Once again, we feast with God, the Peacemaker, who broke down dividing walls of hostility and created a new humanity at the cross–a new creation where reconciliation is the order of things.
We feast on reconciliation in the midst of escalating wars in Ukraine, Yemen and multiple other global locations – wars that are the fruit of wars fought in the past and that sow seeds of wars in the future. The cycles of revenge and retribution continue unabated. And we feel powerless to stop it.
Honestly, our Lenten Compact isn’t going to put even the slightest scuff mark on global conflict. Our collective commitment to “study war no more” isn’t going to drown out the voices those who loudly insist on military action as the means to end military action. However, to say nothing or do nothing is to become complicit in the destruction.
Our Compact is about changing us and inching us closer toward God’s reconciled humanity. However powerless and pointless it seems on the global scale, our “military withdrawal” is an act of resistance against the push for escalation and the resulting death and destruction.
Peace begins with people who resist. So today, we resist. Today, we worship the Reconciler of All and become the practitioners of reconciliation.
Tongue on Fire 