The things that MAKE for Peace...

The things that make for peace…              jk        7/10/16

The atrocities have reached critical mass.

1.      I remember well The 1992 riots over the acquittal of 4 officers seen on film BEATING

    an unarmed, defenseless Rodney King

2.      Between 1995 and April of 2001, 15 black males killed by police and between

          November of 2000 and April of 2001, 4 of them – within 6 months

                     The shooting of unarmed 19 year old Timothy Thomas’ finally sparked a

                      Riot in the “Over the Rhine” community in Cincinnati, Ohio

3.       2/26/12  Treyvon Martin and no justice

4.       7/17/14  Eric Garner and no justice

5.       8/9/14    Michael Brown, whose body lay for hours in the street, and no justice

6.       11/22/14  12 year old Tamir Rice and no justice

7.       4/12/15  Freddie Gray and little to no justice

8.       7/13/15  Sandra Bland and no justice

9.       7/19/15  Samuel Dubose, again in Cincinnati, and no justice

10.                          10/18/15  Corey Jones, best friend of a loved one of ours, and  no justice

   And in two days…

   7/6/16    Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge

   7/7/16    Philandro Castile in Dallas

And this is NOT a comprehensive list…

I have to mention other losses, because they do affect us…

      Columbine High School affected us – 12 students and 1 teacher and 2 shooters died

      Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT affected us… 26 died… 20 children of 6, 7

               it affected us

      Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC – 9 people killed, including their pastor and a

               Senator, in a Bible Study affects us still today…

      The Pulse Night Club murders of 49 LGBT sisters and brothers in Orlando is still Raw…

      And reports of death around the world in Bengladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria

                and other nations affect us… they do…

And, yes… 5 police officers killed in Dallas while interacting with Demonstrators…

       It affects us… we empathize with their loved ones… ALL OF THEM… it makes us fearful for

             our own loved ones…  

But this is different…

Since January, there have been over 500 police killing of citizens in America… in 7 months… 500… and African American male citizens are 2 1/2x more likely than white citizens to be killed by police…

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I tell you, I much more often now skip the sadness… and go straight to anger…

       I am weary, as I know you are…

And folk react variously in response to these deaths…

       For some, with advice on the etiquette of how to placate a police officer who pulls you

               over… as if that matters… or legally carrying matters, if you are black or brown

       For some, with apathy or complacency… as long as it wasn’t one of MINE…

       For some, with violence and destruction, mostly aimed at no one REMOTELY involved…

       For some, even civic leaders and in the church… with silence or thoughts and prayers

               for some supernatural intervention…

       And others demonstrate and march… it is something positive to bring people together

               and demonstrate and march… it unifies, it expresses our disapproval… it is good…

But it’s not necessarily in the tradition of the Civil Rights leaders of old… a lot gets said at these marches about Dr. King, John Lewis and others… and remembering them is beautiful, but it is not in their tradition fully… ‘cuz we have not continued and have not started a MOVEMENT… there ARE movements… Black Lives Matter and others… great messages and energy and courage to stand in the face of and speak truth to power… a beautiful thing…

But who has ORGANIZED a movement?  Who has targeted the ROOT of the problem?

The church?  The clergy?  New Civil Rights Leaders?

It is as if we are in the time of JEREMIAH the Prophet, who lamented…

   “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

     And from the prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.  They have treated the

     WOUND of my people carelessly saying, ‘Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

     They acted shamefully, and committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed

     they did not know how to blush.  Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

     at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.” 6:13-15

They treat our wounds shamefully, and are not ashamed!

The People call for peace that is NOT peace.  It is NOT peace because the ROOT cause of the injustice, the heart of the matter has not changed.  It is NOT real peace because PEACE, shalom means “well-being, wholeness and completeness” and THAT has not been established…  It is NOT peace because a people are being held down, back and out by another people, and between killings THAT still remains… It is NOT peace because the “things that make for peace” are missing – justice, equal opportunity, equitable treatment, respect and honor of the other…

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Jesus lamented to the Pharisees – the religious leaders of His time -  “If you, even YOU, had only recognized on this day the THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.”  Luke 19:42

At His triumphal entry he foretold of their destruction and lamented over them.

