Date: Sept. 16, 2007

Scriptures: Micah 4:1-5; 1 Peter 2:18-24

Sermon: Peace Instruction

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         With the recent 6^th anniversary of 9/11 and a co-inciding released statement by Osama bin Laden, discussion by the U.S. government about decreasing the number of its troops in Afghanistan, and our own Canadian government fielding calls for pulling out of--or staying put in-Afghanistan, this vision from the book of Micah surely causes us to add our own longing sighs and prayers for peace between nations to those that have been breathed around the world and across the centuries.

         The prophet Micah ministered during a time in history characterized both by the threat of war and the awful reality of warfare.

Samaria, the capital of Israel, the northern kingdom had been overrun by the Assyrians. Micah, living in Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom, predicted that by divine judgment Jerusalem was likewise heading for destruction and captivity. “He saw how the powerful exploited the poor, how the courts of the land had been corrupted, and how rulers and religious leaders alike had failed in the exercise of their responsibilities [TheDaily Study Bible Series: Twelve Prophets, Vol. 2, Peter C. Craigie, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985), p. 3].

         “Jerusalem deserved judgment, yet in the more distant future, Jerusalem could become the capital of a new kind of world order” [Craigie, p. 31]. where other nations would stream to the symbol of God’s presence to ask instruction concerning the way in which they must walk.

         Indeed human beings and nations would be instructed by God’s law concerning how to live – and the result of obeying God would be peace and security:

–armaments would be turned into agricultural tools;

–threats and wars between nations would cease;

–there would be no more learning how to fight;

–everyone would have enough land and food;

–no one would cause another to fear.

         In the new world, nations would walk together in harmony, each walking in its own faith, but Israel would walk in a renewed faith in its one true God.

         It has been pointed out that “one of the reasons for the beauty of this passage is that it is totally out of harmony with the reality of our world, yet fully in harmony with what we would like the world to be” [Craigie, p. 32].

         It is easy to think “that will never happen,” or, “people have waited for Micah’s prophecy to be fulfilled for 1700 years; what makes us think it might happen in our lifetime?”

         Both of these ways of thinking merely create an excuse for inaction as Christians. “Nations and peoples” are watching the Christian church and us as Christian individuals right now for instruction--God’s instruction--on how to live together in peace on this planet. Other people know that Christians are different and act differently. The persecution and violence, including persecution for faith in Christ described in Peter’s letter in the first century is not unique to that time. Nor is the response to persecution that he instructs --only for the early church:

Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,

so that you should follow in his steps.

                  When he was abused, he did not return abuse;

                  when he suffered, he did not threaten;

                  but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.

         “Many early Anabaptists followed Jesus’ example and teaching of non-resistence and nonviolence in the face of evil and violence. While some Anabaptists thought they should remain separated from the rest of the world in order to help accomplish this, another group, led by Pilgram Marpeck, thought of the church more as an outpost of God’s love whose mission was to radiate that love out into the world. In the end, the issue was settled according to the principle of discipleship – following Jesus, speaking the truth and living the truth, not returning evil for evil, but responding to evil with good (Romans 12:21)” [C. Arnold Snyder, edited from Third Way Café from the book “From Anabaptist Seed,” Pandora Press].

 In a way, the early Anabaptists were living Micah’s vision, beating their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. We cannot live and escort the vision of peace and security described by Micah into the present if we dismiss it as ‘prophecy’– something done to us, eventually. This vision requires action by us, a reworking of our swords into ploughshares.

         About nine months ago, I was given an article written by Diana Butler Bass, an American independent scholar and author. In it, Diana illustrates what I mean by God’s vision for peace being enacted right now so that it becomes God’s peace instruction to the world. She writes this on Oct. 11, 2006:

         I confess: Over the last 10 days, I did not pay much attention to the Amish school shooting. As the mother of an 8-year old girl, I find school violence stories too painful to follow.

         Despite attempts to avoid this particular news, the stories of the Amish practice of forgiveness eventually captivated me. Their practice of forgiveness unfolded in four public acts over the course of a week. First, some elders visited Marie Roberts, the wife of the murderer, to offer forgiveness. Then, the families of the slain girls invited the widow to their own children’s funerals. Next, they requested that all relief monies intended for Amish families be shared with Roberts and her children. And, finally, in an astonishing act of reconciliation, more than 30 members of the Amish community attended the funeral of the killer.

         As my husband and I talked about the spiritual power of these actions, I commented in an offhanded way, “It is an amazing witness to the peace tradition.” He looked at me and said passionately, “Witness? I don’t think so. This went well past witnessing. They weren’t witnessing to anything. They were actively making peace.”

         He was right. Their actions not only witness that the Christian God is a God of forgiveness, but they actively created the conditions in which forgiveness could happen. In the most straightforward way, they embarked on imitating Christ: Father, forgive them; they know not what they do. In acting as Christ, they did not speculate on forgiveness. They forgave. And forgiveness is, as Christianity teaches, the prerequisite to peace. We forgive because God forgave us; in forgiving, we participate in God’s dream of reconciliation and shalom.

         Then an odd thought occurred to me: What if the Amish were in charge of the war on terror? What if, on the evening of September 12, 2001, we had gone to Osama bin Laden’s house (metaphorically, of course, since we didn’t know where he lived!) and offered him forgiveness? What if we had invited the families of the hijackers to the funerals of the victims of 9/11? What if a portion of The September 11^th Fund had been dedicated to relieving poverty in a Muslim country? What if we dignified the burial of their dead by our respectful grief?

         What if, instead of seeking vengeance, we had stood together in human pain, looking honestly at the shared sin and sadness we suffered? What if we had tried to make peace?

         So, here’s my modest proposal. We’re five years too late for an Amish response to 9/11. But maybe we should ask them to take over the Department of Homeland Security. After all, actively practicing forgiveness and making peace are the only real alternatives to perpetual fear and a multi-generational global religious war.

[reprinted as a Charleswood Mennonite Church, Winnipeg newsletter article, Dec. 2, 2006]

         And us, how will we--as disciples of Jesus--live God’s instruction of peace for peoples and nations around us? Could living such peacemaking include praying for the family of the British soldier killed near Biesaker, AB as he was sky diving? Could it include getting to know – and become friends with – someone from another faith? Could it include asking God to help you forgive “that person”? Could it include sharing with a colleague or neighbour what you have been reading about lately in your Bible?

         God will honour our courage and desire to help the vision of future peace become a present reality, so that “God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” Let us then, as the church, the body of Christ, encourage one another to this end so that we too may walk in renewed faith in our one true God. Amen.