wfn.org | Commentary: Say 'no' to the sword, 'yes' to the Lord

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Jan. 10, 2000  News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{013}

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Roger D. Hudson*

With a cry of "Deus vult" ("God wills it") by a congregation deeply moved
during a sermon of Pope Urban II, the First Crusade (1096) was launched
almost 1,000 years ago. A millennium of warfare and suffering followed,
which branded the closing 20th century an Age of Barbarism. 

Some of this barbarism has tragically and repeatedly savaged American school
campuses recently, and threatens to undo the relatively peaceful transition
to democracy in violence-inclined South Africa and to plunge many parts of
the world into another period of conflict and wars. For this tragedy, the
Christian Church is not blameless.

Can the church at the dawn of the new millennium set a better example than
that set by the First Crusade at the beginning of the last?

United Methodist Bishop Janice Huie of the church's Arkansas Area,
responding to the Colorado school shootings -- having experienced one in her
own episcopal area -- said that it was time "to deal with the core issues,
not with the symptoms." I think she is right. It is important that we pause
to reflect upon what these core issues are. Perhaps they're the same as the
core issues that confronted Christians of the previous millennium. In this
case, it is urgent we learn well from the past, and quickly, lest that past
repeat itself.

Conventional wisdom today, just as in the previous millennium it seems,
preaches that violence redeems. We only need to watch television to see how
consistently this message is reinforced. Confronted with evil, our hero,
ranging in character from Batman to Popeye, enters the fray with superior
firepower or strength to save the day. With the increasing number of hours
children spend watching television programs and playing video games that
reinforce this message, is it any wonder they have learned this lesson well
and now play its deadly truth out in their own lives as they struggle to
deal with life's tensions and demands? 

As counterpoint to this worldly wisdom stands the powerful symbol of the
cross. Correctly considered, it teaches us that nonviolence, or suffering
love, redeems. Historically, we celebrate the triumph of this truth as we
recall how the nonviolent tactics of suffering love ended colonialism in
India, racism in America, dictatorship in the Philippines and apartheid in
South Africa in the last century of the last millennium. Within the family,
we note how often the unconditional love of a mother or grandmother redeems
a prodigal child and conclude there is power in the way of the cross, of
suffering love, of nonviolence!

Yet a commitment to violence still eclipses that to nonviolence. Perhaps the
reason is simply the minimal reinforcement of this "still better way" when
compared to the incessant claim that it is violence that redeems? 

Even among the churched, only occasionally is a sermon celebrating the power
of a Christ-like nonviolence to redeem heard. Beyond mere words, I am
unaware of any active discipling program within the mainline denominations
that ministers to our violent instincts and prepares us to witness to the
redeeming love of God in daily life. Is it any wonder therefore that Ghandi
once said, "The only people on earth who do not see Christ and His teachings
as nonviolent are Christians?" 

Perhaps Ghandi has put his finger on one of the core issues confronting
Christians as we contemplate our contribution to a peaceful new millennium.
We Christians have failed to appreciate the nonviolence of Jesus.
Tragically, due to this failure, we have failed to live with integrity as
followers of Christ and therefore have denied the world the power of the
cross to redeem. 

Is this not one of the tasks of the church as the next millennium gets under
way: To explore practical ways of helping our children, the first generation
of the next century of the new millennium, deal with the violence within and
to channel it in nonviolent ways? Unless we do this, history might well
repeat itself, as we note how the First Crusade of the last millennium led
to the Children's Crusade of 1212, which condemned most of those children to
slavery in Egypt. 

No one would wish a third millennium form of slavery on our children.
However, given our propensity to violence, this is a real possibility.
Therefore we should say, "Let there be a 21st century Children's Crusade!"
But let it be a crusade that helps our children say "'no' to the way of the
sword and 'yes' to the way of the Lord." 

In this crusade, let the church get practical at the congregational level,
in inner city and suburb alike, in developed and developing countries
everywhere. And let us find creative ways of regularly rehearsing and
celebrating a spirituality of Jesus committed to nonviolence so that our
witness might testify to the power of the cross to redeem ourselves and a
world from the madness of barbarism and for a millennium of peace.

Deus vult. God wills it!

# # #

*Hudson is a United Methodist minister serving in South Africa. He is a
member of the North Texas Annual Conference.

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United Methodist News Service
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