Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said that peace is the opposite of security. Wow. What a statement! I might say it’s not the same, but to say it is the opposite…. That certainly gives one pause to think. Yet, he prefaces that statement with: “For peace must be dared. It is the great venture. It can never be safe.”(1)  (Brings to mind CS Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the dialogue between the child and Mr. Beaver regarding Alsan: “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe! But he’s good.”) Referring to Bonhoeffer’s speech, Christ and Peace, might give some insight here. Bonhoeffer writes:

Jesus declares this: “I am not called to send peace but a sword” (Matt 10:34)…. In the struggle of the gospel with these earthly forces, the Christian is separated from father and mother. The struggle of the Christian is thus a struggle for the “cause” of the gospel. The weapons in this conflict with the enemy of the gospel are faith and love, which is purified by suffering. (2)

We are called, as Christians, to work for peace through the struggle for the “cause” of the gospel, using faith and love as our weapons. This statement brings to mind another that I read recently.   Irene Khan said, “There can be no peace without justice and respect for human rights.” Similarly, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice.” I think they were all getting at the same thing, coming from different angles. Peace and justice are closely intertwined in God’s reign. How can we sit quietly by doing nothing and not causing any waves, or “disturbances” to the way things are (possibly called “keeping peace by being silent”) if we know social injustice is happening around us? Isn’t the loving and Christian thing to do to work for justice, even if it comes at a cost? Isn’t that what Jesus did? How can we have inner peace if we do not do this? The Holy Spirit will not give us God’s peace if we are ignoring our call to action for social justice. True peace is only achieved once we are doing God’s will or, as Bonhoeffer puts it, “obedient to God.” Bonhoeffer writes, “True peace lies only in God and from God.” (3)

A few weeks ago, I watched Hidden Figures in the theater with my family. It is full of racial and gender injustices, but it is also full of people who worked for justice and equality. I couldn’t help but draw parallels to Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr. while watching the movie. Read Micah 6:8, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Annie

Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+6%3A8&version=NRSV

(1) Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, edited by Geffrey Kelly and F. Burton Nelson (San Francisco: Harper, Revised Edition, 1995), p.228.
(2) Ibid., p.95.

(3) Ibid., p.95