Consumed by Forgiveness

IV.    Vows of Voluntary Sacrifice

“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and God’s joy.”

16. In confrontation and conflict I will seek justice and reconciliation rather than victory, and I will make any necessary sacrifice of my own person, pride or property to achieve reconciliation and justice.

[The following version of this story of is entitled “Consumed by Forgiveness” in the August 2011 edition of the Virginia Mennonite Conference and Missions joint newsletter, Connections. Quotations in this story come from articles in the Pueblo Chieftain and Valley Courier of CO and Mennonite Weekly Review]

Chieftain Photo/Matt Hildner

“All too often I see victim’s families consumed by hate.” Judge Martin Gonzalez understands compassion and hope are a powerful oddity and conveyed that fact to the young sixteen-year-old receiving his sentence. “The forgiveness of [this victim’s] family has reverberated throughout this case… You have had a shield around you of forgiveness and love by the victims that is phenomenal. They have been your guardian angels.”

Cindy and Herm Weaver and children Hope and Dillon lost their daughter and sister in October 2010 when she was hit and instantly killed by a pickup truck while out on her bicycle. Chloe Weaver was with Mennonite Voluntary Service in Alamosa, Colorado when she was struck from behind by young driver, Kyle Stotsky. Yet, in this wrenching tragedy an inspiring story of Christ’s transformative love has beamed through the responses of the Weaver family. The Weavers stressed their hope for restoration and reconciliation with Kyle rather than incarceration and retribution. Herm, the conference minister with Mountain States Conference of Mennonite Church USA, made it clear that Chloe would have had no desire to have two lives ended and would rather have Kyle continue Chloe’s legacy. 

Salty, Bright and Maligned?

IV.    Vows of Voluntary Sacrifice

“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and God’s joy.”

15. I will accept with grace any suffering for myself resulting from my affirmations, rejections and witness; I will do all in my power to reduce the suffering in the world, including the suffering of victims and my adversaries in confrontation.

Salt and Light

Take a look at Matthew 5:10-16. Salty salt. That is what Jesus calls his followers. And he does so right after speaking on the blessedness of suffering ridicule, derision, exclusion, even violence as a result of our alignment with God’s just/righteous reign. I think it makes sense to talk about our saltiness and our persecution in the same breath. In a world with gaping wounds, the sting of our salt is going to cause some backlash! Or to shift the metaphor (as Jesus and his contemporaries so frequently do), in a world of bland narratives of accumulation and control, our flavorful stories of God’s abundance and freeing actions, while attractive to some, will be spit out by others as seemingly over the top, even bitterly over-salted.  And in Jesus’ next word picture, we are light. Ever shine a bright flashlight in someone’s eyes? Yeah, there’s a connection between being the light of the world and getting beat up on for it!

Let it Begin with Me

III.    Vows of Nonviolent Witness

“We pledge to act in allegiance to God alone, and to resist injustice with goodness”

Penn State Special Collections via Flickr

14. I will seek to abolish war and the causes of war from my own heart and from the world around me.

Many reasons are given for specific occurrences of violence and war. Some sound more honorable than others: We needed to strike back in self-defense, compassion obligated us to stand with an oppressed group or friend or ally. Some are more critical: He was jealous and drunk, those two had a sour history already, they were after desperate for more resources or money, they wanted to prove their power and be taken seriously. Some of these may be true at times, but every act of violence and war whether at home, in the neighborhood or overseas arises from a cocktail of causes.

Pledged to Whom?

III.    Vows of Nonviolent Witness

“We pledge to act in allegiance to God alone, and to resist injustice with goodness”

by Dorothy Lange via Wikimedia

13. I will make no oath of allegiance to any nation or government of this world, nor will I salute any flag; I will honor and respect legitimate authority, but I will love and worship God alone, sovereign and judge of all nations

John of Patmos’ letter, what we call Revelation, has been variously understood as a horrific end-times scenario. But the letter is not nearly so cryptic and fantastical as we might imagine. At its heart, John’s Revelation is about our allegiances, or rather, our one proper allegiance to only One: the lamb of God who was willingly slain. The final book of the Bible is primarily about who we worship and why (and thus, implicitly who/what we don’t worship).

In our contemporary Christianity, we casually throw around a loaded phrase: “Jesus is Lord.” We may not realize it or use it as such, but this is a statement of total allegiance, of worship. It is the earliest confession of Christian faith appearing earliest in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and seems to be an overturning of the then common proclamation, “Caesar is Lord.”

The Messiah’s Revolution

III.    Vows of Nonviolent Witness

“We pledge to act in allegiance to God alone, and to resist injustice with goodness”

Paul Speaking Before Agrippa

12. I will be subject to civil authorities, unless they command actions which are unjust or protect injustice, or if they violate common human dignity.

This is a slippery vow to reflect on. Not being a political theologian, I danced around having to write something for this. I come from a Christian religious tradition historically wary of close Christian relationships to—much less involvement in—the civil governing authorities (enigmatically labeled “the State” in much contemporary theologizing).

As a called-out people (dwelling in the United States of America) commissioned by God in Jesus to self-emptying, nonviolent service to the least-of-these, how do we faithfully relate to civil systems and laws and even individual leaders? Especially ones who demand the right of our country to assassinate its own citizens abroad, that propagate poverty among already-disadvantaged economic classes, that create giant profit out of incarcerating (and not rehabilitating) a massive prison population, that call for enforced racial profiling against our darker-skinned migrant brothers and sisters?  “Be subject to governing authorities.” Really, Paul? “Accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, or of governors.” That’s not what I wanted to hear, Peter!

Standing With Our Neighbors

III.    Vows of Nonviolent Witness

“We pledge to act in allegiance to God alone, and to resist injustice with goodness”

11. I will resist evil and injustice by individuals, governments or other institutions, with the goodness exemplified by Jesus Christ and his apostles; I will not hold back from fear of punishment or loss

PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly - 7.7.2006

*When governments declare battle against national enemies, Christians can feel helpless to be Jesus’ hands and feet in international arenas of violent injustice.  Despite a growing sense of powerlessness regarding the second Iraq War in the mid-2000s, Christians and others in Harrisonburg, Virginia found ways to be God’s vessels of peace for Iraqi people by responding to the war’s evil effects in their own town.