that God is the dream for peace with justice. God is a dream that lives and breathes and calls to us. God is a dream even when it is not being dreamed. It’s a dream that one person can dream, and it is a dream that when dreamed together has the power to make possible the unimaginable.

After I use the historical, critical methods I was taught in seminary to narrow the story of Jesus down to the few tidbits and stories that likely originate with him, it becomes downright obvious that Jesus was that kind of dreamer, too.

Jesus taught such a radically nonviolent ethic that no one person I know really embodies that kind of courage today. I have been reading and re-reading some of those old Jesus stories recently and realizing it is absolutely brilliant to turn your other cheek defiantly and nonviolently in the face of someone who is willing to do violence.

Jesus riding into Jerusalem from the East on a female donkey while Caesar rides in on a war horse with a full military regimen from the West is the kind of ironic and powerful imagery that only the dream makes possible. And it is that kind of imagery that actually captures hearts and minds.

You bet it is too radical for you or me; we don’t have the guts.

Somehow “we” via Augustine have settled in on the idea of a “just” war. I guess that is fine according to geopolitical realism, but let’s not pretend it is Jesus. The Gospels in no way envision anything just about war.

If God is the dream of peace, then you tell me, how does God feel about war? My best guess is nothing short of heartbreak.

— Send e-mail to Josh Longbottom at joshlongbottom@sunflower.com.