Today, the Christian Peace Witnesses for Iraq held worship services in D.C. and across the country to continue the protest against the War and the Occupation in many parts of the world where we have no business being there. There was also a rally near the Capitol, but it was rainy and the singers were pretty cheesy. That said, the worship service was really nice.
During the Eucharist at Christ Church, I found myself singing a song in my head that I haven't thought about in a very long time.
He is our Peace
Who has broken down every wall
He is our Peace
He is our Peace
I can remember Mom singing that in choir and all the old folks at Glad Tidings singing in pseudo-unison. Here, it echoed a call to end to war in Iraq and create a new shift in thinking and being. The homily, given by an Episcopal priest from L.A., highlighted the passage in Scripture where James and John asked Christ if they could sit at each side of him in Heaven. In response, Christ told them that they didn't know what they were talking about and most likely, they didn't want to know either.
I imagine Christ saying to them with eyebrows raised: Do you really want that power? More so, do you really want the responsibility of sitting next to me? You know that everyone is going to be looking to you for everything. It's gonna take more than zeal and mastery of thin theology to really make the good stuff happen.
The service reminded me again of what the representative from the Desmond Tutu Foundation said at one ICUJP meeting. Peace is awareness and the knowledge of awareness. The awareness that a person has everything s/he needs to live life. All the necessities and the abilities to get what they need and want. Clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, viable shelter, a job with a living wage, an education if it is so desired, and ultimately, the awareness to have and share love.
It strikes a stronger chord for me when I think about peace and peacemaking that way.
Peace is not the warm fuzzy brought on by a warm blanket and a hearty dinner nor is peace the wanton sense of naivete when acting as an ignorant fool.
Peace is active, conscious, intentional. Peace guides the steps toward meaningfulness.
That peace. Do I have it in my own life and in my own heart? Am I truly aware that I have everything I need to live life and live it well? All the necessities and the opportunities to make it so?
In many ways, yes, I do. As a Christian, I believe that Christ is the center of my peace and his teachings and his essence have given me the ability to have peace. But that isn't just my gateway to Heaven (assuming Heaven as a real place exists) or is it my leverage against those wild and crazy "non-believers."
Truly, if I can make peace for myself, then I must make peace for others. I have to do everything in my power to ensure that others can have the awareness to live life well. That isn't just simple (read: easy, lazy, dumb, insensitive and ludicrous) shouting many call modern evangelism, but truly being a peace maker. What can I do to make sure people have access to clean water? What can I do to help others get a micro-loan to start a business? What can I do to fight for a living wage for work and health care for all? What can I do to be truly for life and for choice, more than judging personal decisions for the sake of hollow politics? Any of the multiplicity of causes and issues that are taken up are worth evaluating and thinking about; that is making peace.
Blessed are those who are truly aware.
Standing in the rain, listening to some weird musician sing about how the economy is affected by ecology, gathering with activists that come out to these rallies to get arrested in hopes to making a point to someone with voter clout, hearing the statistics again: 4,000 troops dead, almost one million Iraqis killed, nearly 4 million are displaced, a $3 trillion dollar war, a President who intends to spend his last year in office making sure everyone knows he's in charge and "has a lot to do," I heard my Mom and the congregation singing.
He is my Peace
Who has broken down every wall
He is my Peace
He is my Peace.
(Ed. note: Photo added.)
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