RnBMail 08 January 2009

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
- Isaiah 43:18-19a

Are these verses telling us that God calls us to forget the past, to put the past year behind us as though it hadn’t happened, and to set our faces towards the future, starting with a clean sheet and turning over a new leaf?

I don’t think it’s quite that straightforward. In fact God, via the prophet, seems to be sending some rather mixed messages.

In the chapter from which these verses are taken, God also reminds Israel of events from their shared history with God to underline that they were created and redeemed by God. And no sooner have we heard the call not to remember the former things than God seems to go on to complain at how useless Israel has been - in the past - at fulfilling even the few undemanding religious observances asked of them. The passage goes on to say that God is the one who blots out Israel’s transgressions and does not remember their sins, but seconds later God is apparently reminding Israel of their past failures and their long track record of rebellion against God. And indeed just a few chapters later in Isaiah 46:9, we find God saying exactly the opposite of the verses I’m focusing on...

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

How to follow the Lord in 3 easy steps, right? If you’re anything like me, it’s pretty easy to get stuck at step 1. In order to ‘act justly’ in a world of global economy, free trade, fair trade, corporate abuse, it can seem like the Lord requires a PhD in economics and politics from me as well!

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” These words from Martin Luther King have never been truer. Our generation is part of a society where we depend increasingly on the developing nations to produce our clothes, our food, and we find ourselves unwilling partners to the injustice that is rooted deeply within the economic system. This can leave us all a little hopeless, and wondering, “do I have the ability to challenge injustice?”

Of course, God’s answer is an emphatic ‘yes’! SPEAK is a network of students and young adults who believe the combination of passionate prayer and practical campaigning can address situations of injustice (PhD not required!). Within the network, we’ve been pondering the word ‘responsibility’, and asking a few pertinent questions like, ‘What is our responsibility?’ ‘What abilities has God given us to respond to suffering and injustice?’ ‘How do we truly empower people to take responsibility for our world?’ And we’ll be getting some answers as we gather people together in London at ‘Soundcheck 09’ in February (27th Feb – 1st March)!

by Jonathan Blakeborough

It is widely agreed that Western Christendom, the centuries-long alliance of church and state, with the resultant symbiosis of church and society, is finally coming to an end. There also appears to be an emerging consensus among missiologists that Christendom has bequeathed a difficult legacy for future mission in Western societies for the following reasons. Firstly, Christendom is leaving in its wake a folk-memory of Christian control that causes many Westerners to resist and to perceive Christianity with either boredom or revulsion. Under Christendom, the church’s position was fundamentally transformed from one of marginality and persecution to one of receiving imperial favour.

Sadly, within much of the contemporary church there is an enduring imperialistic mindset whose features include the persistence of triumphalistic theology and language, the preference for authoritative pronouncements, and the partiality for respectability and hierarchical church government, together with the assumptions that large congregations should exercise influence on local power structures and that Christianity should be accorded centrality and privileges. Thus, the Mennonite missiologist Wilbert Shenk is clear that the church of Christendom has never been able to shake off its image of being implicated in the power structures of society, and the masses have looked elsewhere for succour. Churches with a message counter to the values of the establishment are rare.

Secondly, the church is viewed with suspicion because of its partiality for top-down methods in mission. This tendency has been particularly in evidence where evangelistic ‘campaigns’ are concerned, with much of the language and methods of evangelism hailing from the revivalist ‘crusades’ of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Moreover, the persistence of forms of evangelism which promote highly individualistic views of salvation has also led people to assume that too often the gospel is presented as a reaffirmation of establishment values and that evangelism is little more than an invitation to add a religious veneer to life.

by Simon Barrow

These days, people are apt to invoke religious injunctions without the faintest attention to their original context or any serious consideration for their underlying meaning.

This applies as much to those who automatically dismiss them (because they take it for granted that nothing reasonable can come out of religion) as it does to those who seek to hide behind them (because they have spotted a chance for pious self-justification).
The difference is that the misuse of religion is usually much more dangerous than its straightforward denial, which is why for the biblical prophets the opposite of 'good faith' was idolatry (believing in something false) not atheism (a refusal of belief).

Here's a prime example. Over the past few days the ancient biblical tradition of lex talionis - "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" - has been wheeled out on numerous occasions to legitimate in some way or other the appalling cycle of violence in Gaza. Protagonists on both sides have employed it...

