Greg

One of the many books I’m currently reading has an essay in it by Ken Sehested, He’s a Baptist and founder of the “Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America.” He wrote something particularly profound that I want to share with all of you. He said this:

Non Violence is more than just refusing to shoot someone. It is not to be confused with passivity or with sectarian withdrawal (in the name of moral purity). Rather it involves a commitment to willingly enter a situation of conflict, to absorb the assault without resort to revenge, to listen with empathy to the “enemy” which involves the willingness to have your mind changed.

This is one of the simplest ways I’ve even seen Christian non-violence expressed. I often feel the need to over explain the concept, citing Jesus as the originator, showing historical evidence of God’s provision in the lamb for Abraham, or wanting to give other examples I know of in History or the modern news to explain this concept, when really, it can be put so much more plainly. The primary Christian ethic is one in which the self is lost and God is moved to the forefront, the result of this paradigm shift is that one begins to be endowed with the fruits of the spirit. When God is more important than the self, we can begin to recognize that the “other” doesn’t exist in the way we thought it did, that people are all children of God and we can begin to treat them as such as we view them the way God does. That is why Christian Non-Violence works.

The interesting implications of this definition are that is goes beyond physical violence. This definition expresses the need for Christians to intervene and shelter others in situations which might otherwise make us uncomfortable. When I read this, I think of two groups of people that have been trampled underfoot by the very group that should be protecting them, and those are 1) women who have had abortions 2) gay people. If we intend to apply the Christian ethic we have a lot of vitriol to absorb for these people, and the ironic part is it’s coming from within our churches.

I would argue the first step is for the Church to start absorbing it. That is, prevent it from impacting it’s intended targets, if we can do that by say, encouraging the pastor to watch his language when speaking about issues that affect these groups, then that’s a start! Second, is to show these people that they have support within the church, even if it’s not yet from the top down. If you’re in a conservative church, but you support gay rights, Join the Rainbow Delegation in wearing a wrist band to express your support for LGBT people, and show that some in the Church regard all people as worthy of love and respect. Similarly, get involved in helping women who’ve undergone something traumatic begin to heal by volunteering at a support group or walking women to and from the clinic through the protesters. The call to Christian Non-Violence is a big deal, and I think all too often, the loud conservative end of the Church bashes Children of God while the end that recognizes those victims as Children of God sits passively in the corner. It’s time for the members of the Church that value all people to stand up and affirm the humanity of those that other’s dehumanize; let us stand with the marginalized and take the salvo on their behalf. Let those who are attacking consider us among the sinners, God knows the Phrases thought that of Jesus.

Lastly, Let’s pray for the Church. The church now is more fragmented than it has ever been. Humanity has largely rejected the meta-narratives of Christianity, instead favoring strict interpretations that ignore the greater concepts expressed within the Bible and using disagreements over obscure doctrine to split God’s church. As we practice Christian non-violence and we accept a barrage of violence from our fellow Christians, let us seek to challenge them and let us allow ourselves to be used in a way that can unify the church around commonalities. While it is not an easy task to disrupt violence while convincing the perpetrator of that to act peacefully, the call to be a peacemaker was never described as easy. Let us accept the burden which we have been given, seek God’s strength and wisdom as we try to carry it out, and never stop pushing for the renewing of all minds. Amen.