I marvel at the non-violence of Jesus.
We humans are wired for survival. Self-defense comes naturally. Once as a sleep-deprived new mother of twins, I struck the refrigerator door to keep myself from hitting the children - and the door fell off! I know the violence within me. Yet Jesus, in his hour of trial, commands his followers to put down their swords.
The truly Human One shows us how God - the Source and End of life - behaves in the flesh. When confronted by the powers, he allows himself to be handed over to be killed rather than to kill.
One of my seminary professors spoke words I’ve never forgotten. The Rev. Rowan Greer said, “Better to be crucified than to crucify.” Better to receive hurt, to take it into oneself and release it in love, rather than to strike back.
Jesus’ way has its followers - Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.; Episcopal Bishop Paul Jones of Utah, who was forced to resign his office because of his opposition to war; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who confessed he was committing sin by taking part in the plot to kill Hitler; and Jonathan Daniels, a seminarian from the Episcopal Theological Seminary, who during the 60’s came unarmed from the Episcopal Theological Seminary into the Deep South and took a bullet on behalf of a young African American woman.
Every tradition has its witnesses for peace. In the early days of the church, no Christian could bear arms. But the mainstream of Christianity flows counter to the way of its Lord.
As a member of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, I have promised to the best of my ability not to engage in violence and to work against the use of violence in every sphere, including national policy.
War crucifies Christ and crucifies humanity. War hurts perpetrator as well as victim. Recently the Episcopal Bishop of the Armed Forces, Bishop Jay Magness, told the adult forum at Trinity, Portsmouth, that the military now uses a new term alongside post traumatic stress (PTS) - soul wounding.
Soul wounding denotes the spiritual illness that arises from having committed or witnessed an act contrary to the teaching in which one was formed as a child. Military chaplains are being trained to offer healing for this wound of the spirit even as military psychologists address PTS.
If only we could view our planet as through the lens of the Hubble spacecraft camera - as a beautiful, fragile jewel in the vastness of the cosmos! We might at last see that we are one - one people to care for one another, one Earth to tend with loving stewardship.
Then all the gifts of those serving in the military - the commitment, courage, dedication, expertise, skill - and our country’s enormous defense budget might be directed towards healing and building up, helping to midwife the new creation.
The Rev. Julia Dorsey Loomis
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