Again, Jeremiah –

     “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us,’ when, in fact, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie?  The wise shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom is in them? … (and again we read…) They have treated the WOUND of my people carelessly saying, ‘Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. They acted shamefully, and committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed they did not know how to blush.  Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.”  8:8-9; 11-12

Incidentally, there was no Peace found… no justice… the nation was conquered and put into exile… the people were divided because of their false prophets and complacent citizens…

There is no well-being, completeness or wholeness among God’s oppressed children because even the Church has been silent and complicit in their abuse, exploitation and murder… many of the preachers and churches who have seen this happening over the past 25 years, but who have been caught up in their Church Growth or Prosperity and did not address it.  So focused on holding onto their own prosperity and prestige and position that to address it publicly could jeopardize them getting the crumbs they get for BEING complicit… praying for supernatural interventions instead of advocating God’s children and doing the WORK of justice…

They walked away from the Word that they claimed to embrace – The Gospel of Jesus, fulfiller of Law and Prophets and one they claim is their LORD…

Jesus, who said,

“If you love me, you will keep MY Commandments… and… Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid… the ruler of the world is coming.  He has no power over me…”

John 14:15, 27-31

Jesus’ Peace is different from a fleeting, superficial, “ah, there is a pause in the killing” kind of peace… it emanates from WITHIN… it comes when

    FEAR no longer makes some abuse others

    HATRED no longer comes of that fear

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    FALSE SUPERIORITY no longer deludes those who desperately hold onto it because

          it is the ONLY thing that they have to hold onto

    GREED no longer makes some exploit others for their own gain

    LUST FOR POWER no longer makes some oppress others for their own insidious pleasure

Jesus’ Peace is different because it begins WITHIN THE HEART… attacks the HEART OF THE MATTER…

It is a Peace that comes from Repentance… Metanoia in Greek… to change one’s thinking so that one’s direction and actions will change…

Until hearts and minds are changed, the peace we have will be No Peace… fleeting, superficial, not real and not long lived…

THAT was the MOVEMENT among our Civil Rights Leaders of old…

CHANGE HEARTS and MINDS…

It was not scattered demonstrations in reaction to individual events.  It was the recognition that this came from a hatred that must be exposed… that LIGHT must be shone on it… the light of truth and justice… that people must be made to see how this destroys us all from within… a movement of organized actions but with principles of PEACE… real, lasting completeness, wholeness and well-being for ALL and not just some on the backs of others…

It came from JESUS…

Who, announced HIS mission as one to right the wrongs of the oppressed and most vulnerable in Luke 4…

Who preached on the evils of those who exploited and of God’s preference for those who were exploited and oppressed in the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6…

and then preached about LOVING ENEMIES –

   Agape Love – active commitment on behalf of the other love…

   for the sake of enemy… why?  To CHANGE the enemy and ourselves in the process

Jesus, who did this in front of a great crowd… the Gospels say 5,000 MEN plus women and children… in the face of an Occupying Roman Army, with a history of religious insurrection and zealous violent attacks on soldiers… this was a SHOW OF POWER… he was teaching an ARMY of 5,000 (Roman forces numbered perhaps 5500 in and around Jerusalem at the time)… and their families… about the things that make for PEACE… about Justice, Equality, Equitable treatment to an Army and their families, Occupied and Oppressed by the Romans… in the face

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of the oppressors… in the face of incarcerations and crucifixions… lynchings… It was all about taking back their power…

But also Jesus who said that THE ONE WHO TAKES THE SWORD WILL PERISH BY THE SWORD and Jesus rebuked His own disciple for using a weapon to strike out in defense of HIM…

Matt. 26

The Civil Rights Movement came from Jesus… and Gandhi… and Vernon Johns… Dr. King, later Bishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador and others who DID get how this transformation comes… how this change comes with Repentance… CHANGING HEARTS AND MINDS…

To a people who were tired of Jim Crow Oppression and Police Occupation and abuse in their communities… tired of incarcerations and lynchings…

They EXPOSED the works of darkness that emanated from Positions of Entitlement and Power on the backs of their people…

They EXPOSED the works of darkness that came from Greedy hearts…

They EXPOSED the works of darkness that came from a false sense of Superiority and Prestige over others…

They EXPOSED the ignorance of hatred and intolerance… of Racism, Classism, Ethnocentrism

     and Xenophobia…

They EXPOSED them nationally and internationally…

     Nobel Peace Prize exposed…

     Voting Rights Act exposed…

And they SHED THE LIGHT OF THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS… in your face Power with a refusal to pick up a weapon… heart-changing, life changing Agape Love LIGHT… shed it on the country and the world…

LIGHT SHED that changed the heart of Bobby Kennedy’s position radically…

LIGHT SHED that got others to see a better way… and follow the movement…

LIGHT SHED that brought about changes, even when many still held their corruptions in their hearts… because masses of people saw what they were doing and said, “No more!”

