Our call for freedom
The Political Pulpit
Object:
Click here for "Perspective 1" by Mark Ellingsen
Mark, I agree with most of what you say and I find it difficult to not identify the poor as the real losers in this war. However, I do not find the Bush administration to be the "big boogey man" that most of the world believes. I believe Bush and his disciples were naive in believing they were going to resolve the conflicts of the Middle East by taking on Saddam Hussein. Bush had little convincing to do that Hussein was a "Hitler." The stories about the massacres of Hussein's own people were reminiscent of Stalin and Hitler. Most people still remember the days of appeasement and the sacrifice of the Jews and the political discontent in Russia. Bush, I believe, is a religious man with a religious man's mentality. He believed in spite of the evil of war, this nation could produce a Middle-Eastern peace that thousands of hours of negotiation could not, or has not, achieved.
I believe it is America's allegiance to Israel and our commitment to protect Israel at any cost that is the breaker. Surrounded by nations that have vowed to wipe the Jewish nation off of the map is a chilling fear to American Jews and Christians alike. It is both pride and shame that make us defend this nation. We are proud that the Jews have returned to "their birthright," and ashamed that six million of them had to die before we could rescue a remnant of our faith.
Few of us ever believed that, led by Hussein, a leader without any principles, the Arabs would sound a call to "Allah" that was larger than our call for freedom. The American push for the establishment of a democracy might be the buffer that Israel needed and might possibly strike fear into the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia that a public uprising could also destroy their dictatorships.
As our nation was called to prayer, the Arabs prayed with vengeance. They searched the Koran and found examples to justify the murder of enemies as well as collaborators. The high priests of their faith took to the towers of prayer and denounced our nation as Satan. Instead of parades, they forced our soldiers into military convoys. Every Arab and follower of Mohammed was radicalized to the point of martyrdom.
On this side of the ocean we were caught in our usual gridlock. Many people in the USA have decided that we are a nation of warriors instead of peacemakers. We talked of bringing new life to a nation that had been hopelessly held in bondage by their leadership. But our plans were delayed because we found resistance. Instead of negotiations we chose to identify all men, women, and children as followers of bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11.
This was not a contest of faiths but instead a contest of religious fanaticism against frail "intelligence gathering," and power politics. I believe a man armed with a cause will always overcome a man armed with weapons.
What difference has it meant to the Americans at home? Most of us may know of someone that is serving in Iraq and Afghanistan but it has had little effect on our lives. Our concerns remain the economy, the price of gasoline, the presidential candidates, job fulfillment, crime in our cities, gays and gay bashers, smoking in bars, internet sales, a better highway system that provides less time in traffic, and the building of prisons for non-violent offenders.
War should mean sacrifice and a time of mourning over the deaths of our bravest people. War is raising the flag over evil and bringing justice and freedom to the world. War is to be rare and not the action of every generation. War is defending principle and believing that we are acting justly before a great and powerful God. War is winning, marching through streets of confetti swirling through the wind tunnels of skyscrapers. War is a time when we wait for the final headline to proclaim that we will live in a new time that is more peaceful. The end of a war is when the soldiers return home, marry their sweethearts, join a church, and raise a happy family.
Most of all we want peace, not the peace that the world gives but the peace that Christ brings (Act 10:36-38). This is not a peace for wimps. Few of us will be praised for our stances in being peacemakers (Romans 5:1-5).
Instead, we are looking at the displacement of millions of people. Instead, we build schools and fortify them against suicide bombers. We build markets and close off the ends of streets so that everyone coming to buy a loaf of bread can first be searched for weapons. The poor are confused, disappointed, and turn to the only thing they have to hope for: a place in eternity where there are no tears, no filthy water, no rampant disease, and no family deaths to report at the end of the day.
In the meantime, we continue to build our castles. Leadership can't turn our heads in the direction of places in the world where conditions grow worse, where civil war breeds famine and disease. These places are seldom in the headlines but they, too, turn to the only thing that is left for them. What remains is an external belief that the only thing left is a future beyond this world that promises them everything they have not experienced in their lifetimes.
Some of this sounds almost too familiar with the early church and the words that the "kingdom is at hand," the "kingdom is near," and the "kingdom is within you." While Christians were being slaughtered for their faith, their brothers and sisters were on their knees praying for their accusers and executors. It was said that in certain cities the streets and gutters ran red with the blood of martyrs. The roads were lined with the crucified and the believers were expelled from the houses of worship and the marketplaces. These early Christians were strangers to the "real world."
If we want to rally a nation to be peacemakers we must rediscover our promises to God. We need a new energy that reaches out to the poor and the disenfranchised. We need to stop building castles and clear the slums, heal the sick, mourn the dying, and share our lives in the name of the living Lord. Our peacemaking shall not be the absence of military action but instead millions of lives dedicated to carrying peace in our cargo and joy in the sharing of forgiveness.
It was easy to avenge 9/11. It could have been easy to take revenge for the USS Cole, the ravaging of our embassies, the murder of our Marines in Lebanon, and countless other horrors that were enacted by some deranged followers of Allah. But tell me about your God and the direction he gives you. We, too, can find the justified atrocities backed by a just-seeking God in the Old Testament. We should choose not to do so. We hear the words of a loving God in the New Testament with visions for mankind in the New Testament (Matthew 5:1-11). The Beatitudes should be our daily confession. Unfortunately, we choose not to follow the "Way of Life," either.
If we want to rally America to peacemaking then we need to rally them to their faith in God and a belief that peacemaking is longer lasting and far more effective.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons -- Matthew To Revelation," a compendium of 260 object lessons based on texts from every book in the New Testament. Runk is a graduate of Wittenberg University and Hamma School of Theology.
