I have to confess that I'm growing increasingly frustrated with the state of the "peace scene." It seems that every organization or fellowship even considering the issue of peace is doing so from an unabashedly liberal perspective, and I'm just not that liberal. I don't think "justice" will automatically lead to peace, and I'm convinced that justice, whether "restorative" or "retributive" is a piss-poor standard to work for.
At the same time, I have no home in the church. The church I pastor is one where, too often, I am asked to pray for "our" troops who are risking their lives for "us". This is civic religion at its worst: we are so identified with the nation-state that we cannot conceive of a different. Liberal churches are no better. They too confuse the church with the society at large, and I simply can't enjoy their style of biblical interpretation.
So... where do I find a home? I've thought about starting an "evangelical peace fellowship" or somesuch, but I have to suspect that no one will come. Am I the only evangelical out here who thinks that Jesus meant it when he told us to forgive and turn the other cheeck?
1 comment:
It is foolhardy, at best, (as you pointed out) to think that justice will automatically lead to peace. Perhaps the solution lies not within the traditional church, but in something a bit more abstract, something that's based within a tangible ministry, rather than a traditional church setting. A ministry would provide a focus for the church, something to draw the members together, and render the church/state debate a bit more irrelevant.
The idea of a peaceful church is one that the members will have to be slowly led to, and in the end, will perhaps have to commit to on their own-- After all, if they believed that from the start, no doubt they'd already be in some third world country getting shot at.
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