Why So Much Talk About Violence?

I apologize in advance for a lengthy blog today. I have sort of been pushing the envelope a bit the last couple of weeks in sermons (even for me). I find it very difficult to take Paul's argument about grace seriously without getting fired.

I received a very kind letter today that had many nice things to say, but it also came from a concerned attender that raised several good questions that I think many people struggle with and that I should address. The letter was lengthy and I will write the person back personally, but I would like to anonymously share some of the person's questions here and give some response.  Here is some of the letter:

Last Easter... our lenghty responsive readings kept talking about VIOLENCE... saying NO to our violence and saying YES to the cross. I'm thinking, I still struggle with various sin in my life, but I wouldn't say that violence was one of them. Doubtful that many of us here actually struggle with violence. What? He is talking about our country... All last Easter, and yes, ever since, I have picked up your subtle innuendoes about our country. And I am grived, I would have to say...

Last Sunday, you were more direct about your convictions. You mentioned that people say you should be more patriotic. You said you hated war. You said that our country thinks we're privileged with some sort of blessing by God that makes us (collectively) feel we can do no wrong. And in your blog this week you said you were now very interested in politics. Many times recently after a wonderful sermon where I was personally enlightened, challenged and convicted, I know that there were "national overtones" and wanted to just ask you the simple question, "Do you feel this text applies to a person or also to a country?" Last week you were saying people are a foot "ethnic" and 6 inches a Christian or a foot "American" and "6 inches a Christian." To which I wholeheartedly said "AMEN" and was challenged by that. But I do not think you can make the leap to that we should call our country to "lay down its arms."

...Our country has never initiated a war, only retaliated. This retaliation has many times been nothing other than blessed by God and an attempt to STOP the terrible treatment of people or the aggression of countries... May not God say "I even gave you 'the new promised land' and you sat by and gave it away to those who would persecute you and worship false gods?"

...Taking the thought of "turning the other cheek" as a collective group... why should we have a local police force then? Why should we arrest someone and even jail them for stealing? Why should we impose our laws... why HAVE laws... why not live our own Christian life doing good to all and turning the other cheek and letting God take care of the rest? Our military is to our country what our police force is to our neighborhood. It's called making sure evil does not flourish.

...I'm wondering why you would not teach us what the Bible says, to understand what it says about Jesus' radical die-to-self teachings, let us try as we can to follow the Lord and become more like Him, and leave it to Him to see where we all individually go politically? I am with you, I am hearing you, I am seeing my own sin, I am recognizing that Jesus is calling us to something we cannot do on our own, that we are very much like the Pharisees... that we are to give up self, to serve, to have no walls etc. But I feel I need to implore you to leave the national implications to God, please!

I really do appreciate the honesty of this letter, and I appreciated most the fact that it was not sent anonymously - so thank you.  I'm sure that there are several other folk who pick up some of the themes this letter mentions in my preaching and share many of the same concerns, so let me address some of them in two or three points.

1. I've never killed anyone, I don't own a gun, I haven't been in a fist fight since 8th grade, and I even rescued a skunk from under my patio and released it - but I still think I have a violence problem. I think violence includes any act of trying to hurt or destroy another person. In that sense I believe gossip is wrong in the eyes of God because it is an attempt to do damage to another person. The "silent routine" I go into when I'm angry with my wife is in a sense a violent act because it is my attempt to make her feel as badly as I feel. Over the last several months I have received chain emails about all four remaining presidential candidates from supporters (I assume) of one of the other candidates that were complete fabrications. To me, those are a subtle form of violence. In that sense we all still have a violence problem.

But I also have a problem with violence because it has so captured my imagination. Like most people, after 9/11 all I could feel was a desire for vengeance. People who for some reason or another consider me their enemy and a target of their violence call me by certain names: infidel, capitalist pig, honkey, yuppie... (some I can't list here). They call me those names because their hate is dependent upon categorizing me but not truly knowing me. In response I give them names: terrorist, fundamentalist, extremist, gang-banger, criminal, etc. I also give them those names because it is easier for me to categorize them, have my people "deal" with them, then to know them, know what drives them, and try to address their needs and hopes. My imagination is trapped by violence because it believes that violence is the only way to deal with these enemies. In that way my enemies and me are identical we both think violence is the solution to the problem of "the other."

