children of god, make peace
“Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues…Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.” Psalm 120:2, 6-7
Last weekend the US went to war with Iran, and my heart is heavy. Don’t get me wrong. I am not sorry that the Ayatollah Khamenei is dead. I’ve read two books that have profoundly described the plight of people in Iran, particularly the women repressed by the Islamic extremist regime. The novel The Lion Women of Tehran and the non-fiction book Reading Lolita in Tehran made clear how quickly a ruthless regime can suppress the rights and potential of women. You don’t have to live in the Middle East to fear that scenario. There are some in this country, some with power, listening to those voices who espouse that American women shouldn’t have the right to vote.
I’m perplexed trying to understand why the US had to be the one to take out Khamenei. I remember kneeling in my church, praying the Prayer for the Innocents at the start of the Gulf War in 1990: “We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love and peace.” That prayer doesn’t say, “by OUR great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants.” Because we are stronger doesn’t make it our job.
Fortunately, Kuwait was liberated within a year. However, the war in Afghanistan that was begun in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, lasted twenty years. Emotionally I understood why we undertook that conflict. We had been attacked by terrorists. Yet, with almost 30,000 US casualties between the dead and wounded, it was a futile mission, partly because the assumptions made that drew us into the war were false. “Save me, Lord, from lying lips and deceitful tongues.”
I’ve seen too many failed attempts at using our might to make the world a safer place. Vietnam was a war we couldn’t win, and by the time we realized it, 58,220 US service members had died. I am not anti-war, but I think there had better be a darn good reason for starting one.
And so, my prayer is that saner, cooler heads will prevail. Jesus didn’t say, blessed are the liberators. He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” Jesus came to reconcile, not to conquer. His followers should do likewise.
Children of God, make peace, not war.
Love, Liz
“Jesus did speak of ‘wars and rumors of wars’…there has never been a time in human history when there haven’t been wars or rumors of wars. These things are always perpetual signs that things are not as they should be and we are awaiting all things to be made right. Theologically, it is best to see Christian hope as a desire for the world to be healed and restored…A theological framework that trains believers to view war as a prophetic inevitability rather than a human tragedy can dull moral urgency.” Benjamin Cremer