By Jonathan Dorsett

January is traditionally the time that most people make resolutions for change in their lives; the impetus of the New Year creates an opportunity for reflection on the year that has passed, and space to dream about the year that is coming. The sad reality is that the once the parties have finished and the holidays are over, the return to the tread mill of daily life and the drudgery of the January weather take over and our resolutions are forgotten by the end of the month.

For the past two years, participants on the Peace School programme have been engaging in a different form of ‘resolution’ setting that really has seen sustained changes in their lives. Starting with a week-long summer school and continuing over a year through a combination of weekend gatherings and web-based discussions, Peace School is a community of learning enabling people to explore how to be a peace-maker in every area of their lives; personal, local and global. Coming from the Christian biblical perspective of Shalom, Peace School seeks to inspire people to be shalom activists in their own particular spheres of influence, bringing wholeness into relationships with other people, with God, and with all of creation.

Since Peace School began in 2006, the programme has been the catalyst for changes both big and small in participants’ lives; Six people have traveled to Israel/Palestine on delegations with Christian Peacemaker Teams and the Fellowship of Reconciliation; one person has set up a fairtrade comedy club network with regular comedy nights taking place in 10 venues across the country; and four past-participants got so much out of spending time with each other that they bought a house together to form an intentional community in Old Trafford, Manchester!...

by Gene Stoltzfus

[Gene Stoltzfus is Director Emeritus of Christian Peacemaker Teams and will be visiting the UK later this month. For details of his speaking tour visit www.cptuk.org.uk. To read more of Gene's writings visit http://peaceprobe.wordpress.com.]

Today I am in sorrow over what is happening in the region of Gaza. Is there anything I can do? Am I limited to government statements, last minute diplomacy, or immobilizing personal outrage? How do I respond from this place of despair? What do I tell the children? Is this the time when the posture of prayer may provide the spirit of openness for a solution waiting to be recognized from the treasures of mystery?

What is at issue in this crisis? Israel is outraged due to persistent rocket attacks from Gaza. Hamas is outraged by the Israeli authorities’ ongoing harassment at border checkpoints where supplies and people must travel from Gaza’s confined space to the rest of the world.

There is also an elephant in the room that most governments across the world are ignoring; the attack and destabilisation of a duly elected government. In the most recent elections in the Palestinian territories including Gaza, Hamas won with wide popular support. There were good reasons for this, relating to governance by the Palestinian Authority over the past decade. But when democracy is promoted across the world and the people elect a government that other nations do not like, by what guide of democracy can the outside world unilaterally decide that this is not acceptable and deliberately undermine that election? Grumbling about an elected government is part of democracy everywhere, but destabilizing an elected government is not a part of the democratic way of life.

There is also a stark military economic inequality between the two sides in this violent conflict. Isn’t it suicidal for Gaza residents through their defence institutions, to attack Israel? Why would anyone make a fight that will surely bring harm to one’s family and neighbors? One answer may be that when people are pressed to the limit of their flesh, they find a way to struggle. The people of Gaza are not the first peoples to do so. Suicidal mission is inherent in any war. Soldiers in service of a cause - freedom, empire, democracy or religion - know that they may die for that cause . They believe, sometimes with positive outcomes, that their sacrifice might reach beyond the limits of today’s reason into tomorrow’s solutions. In this case self sacrifice in their mind is honourable...

Upcoming Seminar at the London Mennonite Centre:

Peacemaking is an inherent part of the Christian life. Gene Stoltzfus was involved in the founding of Christian Peacemaker Teams and was the director for 16 years until his retirement. Peacemaking as worked out by CPT includes serious training in the arts of nonviolence, negotiations, human rights work, media, and the integration of Christian spirituality on a day to day basis. CPT also works hard at developing team work and appreciates the importance of diversity within team life including gender equality. Through their work peacemakers come to fresh and deep understandings of who God is. Peacemakers who engage in risk also develop new appreciation for Jesus ministry in the villages of first century Palestine and a witness that leads to conditions where their own death is a possible outcome.

This seminar will attempt to answer some of the following questions. How do peacemaker teams work as a practical process in the field? Is it possible to think about a global army of Christian peacemakers? How does Christian activism affect our faith? How does Christian peacemaking link into our post Christian culture, the individualism of the human rights culture? What might a Christian peacemaking vision look like in Europe? What is worship like in the context of peacemaking?

Saturday 24 January 2009, at the LMC
9:30 a.m. - 4.00 p.m.
Fee: £30 (£15 unwaged)
Fee includes VAT and meal
C-C seminar No 320
RSVP to hosts at menno.org.uk