Mark, I agree with most of what you say and I find it difficult to not identify the poor as the real losers in this war. However, I do not find the Bush administration to be the "big boogey man" that most of the world believes. I believe Bush and his disciples were naive in believing they were going to resolve the conflicts of the Middle East by taking on Saddam Hussein. Bush had little convincing to do that Hussein was a "Hitler." The stories about the massacres of Hussein's own people were reminiscent of Stalin and Hitler. Most people still remember the days of appeasement and the sacrifice of the Jews and the political discontent in Russia. Bush, I believe, is a religious man with a religious man's mentality. He believed in spite of the evil of war, this nation could produce a Middle-Eastern peace that thousands of hours of negotiation could not, or has not, achieved.
I believe it is America's allegiance to Israel and our commitment to protect Israel at any cost that is the breaker. Surrounded by nations that have vowed to wipe the Jewish nation off of the map is a chilling fear to American Jews and Christians alike. It is both pride and shame that make us defend this nation. We are proud that the Jews have returned to "their birthright," and ashamed that six million of them had to die before we could rescue a remnant of our faith.
Few of us ever believed that, led by Hussein, a leader without any principles, the Arabs would sound a call to "Allah" that was larger than our call for freedom. The American push for the establishment of a democracy might be the buffer that Israel needed and might possibly strike fear into the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia that a public uprising could also destroy their dictatorships.
As our nation was called to prayer, the Arabs prayed with vengeance. They searched the Koran and found examples to justify the murder of enemies as well as collaborators. The high priests of their faith took to the towers of prayer and denounced our nation as Satan. Instead of parades, they forced our soldiers into military convoys. Every Arab and follower of Mohammed was radicalized to the point of martyrdom.
On this side of the ocean we were caught in our usual gridlock. Many people in the USA have decided that we are a nation of warriors instead of peacemakers. We talked of bringing new life to a nation that had been hopelessly held in bondage by their leadership. But our plans were delayed because we found resistance. Instead of negotiations we chose to identify all men, women, and children as followers of bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11.
This was not a contest of faiths but instead a contest of religious fanaticism against frail "intelligence gathering," and power politics. I believe a man armed with a cause will always overcome a man armed with weapons.
What difference has it meant to the Americans at home? Most of us may know of someone that is serving in Iraq and Afghanistan but it has had little effect on our lives. Our concerns remain the economy, the price of gasoline, the presidential candidates, job fulfillment, crime in our cities, gays and gay bashers, smoking in bars, internet sales, a better highway system that provides less time in traffic, and the building of prisons for non-violent offenders.
War should mean sacrifice and a time of mourning over the deaths of our bravest people. War is raising the flag over evil and bringing justice and freedom to the world. War is to be rare and not the action of every generation. War is defending principle and believing that we are acting justly before a great and powerful God. War is winning, marching through streets of confetti swirling through the wind tunnels of skyscrapers. War is a time when we wait for the final headline to proclaim that we will live in a new time that is more peaceful. The end of a war is when the soldiers return home, marry their sweethearts, join a church, and raise a happy family.
Most of all we want peace, not the peace that the world gives but the peace that Christ brings (Act 10:36-38). This is not a peace for wimps. Few of us will be praised for our stances in being peacemakers (Romans 5:1-5).
Instead, we are looking at the displacement of millions of people. Instead, we build schools and fortify them against suicide bombers. We build markets and close off the ends of streets so that everyone coming to buy a loaf of bread can first be searched for weapons. The poor are confused, disappointed, and turn to the only thing they have to hope for: a place in eternity where there are no tears, no filthy water, no rampant disease, and no family deaths to report at the end of the day.
In the meantime, we continue to build our castles. Leadership can't turn our heads in the direction of places in the world where conditions grow worse, where civil war breeds famine and disease. These places are seldom in the headlines but they, too, turn to the only thing that is left for them. What remains is an external belief that the only thing left is a future beyond this world that promises them everything they have not experienced in their lifetimes.
Some of this sounds almost too familiar with the early church and the words that the "kingdom is at hand," the "kingdom is near," and the "kingdom is within you." While Christians were being slaughtered for their faith, their brothers and sisters were on their knees praying for their accusers and executors. It was said that in certain cities the streets and gutters ran red with the blood of martyrs. The roads were lined with the crucified and the believers were expelled from the houses of worship and the marketplaces. These early Christians were strangers to the "real world."
If we want to rally a nation to be peacemakers we must rediscover our promises to God. We need a new energy that reaches out to the poor and the disenfranchised. We need to stop building castles and clear the slums, heal the sick, mourn the dying, and share our lives in the name of the living Lord. Our peacemaking shall not be the absence of military action but instead millions of lives dedicated to carrying peace in our cargo and joy in the sharing of forgiveness.
It was easy to avenge 9/11. It could have been easy to take revenge for the USS Cole, the ravaging of our embassies, the murder of our Marines in Lebanon, and countless other horrors that were enacted by some deranged followers of Allah. But tell me about your God and the direction he gives you. We, too, can find the justified atrocities backed by a just-seeking God in the Old Testament. We should choose not to do so. We hear the words of a loving God in the New Testament with visions for mankind in the New Testament (Matthew 5:1-11). The Beatitudes should be our daily confession. Unfortunately, we choose not to follow the "Way of Life," either.
If we want to rally America to peacemaking then we need to rally them to their faith in God and a belief that peacemaking is longer lasting and far more effective.
Wesley T. Runk is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the founder of CSS Publishing Company. He is the author of more than thirty books, including "The Giant Book Of Children's Sermons -- Matthew To Revelation," a compendium of 260 object lessons based on texts from every book in the New Testament. Runk is a graduate of Wittenberg University and Hamma School of Theology.
