Peace and Hope
A couple posts ago I talked a bit about the story within the story of Christmas (political and revolutionary!) and that sparked quite a few comments... so while I may regret this later I wanted to do another post on this to continue the conversation and invite others to join who haven't been reading those comments (see "story within a story").
The way I understand peace and hope in this world is this... sure people are going to screw it up. We are people and selfish after all. I'll even admit that I'm oftentimes the one who screws it up (the sooner we all realize that the world centers around me, the better off we'd all be!). But the fact that people will screw it up, that they will take advantage of peace, that they will at times violently try to supress and contain those who are after peace, should not control me or my hopes that a day will come when shalom, peace can exist. Jesus himself lived this way, hoping and living for peace and love... and yes it got him killed. But the promise beyond that death of a kingdom and a "life to the full" are built on peace and the hope of peace (see the tanakh, that's the Old Testament you Protestants).
I'm not saying that we should run around playing the matyr, but I wonder if we too often sacrifice our hope for our pride, our vision and dreams for control? Is it too much to ask really that we live as people of peace, trusting others and committing to the long-term of relationships? Assuming the best of others instead of dreading for the day when the worst will come? Perhaps I'm naive. Perhaps I'm an ingoramous. (okay not such a stretch) But why not live this way and not allow others to take it away from us?
I have much work to do to make this happen starting at home with my own family and on out into the world in which I live. I'm gonna try though. I'm gonna keep on trying. You've got to hope in something, why not peace? Shalom to you all!
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Thoughts on life and ministry
About Me
- Brian
- Journeying with as many as I can to find out the best life. I believe this means following God in the way of Jesus.
Other blogs to share
Books I'm Reading
- Christian Tradition vols. 1-3
- History of Christian Thought vols. 1-2
- "Torture and Eucharist" by William T. Cavanaugh
1 comment:
Hey Brian, thanks for the kick in the gonads today. Wish I could say you were the first but... Mentioned your blog to Dave Sparks too, hoping he'll kick into the conversation a bit and perhaps take the plunge into the blogging world himself.
Onto the topic at hand. I fear that some of my initial comments were misunderstood a bit so I would like to clarify. I was not speaking so much for myself as for those to whom we are sent into the world when I stated that hope in peace is a fading ideal. In general, perhaps even in a Barna survey, I think we would discover that the world has no such hope for peace. Probably never has had much at any time. Take for instance the idea that WWI was the war to END all wars.
At the same time, as I recently posted on another blog, I am cynical most times, but I am a hopeful cynic. My own painful experiences have led me to believe that the Church - at least as it exists - is not a harbinger of peace nor a prophet of hope. Within its walls it has prostituted itself for self-gratification and personal ideology rather than clinging to the message of God and embracing its role within the larger story.
But that doesn't mean that the story has lost its potency either. I still believe in the presiding influence of that story, that there are even some who embrace it still, who are searching its many cracks and crevices in order to conform to something nobler and, yes, more hope-filled. Christ came to retell the story, a story that had become skewed. He came to restore the story (hey, doesn't that sound cool?). And each and every writer of the Greek scriptures was trying to do the same, to redirect the story back to its original path from the misguidings of the zealous nincompoops who refused to stop and ask for directions.
So please understand that I, like most people I think we'll find around us, have no problem with the story of hope, or with the idea of peace conveyed by it. The conflict and despair arises from the institutions that have let us down over the centuries (and yes, I think centuries add up after a while).
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