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GA06100
'The beautiful fight of the faith' Presbyterian Peacemaking celebrates 25 years
by Toya Richards Hill
BIRMINGHAM, June 19 * "Peacemaking is putting your heinie onthe line," the Rev. Mark Lomax declared to a full house gathered Monday night for the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program's 25th anniversary celebration dinner.
"We are engaged in a fight," said Lomax, founding pastor of First Afrikan Church in Lithonia, GA. "You can't get in a fight and not come out bloodied."
What is the church to do?
"We really do have to go to the cross. We have to become the gospel," Lomax said. "We have to live it out in our daily walk."
The audience, a bounty of peacemakers from across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and elsewhere, concurred wholeheartedly with Lomax. They also embraced former GA moderator Rick Ufford-Chase, who spoke briefly in his new role as executive director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.
"There is something outrageous happening," Ufford-Chase told the group. "Presbyterians are anxious to be directly involved in peacemaking themselves."
Lomax, assistant professor of homiletics at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, called peacemaking "the beautiful fight of the faith."
"We are called as servants by God into places where antagonists are already at one another's throats," he said. "We are called to engage in a struggle," yet it is a "fight that is beautiful."
It is the constant struggle to do the will of God for God's glory and for those who are in conflict, Lomax said. It is a struggle that seeks to, among other things, reconcile warring factions and heal combatants "by the power of the Holy Spirit," he said.
Lomax warned against empires that seek to "co-mingle" patriotism and religion.
"Since when did war become the will of God?" he asked. "When did being born again become the prerequisite for becoming the president of the United States?
"In which Gospels did Jesus tell us to reject homosexuals? Where are the virtues?" Lomax asked, referring to righteousness, patience and meekness.
He also warned against transnational corporations, such as Enron Corp., to which society has yielded and applied "no checks and balances."
"We are supposed to be fighting the beautiful fight of faith," Lomax said. "We are to serve God, and God alone."
He told the group the battle would not be won with carnal things, but through faith, prayer and witnessing, among others. "We must return to the time of the early church."
The peacemaking celebration continued even further into the evening business meeting.
A processional of people waving paper doves and colorful ribbons over the full concert hall set the tone as those present sang "Let Justice Flow."
"Peacemaking is alive and well in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)," said Sara Lisherness, coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.
She talked about the work the program has accomplished since it was formed, including witnessing to the concerns of the PC(USA), holding intergenerational peacemaking conferences and providing personal support to peacemakers.
Video clips from various peacemakers and other also were shown to tell the Peacemaking Program's story. "The Peacemaking Program has helped us reclaim the gospel," Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick said in a video segment.
"As long as injustices exist, the need for peacemaking will remain," Lisherness said. "It is a calling for a lifetime as we follow Jesus."
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