BTW, I believe that the Bible, and Jesus in particular does deal with all forms of violence as the main human consequence of sin. The Pharisees saw people in categories such as "sinners, tax-collectors, prostitutes, Romans, etc." Jesus instead saw Levi, the woman at the well, Zachaeus, a particular Centurion all in need of grace. I believe violence is still something the Christian community has to keep confessing, because we have so easily accepted it as just the way the world is. I believe we are called to imagine a place where the lion and lamb lay down together.

2. Regarding police and the military: I have tremendous respect and nothing but admiration for those who are called to any peace keeping ministry. I will admit to having the heart of a pacifist and the brain of a realist. (I hope eventually my heart wins). I realize that in this fallen world there are times when all attempts to overcome evil with good seem to fall short and we must respond with force to curb evil. Those who take up this call take up an honorable and difficult call. I believe we need these people desperately and we should honor them frequently, but I also believe when we live in a super-power that if we are not careful we will "put our trust in chariots and horses" (to use Biblical language).

One of the critiques in the letter (and again I appreciate it) is that I fail to pray enough in our worship services for our military and police personnel. I will grant that this is probably the case. I pray quite frequently privately for the folk I know from church and as former students who are in Iraq, and my wife and I both pray regularly for the police chief from the town we live in who is a member of the church. We have especially prayed for him lately because of the rise in gang violence in our area and the huge responsibility he carries in the midst of it all.

But honestly, I have not prayed in church for them as much as I should have because I take criticism for always praying for soldiers on both sides of the line. Part of my Christian conviction struggle is that as Americans we count the number of US soldiers who have been killed in this war (a tragic number) but rarely will the US press give the number of Iraqi soldiers and civilians who have been killed (an even more tragic number). When I lead the community of faith in prayer I believe in that moment I am praying as a Christian and not as a US citizen and therefore I feel I have to pray for all involved. I apologize that I have allowed my fear of criticism to keep me from praying about the war in church more often, I will try to do better in the future.

3. I can't apologize for being political. I don't believe it is my role to promote one American political party over the other. In our current situation I believe that both parties represent some things that Christians would want to get behind and both parties neglect areas that we care about. So to me it's a win-win or lose-lose no matter who you vote for. I doubt I will ever be political as a pastor in that kind of way.

But I can't help but be political in terms of trying to help the people of God see themselves as just that - the people of God. When I talk about being a foot deep as a Christian and 6 inches deep as a citizen of a particular country, I'm sort of fibbing. I believe that we have to be a foot deep as a Christian and nothing else. I believe that we are called to be a people who desire to beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks; who embody the reality of the lion laying down with the lamb; who work for overcoming evil with good by learning to turn the other cheek and go the second mile; and who like Jesus they take up their cross (refusing retribution) daily and live into the Kingdom he proclaimed. I am truly convinced that the Lion is for all eternity the Lamb that was slain and that the loving Lamb wins. It is  hard for me in this day and age when the powerful and mighty always seem to win to imagine how the Lamb is going to do it, but I believe somehow or another love wins.

All that to say, I apologize for some of my "violence rhetoric" during Lent, but every time I look at the cross I'm reminded of our continuing history of trying to overcome evil with evil (and our history of trying to justify our violence), but I'm reminded that Jesus is trying to teach us another way.

Shalom.

Comments

[Richard Sears]

"I will admit to having the heart of a pacifist and the brain of a realist. (I hope eventually my heart wins). I realize that in this fallen world there are times when all attempts to overcome evil with good seem to fall short and we must respond with force to curb evil."

Eventually your heart will win. In the coming Kingdom where God destroys the world as it is and ushers in a new world. When "They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9)

But in the meantime we must live with the tension.

The time when all creation lives in harmony has not yet arrived. We do not live in a world where "The lion shall eat straw like the ox. The suckling child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the adder's den" (Isaiah 11:7-8).

This is the poetry of the heart. The dream of a time when the creation itself will be redeemed. But we are fools if we do not stop our children from playing with poisonous snakes.

We need to learn to live with the tension between ideal and reality. It is not simple.

