.png)
We are a Just Peace Church. We seek to keep the vision of shalom central to our corporate and individual lives, working to deepen our understanding of the many dimensions of peace and justice in our time. Through our worship, programs, and outreach, we seek to be a community of reconciliation, hope, and courage, as we work and pray for peace and justice in our world. Adopted by First Congregational Church UCC in 1992-1993
Over 30 years ago, this congregation joined hundreds of other UCC congregations in declaring themselves to be Just Peace congregations. This was a period of global conflict with so many power struggles, civil wars, and coups that we are still living with today. Some of the worst were created by the power vacuum in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union which led to the rise of ethnic conflicts and regional instability. From Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo to Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, and Rwandan, Palestine, Nicaragua, Vietnam, and Haiti, death and destruction seemed to be the answer to territorial disputes despite the UN's call for peace.
I can’t say what convinced this congregation to join with the other UCC churches to declare themselves Just Peace congregations, but I can imagine that the community of that day felt their commitment to peace was the least they could do to begin to live into the vision of shalom that the moment inspired.
Today we are in another time of intense global conflict. The UCC’s Just Peace Sunday website states, “…there are nearly thirty places of major conflict and war around the world, including the prolonged 2 ½ year war between Ukraine and Russia that has killed over 30,000 civilians and hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides. Likewise, the conflict between Israel and Hamas has killed over 40,000 Palestinians and led to a massive humanitarian crisis, which the United Church of Christ has recently labeled as genocide. Prisoners and hostages remain imprisoned, and recent provocations risk escalating the war into a wider conflict with Iran and Lebanon.”
I find myself asking what a Just Peace means in the face of continued impunity by the State of Israel, their IDF, and most Israeli's population as watch the continued annihilation of a people, their history, and everything that makes Palestinians unique. I ask this about our own country where protests are banned, professors are fired, and journalists don't ask questions so they can keep their jobs. We must ask ourselves if the peace of oppression is just?
In our increasingly divided nation where elected officials villainize their opponents and dehumanize the most vulnerable among us, we need to ask what it means to be a Just Peace church today. Do we want a church that is only a place where we find respite from the world, or are we called to “keep the vision of shalom central to our corporate and individual lives” and practice peacemaking so we can share that with the world? If the later, we need to engage in the “things that make for peace” both within ourselves and in our world.
But how do we do that when it all feels so overwhelming?
1. Be with other people who care about peace. Worship is a great place to be with companions along this road as well as find ways of healing even if you have been hurt by the church in the past. When we share The Peace each week it is an invitation to embody the vision of shalom that our Just Peace statement speaks about.
2. Find a group who are thinking about peace and what that might mean and look like in our neighborhoods and cities. Maybe we can start a study that will help us think together about these things? Here’s a Bible Study from the Presbyterian Church USA that we could use.
3. Pray for peace. Peace within. Peace without. Use words. Dance. Sing a song. Sit in silence. Walk mindfully. Bake beard with peace as your mantra while you mix and knead.
4. Read stories about people who are working for peace today and who have worked for peace in the past. There are so many brave and amazing people who are putting their lives on the line to bring humanitarian aid, medical help, and simply stand up for those who are in harm's way. If you need some suggestions just ask me. (Come here some of these stories during worship Sunday!)
“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that makes for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” – Luke 19:41-49
Jesus wept over Jerusalem and felt the pain of his people’s lack of interest in the things that made for peace in his time. He knew that the consequence of that would be devastation for all. And we are seeing that again in our time. The question before us remains, can we see God in one another and let that visitation change our hearts and do the things that make for peace?
Let us renew our commitment to being a community that, in all we do, seeks to be a congregation of reconciliation, hope, and courage, as we work and pray for peace and justice in our world.
Shalom,
Pastor Robin
Comments