"Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill,"
says the prophet. The situation in which he speaks is a national
disaster - a horrific invading army has attacked. Not with
chariots and horses, not even with tanks and missiles. This
invader was more thorough in its destruction than even the most
brutal scorched earth military policy could ever be. The enemy?
Millions and millions of locusts. In an agricultural society,
that is a disaster of immense proportions. For the prophet Joel,
it was a wake-up call for a nation that was taking God for
granted.
In Eugene Peterson's introduction to the book of Joel in his
wonderful new paraphrase of the Bible, he writes,
When disaster strikes, understanding of God is at risk.
Unexpected illness or death, national catastrophe,
social disruption, personal loss, plague or epidemic,
devastation by flood or drought, turn men and women who
haven't given God a thought in years into instant
theologians. Rumors fly: "God is absent..."God is
angry"..."God is playing favorites, and I'm not the
favorite"..."God is ineffectual"..."God is holding a
grudge from a long time ago, and now we're paying for
it"...It is the task of the prophet to stand up at such
moments of catastrophe and clarify who God is and how
God acts. If the prophet is good - that is, accurate
and true - the disaster becomes a lever for prying
people's lives loose from their sins and free for God.
Joel is one of the good ones.(1)
It is certainly true that people become much more aware
spiritual things in the face of disaster. Remember all the folks
who came to worship in the weeks following September 11th? I
would love to say that they are all still here from week to week,
but we know that is not true.
Now we are facing another imminent disaster, war, and the
way the powers that be are talking, it is likely to come just as
we are beginning Lent, this unique period of the church year in
which we are called to careful, critical self-examination and
introspection. Where is Joel? I wonder if Joel has lost his
voice.
An interesting article appeared in the Wall Street Journal a
few days ago. The headline read, "Clergy Takes Unusual Step
Preaching Both Peace, War."(2) Listen.
Things have been pretty busy at St. Bartholomew's
lately. On a recent Saturday, one group of parishioners
worked on a patriotic Adopt-a-Soldier campaign,
collecting names of servicemen to pray for. Another
geared up for the protest rallies that made headlines
last week. Then there were the members who gathered to
pray for President Bush and "those in authority."
"We're trying to cover all views," says the Rev.
William Tully, rector of the Manhattan-based Episcopal
church, who says he wants to encourage debate. "I
don't want the war in Iraq to cause a war in my
congregation."
I know how he feels. Any of us who have been around for
awhile remember the conflict in churches brought on by the Viet
Nam war. Pastors are not immune to desires for self-preservation. Truth is, this vocation requires some political
skills - if we are going to get anything done, we need a
reasonable consensus and the support of most of those with whom
we serve. This situation with Iraq is a pastoral minefield. As
the Journal article continues, "While some rabbis are citing the
Talmud to justify a pre-emptive attack, others are quoting the
Old Testament's injunction to turn swords into plowshares. In
Chicago, a priest holding a "pro-peace" Mass also invited
uniformed war veterans to march down the aisle...Even within
religious groups there are divisions; Catholics are divided
almost 50-50 while Protestants and other religions favor war
about 2 to 1...[still] some worshipers feel it's the clergy's
moral duty to promote peace." Is it any wonder that the prophet
seems to have gotten lock-jaw?
I was intrigued to see that the cover story in this week's
Newsweek is entitled "Bush and God."(3) It is an in-depth
examination of the President's religious background and faith
perspective in light of all the public references he makes to
matters religious and the wide political support he enjoys from
conservative Christians. The one thing I did not find there (or
any other place, for that matter) was any indication at all that
his faith in Jesus Christ was even the slightest speed bump on
the road to Baghdad.
Lots of the President's supporters wear those tee-shirts and
bracelets that became popular a few years ago with the acronym,
W-W-J-D...What Would Jesus Do? Concerning Iraq, what do you
think?
Well, I cannot tell you what to think. People of good will
are going to have varying perspectives on this issue. Our
Secretary of State, Colin Powell, when reminded of President
Bush's statement that he goes to bed by 10 and sleeps like a
baby, retorted, "I sleep like a baby too - every two hours I wake
up screaming."(4)
Now, we find ourselves at the beginning of Lent.
Introspection. Self-examination. Ashes symbolic of our relative
place in the grand scheme of things..."ashes to ashes, dust to
dust."
My own self-examination takes me to what I have promised as
a minister in the Presbyterian Church. Many years ago in my
ordination, I was asked, "Do you sincerely receive and adopt the
essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the
confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions
of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be
instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of
God?"
I promised, "I do and I will."
One of those confessions, adopted just over 35 years ago, in
another period of national conflict says,
God's reconciliation in Jesus Christ is the ground of
the peace, justice, and freedom among nations which all
powers of government are called to serve and defend.
The church, in its own life, is called to practice the
forgiveness of enemies and to commend to the nations as
practical politics the search for cooperation and
peace. This search requires that the nations pursue
fresh and responsible relations across every line of
conflict, even at risk to national security, to reduce
areas of strife and to broaden international
understanding. Reconciliation among nations becomes
peculiarly urgent as countries develop nuclear,
chemical, and biological weapons, diverting their
manpower and resources from constructive uses and
risking the annihilation of mankind. Although nations
may serve God's purposes in history, the church which
identifies the sovereignty of any one nation or any one
way of life with the cause of God denies the Lordship
of Christ and betrays its calling.(5)
As a minister of the gospel in the Presbyterian Church, I
cannot support the coming conflict. According to the war plan
leaked to CBS News, 800 cruise missiles will be used in the first
two days of the attack, twice the number used in the 40 days of
Desert Storm. The plan, called "Shock and Awe," is designed to
destroy the enemy's will to fight. Will it work, or will that
make them all the more determined? Who knows? How many
innocents will be slaughtered? Who knows? How many billions of
dollars will this cost, billions that could and should be spent
to care for human needs both here at home and around the world?
Who knows that either? What I do know is that my own Lenten
journey will involve doing all in my power to dissuade our
leaders from pursuing that path. If we are going to give
anything up for Lent this year, let us give up war!
The prophet Joel must regain his voice. "Blow the trumpet
in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill." As one preacher has
wisely said, "The church must be PROphetic or it will be
PAthetic."(6)
On the last page of the Newsweek issue that features the
"Bush and God" article is a column by Anna Quindlen.(7) She too is
concerned about what lies ahead. She concludes,
What is required of a nation that is not only the
greatest democracy on earth at this moment, but the
nation by which all other democratic attempts have been
measured, the petri dish of individual freedom? That
answer is clear: it must live up to its principles, not
down to its enemies. The danger in having enormous
power is that the ambition to use it for good can so
often be subverted by the temptation to use it for
dominance. The leader who occupies the high ground, or
the bully wearing blinders: I am waiting to see to
which nation I belong.
I wait too. And I pray.
Amen!
1. Eugene Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, Colorado
Springs: NavPress, 2002) p. 1631
2. By Elizabeth Bernstein and Eileen Daspin, Staff Reporters, Wall Street Journal, 2/21/03
3. Howard Fineman, Newsweek, March 10, 2003, pp. 22-30
4. New Yorker, February 10, 2003
5. Confession of 1967, 9.45, The Book of Confessions, (Louisville, KY: Geneva Press,
1996)
6. Cecil Murray, pastor of the First African Methodist Church, Los Angeles.
7. "Waiting, One Hand Behind," p. 82
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