War....what is it good for?

 

"Why do we keep having them?  Every generation and for centuries.....?"  that was the question asked me by a student as the first Gulf War began.  

I was in seminary.  I was scared. I was angry. I joined in the protests on campus.  I shared my concerns with the congregation where I was a Student Assistant Pastor (which acronyms accurately to SAP). 

As per the prophetic inquiry by the student, years later and the start of the  second Gulf War. I was living and working in Washington, DC and again another round of protests and preaching, marches and meetings.

Today is the one year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.  I remember one week   after this war began, being at a gas station filling-up my car.  Gas was shockingly expensive.  As we were wailing over the hit to our wallets, I said to the gentleman in the pump next to me, "You know, I'll pay it if it keeps Ukraine standing and resisting."

Though the gas prices have receded somewhat, the sentiment remains....whatever it takes, Ukraine. Yet, as this war, begun by blatant aggression against a sovereign nation, enters year two, I remain horrified at the destruction, saddened by lives upended and lost, children displaced and the cost .....way over a billion dollars that is just our USA tab and continuing.....

How long?  

Not just for this recent conflict, yet, how long the wars on bigger scales and small?  

What is the faithful response?

My United Methodist team states in our Book of Discipline: As Christians “we believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We therefore reject war as an instrument of national foreign policy.” (2016 Book of Discipline, Social Principles ¶165.C). We also know our God stands with the oppressed and calls on us to support them. 

No surprise there, I'm certain other denominations and faith traditions each state something similar. 

The photo at the beginning of this post is the statue "Beating Swords into Plowshares" that sits in front of the United Nations Building in New York City.  Appropriate placement.

How do we go about turning swords and the money and power they cost and turn them into plowshares, instruments of food and harvest and sustenance?

I confess I am at a loss..... I do not know.  I do know, however, that it frightens me greatly that in survey after survey the most trusted institution in America is the military. 

 Perhaps we start there. Ask what does that then say about us? Why is it? How do we be, bless, build and bear the call to be peacemakers?  

Yes, we need to talk about it....even more, we need to take some action, make some effort....something...anything....

SIGNPOSTS

How do you know where you are? Where you’ve been? Where you’re going?

 

Like town and street signs on the freeway, brightly painted slashes on trees beside the walking trail, schedules and calendars --- we use them all to orient ourselves and navigate our journey.

 

Liturgical seasons are a major way I order my life.  

 

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent.  It's a season that always seems as if it should be spoken in a deep, somber voice and for some it can become intimidating. 

It is a serious season of introspection and looking into self and discovering who you are. 

Yet, it should also be one anticipated for the possibilities of becoming a better me.

 

I’m ready.....

I've selected the new book (THE MEAL THAT RECONNECTS) that I will read along with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie.

I've determined that I will establish and maintain a routine and seek much needed balance in my life....enough is the motto.

I set my intention to know that I can control how I respond to a person, a situation, a comment.

I will write DAILY and post to this blog three times a week (Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays).

I will listen more. 

I will notice more.

I will trust more.

I will risk more.

Presbyterian minister Frederick Buechner wrote, "In the crucible of heat and sand, Jesus was trying to figure out what it meant to be Jesus."  

This Lent in the clouds and warming temperatures, the rain and the greening, I will try to figure out what it means to be Sally.

Are you going on the journey?

Are you ready?

Hold to this....we do not journey alone.....blessed be.

....broken....

 

There are options in response to when something is broken --- fear, run away, anger, deny, blame someone else, hide out.  

 

As a nation, we seem to keep “taking it on the chin:” the pandemic, loss of jobs, not wanting to work, an attempted insurrection, deep divisions, the breaking down of long held institutions, an addiction to attention, drug deaths, an ever-widening gap between the very wealthy and everyone else, a frayed social safety net, a gun violence endemic and I haven’t even mentioned the abundance of “isms.” 

 

The ugliness that once was spoken in whispers is now shouted on social media and in toxic tweets.

Our political leaders choose power over principal, our faith leaders choose being popular over being prophetic, and we what we cannot or do not want to understand we seek to legislate with a pen instead of listening to person to person.

 

Our nation is broken.  Denial and finger pointing are not necessary.  We need to fix ourselves.

I asked a group of Gen Z-ers why they have such a fascination with Superheroes?  They answered, “We know none of the adults can fix it, they’re not even trying, so we soothe ourselves with the fantasy of Superheroes.”

 

In an early advocacy effort with the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) our rallying verse was from the book of Esther: “we have been called for such a time as this.”  

 

As is true with all the big issues and problems, our fractured communities, wobbly institutions and ever failing democracy, to fix these problems must be the cause of each one of us.  

We each have a lane that we journey, a lane in which we have influence. Know your lane and do your part to work together to solve the problem.  Are you in business, ponder what role and what part of healing the brokenness you can bring?  Is family and the home your expertise, how can you bring that experience and insight to weigh in?  Is the faith community your lane, how to be present and engaged in the conversations and working for the solutions?

To quote an often used line, which during theses times I really do believe, or perhaps need to believe as I am worried about how much more the nation can take ---- "we are the ones we've been waiting for."