[Laura Rector]

Scott, I share your heart. Thank you for what you do and for those "political" sermons. This entry makes tears come to my eyes!! I think you are so right!! It encouraged me a lot. It's nice to be reminded that God is lord over all of reality. I especially appreciate the fact that you pray for soldiers on both sides. A few years back, I flew to the same airport in the Philippines where one of our Southern Baptist missionaries was killed by a backpack bomber--only a few weeks after it had happened. I was sad for my American friends there, but I was also sad for the Filipino people--whose names and grief most folks here in the States didn't learn and didn't recognize. (http://www.fuller.edu/student_life/semi/PDFs/Winter%2006/Winter%204_SEMI.pdf)

In the same way, my heart goes to the Iraqi people who have known so much loss, even as it goes out to our own country and I'm glad to know you're praying for all God's creatures and see your Christian faith this way!! Thank you for the well-articulated, encouraging lessons, your congregant's very deep and personal good questions, and for putting yourself "out there" in order to bring others closer to God. You're a truly special person and we won't forget that!! Thanks for doing what you do.

[Richard Sears]

I have been thinking about your foot-deep metaphor. Maybe I am thinking about it differently than you intend, but I don't see that it is possible or even a good idea to try to be a foot-deep Christian and nothing else. For me that creates the image of Christians fleeing to the desert to avoid the evil society.

Loving others compels us to commit to various social structures: our family, our denomination, our places of employment, our country. We commit to Christ first. We commit to Christ most deeply. But my other commitments are important too, and in a way they are even more important because I am committed to Christ.

Maybe changing the metaphor a little helps. We should be foot-deep Christians, and inch-deep Americans, inch-deep Nazarenes, etc. That underscores the superiority of Christ, but keeps us thinking about how our commitment to Christ affects our other commitments.

[Scott]

Richard (and Laura),
Thanks for your thoughtful and kind comments.
Richard - I think you are right. There is no way for us to lose our other commitments and obligations. I just think about Jesus saying, "No one can serve two masters." I'm just not sure we are aware of how difficult it is for our commitment to Christ to supercede and shape all our other commitments.
Thanks again.

[Sarah DeBoard Marion]

Last Sunday afternoon I was listening to NPR on my way to something or other and heard a program by Krista Tippett called "Speaking of Faith". She had on the show Robi Damelin, an Israeli Jew who lost her son to a Palestinian sniper and Ali Abu Awwad, a Palestinian man whose brother was killed by Israeli soldiers. They belong to the Bereaved Families Forum, an organization committed not to ideology for either side but to stopping the horrible violence in Israel-Palestine. They spoke together about their shared grief and hope of a different future without war or violence.

One particular thing Ms. Damelin said struck me. I will not get the words exactly right, but she said something to this effect, "Anyone who takes sides in this conflict, whether it be pro-Israeli or Palestinian is not helping. They may think they are doing the right thing, but they are not helping."

I think this might be the most profound thing I have ever heard.

Here's the website for the show if you want to hear the entire interview.
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/nomore/index.shtml.

God help us all find a way out of apathy and into reconciliation.

[John Coombs]

As an Army Major with 18 years of miliary service currently assigned to the LA area and member of Paz Naz, I too have to say I'm uncomfortable with Scott's violence theme messages and the occaisional poke in the eye I get from his sermons. And for those pokes, Pastor, thank you! If my Pastor didn't occaisionally make me feel uncomfortable, including challenging whom I put first, then he wouldn't be doing me any good!

I am sworn, as Jesus told the Pharisees, to render unto Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar. It's difficult to render my service to protect and defend our Constitution and obey the orders of the President, and at the same time render to God what belongs to God.

I expect and in fact I demand that my pastor poke me in the eye once in a while, to keep me from becoming too comfortable and complacent.

Thanks for your apology, pastor, about maybe not mentioning the police and military often enough. We certainly more need prayer! Though God directs nations according to His will, we certainly stopped functioning as a Christian nation long ago. We're a nation populated by many Christians - that's different.

Our first duty is to God. We pray in the Lord's prayer "... Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven ..." Who's supposed to be doing His will on earth? WE ARE, just as the angels do it in heaven.

Scott - I'll see you next week - be ready to poke me in the eye again! Don't hold back. The Army does a great job reminding me of my duty to it ... I need you to remind me of duty to God.