There Is No Peace That Way

*Author’s Note: Living cross-culturally is a radical experience that colors every aspect of one’s life, influencing how one reads, how one relates to fellow humans, how one worships. We want to make this blog a place where we discuss the full range of our experiences, and the impact that those experiences have on our worldviews, our theologies, our faith commitments. This necessitates posts, however, that don’t fit strictly into the “Missionary Update” category. We hope this is ok with everyone, and would ask that if you're not interested in these more meditative posts, please feel free to skip them!

Recently, Rebecca and I went to downtown Nairobi to get some train tickets for our trip to the coast. On our way back, we began to turn down a road that was completely empty. This was strange, considering it was the middle of the day on a street known for its jams. Just as we began to turn, several Kenyans ran off the sidewalk and blocked our way, chattering in Kiswahili. Finally, one of them said, “My friend, there is no peace that way.” Not till later on, did we realize that the street had been shut down by a major protest by university students that ended in the overturning of several cars and some mild looting (nobody was hurt).

That phrase has been echoing in my head ever since. So much was said in that one phrase. There is no peace that way. The students protested because a cop shot one of their classmates. Tribalism, classism, oppression . . . they all live just under the surface here, and the students feel that deeply. While strongly disagreeing with the students destruction of property, I support their protest: Kenyans need to stand up and call for justice and transparency in what Transparency International calls one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

On the other hand, violent protests don’t bring peace. There is no peace that way, because violence almost never leads to peace. This is proved by the positive practical examples of Ghandi, Dr. King, and the peace processes in S. Africa, and negatively by Israel’s utter failure to establish peace by violently crushing Palestinian military movements, our struggle to create peace through violence in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, and by the sorry history of vigilante and mob justice efforts.

What’s amazing is how little a role “peace” has played in my faith-walk so far. I know about Dr. King, I know Jesus is the “prince of peace,” and I know that if you want to be a pastor, you’ll probably go through Peace Makers at some point. But growing up, we just didn’t talk practically about peace very much. I used to think this was because peace wasn’t that big of a problem for us. Then I worked in inner city Memphis, and I saw the violence, the injustice, the failing schools, the crumbling public housing, met the kids forced to sell crack because there wasn’t opportunity, then those kids turned adult felons still trying to get out of it, and heard the stories of the dirty cops, lazy defendants, mismanaged cases, and the rest.

The problem seems not that we’re unacquainted with violence, but that we spend all our time trying to ignore it when it’s against others, or rationalizing it when “our team” decides to use it. But God’s Word doesn’t ignore peace. The pages of the Bible are oozing with peace talk. Just yesterday I saw where Hosea declares that God will destroy man’s weapons so that none will live in fear. And Jesus died a violent death instead of resorting to violence, a violence that would have been truly just and righteous. Thd history of the early church clearly shows that Christ’s early followers believed that He had called them to do the same (the history of the Reformers isn’t quite so clear unfortunately!)

I don’t know what to do about all of the Palestinian civilians killed in a brutish war by a US supported Israel. I don’t know what to do about the terrified Israelis living in fear because of Hamas radicals. I don’t know what to say exactly about this enormous war we’ve waged that’s cost tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians their lives, and four thousand some odd of our own troops. I don’t know what to say about how to live in a world of violence and injustice while following a man who said turn the other cheek and died on a cross.

But I do know that Jesus called His followers to seek the peace, to be peace makers, and not just when an elder and a parishioner get into it over who botched the Wednesday night potluck. I know that when Christians call Jesus the Prince of Peace, and don’t even discuss or investigate the Guantanamo Bays, Blackwaters, Palestinian refugee camps, and urban ghettos of the world we make Christ a liar to all who are listening. And I know that we’re never going to become the radical church that refuses to cave into the world’s sinful camps and categories unless we begin to talk about what it might look like to live for peace, to radically question the world's premises on every side, and follow the Spirit wherever He leads us (and I don’t know where He’ll lead us!!). If this leads us places that others call “irrational,” “unrealistic,” or even “un American,” so be it. “Whether it is better to please men or God,” others must judge for themselves; there is no peace any other way.

Praying for Peace,
Michael