Category: 2022 – Military Withdrawal

Day 2 – March 3, 2022

~ Bruce Ray ~ 1 Comment

Each day (except Sundays) during Lent, we will post a Scripture for reflection on our theme, “Military Withdrawal.” Together, we will learn to walk in God’s ways of peacemaking and reconciliation. These posts are meant to stimulate conversation and interaction. Feel free to post your thoughts and comments.

1 “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”

James 4:1-3 (NLT)

James identifies a cycle of thinking that leads to aggression and acts of violence and “war.” What motives do you associate with “evil desires (verse 1)? What role does power have in this cycle? When have you experienced this cycle of thinking and acting? What, if anything, stopped you from “waging war?” What do you think is required to break the cycle?

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

James 4:7-10 (NLT)

James suggests a another cycle for ending our quarrel and fights. What do you think would happen if we all practiced the disciplines of humility, washed hands, deep grief and gloom? How do these acts facilitate reconciliation and peace?

Day 1 – Ash Wednesday, March 2

~ Bruce Ray ~ Leave a comment

We begin our Lenten fast, “Military Withdrawal: Studying War No More,” as a means to become peacemakers and ambassadors of reconciliation. We begin during a time of escalating tension and acts of war in Ukraine, so we invite you pray throughout the day for the de-escalation of violence in Ukraine and other warn-torn nations and a return to diplomatic negotiations, the only true way conflict ever ceases. Pray for peace and protection against the evils of war for the people whose lives and wellbeing are in danger. Though Ukraine is getting most of the media attention, it is not the only place in the world where military actions are occurring. Conflicts continue in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Gaza and dozens of other countries. Lives are being torn apart, families are fleeing their homes, people are suffering.

The following (adapted) prayer is offered by the National Officers of the United Church of Christ
• The Rev. John C. Dorhauer — General Minister and President
• The Rev. Traci A. Blackmon — Associate General Minister
• The Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson — Associate General Minister

Holy God,
Hear our prayers for all those who will die today because of war all over this world. Grant them an end to the suffering of this world and eternal peace that is only found in You.

We pray for the people of Ukraine, Russia, and all nations — that war and bloodshed can be avoided and a new, just peace can be forged out of this crisis. We ask God grant wisdom to the leaders of nations, calling them to end provocation on all sides and invest instead in “the things that make for peace” as called for in all our faith traditions (Luke 19:41-42). 

We pray for an end to the deep insecurity and mistrust on all sides, and call on leaders to build trust, based not on military might or alliances, but on the basis of our shared future and common humanity.  Now is a time in which past harm should be acknowledged and addressed, and new partnerships can be envisioned.

We pray for and call on our leaders to have the courage to take small, verifiable, and independent steps toward peace, inviting others to reciprocate.  Now is time to invest in conflict resolution, diplomacy and international cooperation — not more weapons which only escalate tension in the region.
 
Be with those suffering in ways that we cannot.

Protect them from devastation in ways those positioned in authority will not. Shield and comfort them as they confront the terror of violence that surrounds them. Hold them close to your heart and stay the hand of the enemies against them. Give us the courage and the strength to cry aloud against wickedness in high places that dare to harm others made in your image.

Comfort the children and heed their cries to be saved from harm in this world.

Make us a people who love your children, all of your children, more than we love greed, power, and control. Overturn governments of tyranny wherever they are found. Disrupt the intentions of evil and give us power to stand against demonic forces of greed and control. Grant that peace and justice come to warring nations by the hands of those courageous enough to stand and study war no more. Let Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, we pray.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“Military Withdrawal: Studying War No More”

~ Bruce Ray

2022 Lenten Compact for Peacemaking and Reconciliation

People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:3-4 (NLT)

Lent is usually a personal time to give up some food or beverage, focus ourselves on God, and reflect on the idols that we have been told we cannot live without. At KANSA, we invite our congregation to participate in a communal fast that focuses us not only on our relationship to God, but also on an aspect of our relationship to our communities, our nation and our world. We are calling our members and friends to a true fast – one that is not just the act of denying oneself of something – but a fast that creates justice and reconciliation, by breaking the yokes that bind us and the yokes that bind our neighbors. (see Isaiah 58:6-7)

This year, we seek to disconnect ourselves from our nation’s reliance upon and worship of the weapons of war and violence as the solution to conflict and a means of peace. Instead, as followers of the “Prince of Peace,” we will “seek peace and pursue it” through acts of justice and mercy.

Through this year’s Compact we will consider how our call to spiritual conversion demands an alternative to militarism on the national, state and local levels, and we will reclaim our role as peacemakers and living into God’s alternative vision for the world–a world where disputes are settled without violence. While we acknowledge that God’s vision of a world without war and violence has yet to fully arrive, we affirm our commitment to the vision of peace and our resolve to withdraw—pull back and disconnect—from militarism that delivers death and destruction wherever it is found.

Remember that you are dust…

~ Bruce Ray ~ Leave a comment

Last night, I heard the words that I hear every Ash Wednesday: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. We were asked to consider what these words meant to us this year. Initially, I thought about how this year exposed how vulnerable and weak we all are–our veneer of permanence being stripped away by a microscopic killer virus. But this year, I faced my mortality – not from COVID-19, but from a misdiagnosed bacterial infection that put me into a hospital bed for 4 days and included an episode of arterial fibrillation (A-fib). It was the first time in my life when I actually considered that my life could end. Though thankfully my A-fib was a one-time thing with no long-term effects, it was a stark reminder that indeed I am dust. I am a vapor. I am just a blip on the timeline. Life is short.

My A-fib episode has become a motivator. My body, though dust, is valuable and needs care and attention. What I put into my body matters. Movement matters. A healthy lifestyle matters. But no matter how much I do right for my body, it will at some point wear out. I am dust. To think differently is denial. I may delay the inevitable, but I will not be able to stop time.

My A-fib episode has also become a gift, shifting my attention from the temporary to the eternal. I am finite, God is infinite. And I am not “just” dust; I am dust that God formed and redeemed and filled. God’s Spirit is in this dust, moving me toward all that is eternal. And one day (later, rather than sooner, I pray), I will trade this perishable dust for an imperishable body on the day of resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

Life is short, but life need not be meaningless. As long as this dust has breath, I will not waste it on selfish interest, but do my best to live it each day for the One who loved this dust so much that he took on flesh, gave himself to death for me, and rose again. I will pursue loving Christ by loving others; I will endeavor to serve Christ by serving the “least of these”; I will seek Christ by seeking the kingdom of God and God’s justice. As long as this dust has breath.