The following sermon was delivered by Linda Gaither, Chair of EPF, at Cornell University in February 2010. It was prefaced by a reading of the names of those who had been killed that week in Iraq & Afghanistan.
This evening we are gathered together to focus on matters of the gravest importance to us as Christians and citizens…our nation’s wars, particularly the war in Afghanistan. We are going to view portions of a thought-provoking film together, “Rethinking Afghanistan.” We are taking the opportunity to bring together in one room members of the local chapter of Episcopal Peace Fellowship, a representative of Veterans for Peace organization and this congregation.
In December, when President Obama ordered 40,000 fresh troops for a surge in Afghanistan, the National Exec. Council of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, [of which I serve as chairperson,] issued a statement calling on the president and congress to RETHINK their counterinsurgency strategy. “Intensified hostilities undermine the function of international law in the struggle against terrorism and generate a cycle of violence, chaos and evil that is antithetical to the teachings and example of Jesus.” Further, we expressed alarm at the application of Just War Theory by the president to justify the escalation of troop levels.
I believe such calls to “rethink” U.S. strategies and tactics in Afghanistan and Iraq and future flash points around the globe will be unending, however, if we don’t apply ourselves to RETHINK modern warfare itself as a viable solution to international conflicts of interest, especially in the age of terrorism.
In April, 1918, right after the U.S. entered World War I, the founder of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Bishop Paul Jones, had this to say: “I believe that the methods of modern international war are quite incompatible with the Christian principles of reconciliation and brotherhood…” For expressing his beliefs, Bishop Jones, who was serving the then-Missionary District of Utah, was forced by the House of Bishops to resign his post. The House of Bishops tried to silence this prominent Episcopal voice against modern warfare.
By 1918, of course, shell shock, mustard gas and the horrors of trench warfare had completed the transformation of armed combat that had begun in the American Civil War, in battles like the Wilderness and Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. Ordinance had outstripped tactics. And that was before Hiroshima, before blitzkrieg, cluster bombs, land mines, agent orange, depleted uranium shells, armed drones, smart bombs, Shock and Awe …. Not to mention the international arms trade, the reality of the military-industrial complex, war profiteering, the entrenched interests of standing militaries around the world…
In the face of this massive modern war machine, to RETHINK WAR seems quite naïve. Even more so when a PEACE group is involved, like the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
What do we think of when we hear PEACE in the church and society today? As one of my favorite authors puts it: the word PEACE conjures up
“fantasies of rest, of calm security, life as ‘normal,’ eternal peace, heavenly peace, The peace of naivete, of ignorance disguised as innocence. Longings for peace become both simplistic and utopian with programs for universal love, disarmament, and an Aquarian federation of nations, the status quo ante of Norman Rockwell’s apple pie [give peace sign]… Jesus would have been so offended by THIS peace that he would have declared for the sword!“
Why would this peace fantasy have offended Jesus? Because he knew intimately from his earliest childhood the dark human energies that sponsor war and terror. Archeologists have recently unearthed a dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated to the time of Jesus. The remains of the house are located in a hamlet of roughly 50 impoverished Jewish families. Workers uncovered walls, a cistern, a courtyard and, tellingly, a camouflaged grotto. In the grotto, up to six Jewish partisans could have hidden from Roman troops engaged in a violent struggle for control over that area of Galilee. The children of that village were familiar with an atmosphere of fear, dread and daily violence where a thoughtless word could endanger many lives, perhaps the whole village. Their fathers and brothers and cousins were terrorists in Roman eyes.
This child Jesus grew to be a man who took evil and violence and war seriously. He understood that the darkness in the human heart could not be simply eliminated, suppressed, denied or avoided with peaceful fantasies. In whatever shape violence manifested itself — social injustice, personal demonic possession, political and religious corruption, poverty and disinheritance of ordinary Jews from their ancestral lands and traditions, Jesus responded in strength with active nonviolent resistance and healing compassion. His actions transformed the dark energies of rage and revenge to be used on behalf of a vision of true peace and brotherhood, founded in justice and the lovingkindness of a God who wills to restore all of us miserable sinners to profound fellowship. In the Spirit of God, Jesus lived out the transformation of the darkness, not even holding back his own life.
When we RETHINK WAR as followers of Jesus, we commit ourselves to a path of personal transformation. Peace lies on the other side of the Cross and the courage to walk the way of the Cross is a gift from God. With this gift of energetic courage, I pray that we Episcopalians can add our voices to Bp. Paul Jones, speaking in 1918: “We believe the methods of modern international war are quite incompatible with Christian principles of reconciliation and brotherhood.” Bishop Jones paid the price for speaking.
Another great Christian bishop, St. Augustine, warned us long ago in his book, The City of God, about the costs of discipleship in matters of war and peace. He said Christians can support the peace of the earthly city, but we cannot compromise our obedience to the Heavenly City and the “only peace deserving the name.” For that reason the Church is driven to “dissent … and to prove a burdensome nuisance” to its neighbors, even to the point of enduring ‘anger and hatred, and the assaults of persecution.” (City of God, 19:17)