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Why?  Because MANY PEOPLE ROSE UP TOGETHER and said, “NO MORE” and VOTED because their hearts were changed from FEAR, HATRED, GREED, LUST FOR POWER, FALSE PRESTIGE, COMPLACENCY and APATHY… MANY rose up and change started to happen…

Despite false prophets and detractors from the movement, some of whom wanted to capitulate to the powers, some who benefitted from it, some who just wanted bloodshed and to perpetrate the oppression from the other side of it… MANY ROSE UP TOGETHER and much CHANGE came…

And then the bloodshed was more focused on those who called for PEACE, REAL PEACE…

    Dr. King was killed while working for justice with the poor and black and brown… and

         Bobby… Malcolm…Medgar… four little girls… three young men from up North…

    and people out of fear, got silent again… holding onto what false Peace they could grab

And then some folks got a bit for themselves and their complacency grew over generations…

    held onto a false well-being, completeness and wholeness… complacent and apathetic because they got a little for themselves and wanted to keep it… a marginal, temporary peace

    superficial peace while others they loved STILL GOT HURT, EXPLOITED, OPPRESSED, KILLED…

And others tried to kill the movement… worked HARD at that… BECAUSE IT WAS WORKING, CHANGE WAS COMING, AND THEY COULD NOT HAVE THAT…

… and there has been some, small, marginal progress… some change for the better…

… but not REAL PEACE… not CHANGE for the THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE…

… the reactions to our Black President expose the darkness that has thrived all along…

And so here we are again… still…

But if there is a HOPE in this…

It is that what happened then was WORKING…

 And symbolic leaders…

     Our Civil Rights leaders of old like John Lewis and Andrew Young

     Our first African-American President

     Perhaps our first Woman President

            these symbols are nice…. they give us hope…

            but as we have seen, it is a FLEETING Hope… a FALSE HOPE…

            it is NOT REAL PEACE… tentative, superficial…

                 and WILL NOT BE REAL PEACE:  well-being, completeness, wholeness…

            it is a FALSE HOPE, if beneath the symbolic image is status quo…

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      Are we destined to continue in baby steps… or two steps forward, one back…

            until we EMBRACE THE THINGS THAT MAKE FOR REAL PEACE…

                  Justice, Equality, Equitable Treatment… in Agape Love?

We are a nation divided… Race, Class, Philosophy and Ideology…

    Even the Oppressed are divided as of old… some capitulating, some apathetic, some

         doing SOMETHING but NOT COMING TOGETHER…

We are grieving again… STILL… it has shaken us… it moves us… it angers us…

But will it DRIVE US to DEMAND the THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE?  REAL PEACE?

    NOT like the world has given us, but PEACE as God wants it for us…

    Agape Love – active commitment on behalf of the other

          as our guiding principle in life?

          That which eliminates fear, hatred, greed, lust for power and prestige

                 as our guiding principle as a NATION?

We stand at the BEGINNING… a new beginning with a New Hope…

MY HOPE is that we will EXPOSE the works of darkness… the Greed, Racism, Nationalism, Ethnocentrism, Xenophobia, Classism, Homophobia, Sexism and intolerance for what it IS… not strength and right, but cowardice and evil… White Privilege, Police Occupational Forces, Systematic Exploitation, Discrimination, Incarceration and Extermination of our people…  

MY HOPE… is that we will SHED THE LIGHT OF REAL PEACE ON THE DARKNESS…

       and DEMAND a REAL PEACE – Wholeness, Completeness and Well-being for ALL

       because we have EMBRACED THE THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE – the Justice, Equality and Equitable Treatment for ALL that a Real Peace demands

So grieve, and pray, speak, write, demonstrate, march, petition, protest, boycott, advocate the most vulnerable, lift up the most devastated, stand with them and VOTE… because following Jesus AND following JUSTICE are ACTIONS… and so we need to MOVE… We need to ACT intentionally, publicly, systematically, non-violently…

We need to ELECT people who will not just want to get and stay in office, but who stand for Justice and Real Peace… and support Black and Brown and LGBT businesses… and DEMAND Equal Education, Employment, Housing, Pay, Representation and Opportunities under the Law…

Just like Christianity, that which has become an institution, needs to be a movement of followers of Jesus’ Way again…

So, We need to BE A MOVEMENT, TOGETHER again… NOW…    Amen