This Is Your Weapon

II.      Vows of Rejection

“We renounce violence of the heart, tongue and fist, neither willing nor working harm to any”

9. I will reject violence of the fist: I will not retaliate toward anger or assault, provocation or violence, in word or action; I will not seek or inflict any injury, harm or death toward any person.

(Idi Amin testing a new weapon)

Idi Amin has been referred to as Africa’s Hitler. His eight-year reign of terror over Uganda in the 1970s resulted in hundreds of thousands killed. Amin perpetrated gross human rights abuses, violent political repression, ethnic persecution and extrajudicial killings. When church leaders spoke up in protest, they were interrogated and killed. Festo Kivengere, an Anglican bishop who escaped into exile after Archbishop Janani Luwun was murdered for speaking out against Amin’s tyrannical regime, was asked if he would strike back at Dictator Amin if he had the opportunity: “If you were sitting in Ida Amin’s office with a gun in your hand, what would you do?” Bishop Kivengere responded, “I would give the gun to Amin and say, ‘This is your weapon; my weapon is love.”* 

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. 

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.