We will be discussing Jesus and nonviolence. Our presentation will take place at Agape Court, an affordable housing complex in Pasadena, located at 445 N Garfield Ave. We will focus on the following Bible passage: Matthew 5:44…"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…" These are our notes....
Nonviolence:
Did Jesus really expect us to love our enemies?
Objective: to help us
explore how this commandment can be applied not only in our personal interactions,
but also in bringing about systemic change in a violent, unjust society.
1) Jesus’ commandment to “love
our enemies” is hard but doable. Gandhi and King called this commandment
“nonviolence.”
2) It works to transform us in
our personal relationships.
3) It works to transform
society locally and internationally
4) It requires much practice
and a community that helps us to hone our skills and give us hope and
encouragement. King called this the “beloved community.”
Opening
(10 minutes): Jill and Anthony share how we have tried to apply this
commandment in our personal lives and as activists.
Thank
you for asking Jill and me to share with you our reflection on nonviolence. I believe that nonviolence is the most
powerful force in the world, a revolutionary force, and that the teachings of
Jesus are grounded in nonviolence. Nonviolence is the way of the cross, the way
of self-sacrificial love, that turns people and societies upside down. During
this brief time I’d like to share with you how I became an advocate of
nonviolence, and how I have applied
nonviolence in my work as a Quaker peace activist. Thirty years ago, when I was
teaching English at Carleton College in Minnesota, I was summoned home to take
care of my mother, who had terminal emphysema and was given a year to live by
her doctor. My mother and I had a
tumultuous relationship, and sometimes we’d get in such bitter fights we
wouldn’t speak to each other for days or even months. But we loved each other
and I wanted to help her so I decided to move in with my mother and sister to help
them out. Being with my mother was so difficult I nearly went crazy. Finally, I
asked for God’s help. God led me to the Quakers and it changed my life. The
silent worship helped me to get in touch with my deep feelings and yearnings.
It helped me to hear the voice of God in myself and others. Little by little I
went from being a compulsive talker to a compassionate listener. As I learned how
to listen to my mother’s heart—her fears, her desires, her hopes—our
relationship improved. I was finally able to love and help her to pull her life
together. She lived not one but seven years, and we never had a bitter quarrel
during that whole time period. This experience convinced me that compassionate
listening is a powerful tool for peacemaking. If my mother and I could become
peaceful, so could Russians and Americans, or Israelis and Palestinians. Quakers
also taught me about what they call the Peace Testimony. In 1660, the Quakers
renounced violence and became a Peace Church. For Quakers, the Peace Testimony is not simply
passively refusing to engage in war and violence, it also means reaching out to
one’s “enemies” in love and trying to
connect with “that of God” in them. During the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan called
the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and the threat of nuclear Armageddon loomed large,
I became involved in Soviet-American reconciliation work (sometimes called “citizen
diplomacy”). I became editor and publicist for a book project that was jointly
edited and published in the Soviet Union and the US. It was first such
collaboration and it brought together leading writers in both countries. This
project was not just a literary one, its purpose was to createdtrust and
understanding. It also gave me the opportunity to witness to my faith. Many
Russian writers wanted to know about Christ and God and I gladly shared with
them. I believe that citizen diplomacy like ours played a major role in helping
to end the Cold War.
After
9/11, I felt terrible fear and anxiety about where the world and my country
were heading. The words of scripture came to me over and over again: “Perfect
love casts out fear.” What did that really mean? How could I practice perfect
love in the face of terrorism? To purify my heart, I fasted during Ramadan and
read the Quran to learn more about Islam. Then I went to mosques to meet my
Muslim neighbors. They were so amazed they invited me into their homes. As I
got to know my Muslim neighbors, I realized that Muslims are not terrorists and
they are “the enemy.” They are our brothers and sisters, made in the image in
the God just like us. I became involved in the interfaith peace movement and
took to heart the words of the Catholic theologian Hans Kung who said: “There
can be no peace without peace among the religions. And there can be no peace
among the religions without dialogue. And there can be no dialogue without a
common ethic.” The “common ethic” that all religions share is the Golden Rule:
treat others they way you want to be treated.
During
this time, I edited a book by my friend and mentor Gene Hoffman who pioneered
in Compassionate Listening. Gene had studied pastoral psychology and applied it
to the peace movement. She realized that many peace people had unresolved inner
conflicts. (Raise your hand if you have inner conflicts.) She also realized
that terrorists are not monsters, they are people with grievances they feel
will never be heard. Terrorists also have unhealed wounds from past traumas. To
help them move beyond fear and terrorism, we need to listen to them
compassionately. Gene developed techniques called Compassionate Listening that
have been successfully used in Israel/Palestine and other conflict zones. In 2006
I went to Israel/Palestine as part of the Compassionate Listening Project and
listened to Israelis and Palestinians. We went to a settlement, a kibbutz, a
refugee camp. We talked, and most importantly, we listened to all sides. Such
listening is an important form of peacemaking. It creates trust and
understanding. Listening from the heart,
especially to those we disagree with, is a form of peacemaking rooted in the
commandment: “Love your enemies.” Learning to be a compassionate listener is
hard work and requires training, but it’s worth it. It has not only helped me
in my work as a peace activist, it has helped me be a better husband!
Jill: College: Nuclear Freeze (a group support,
today Golden Rule); Campus minister: Central American Study group; Seminary:
Dr. Vernon Grounds; Pasadena First Baptist: Dr. Glen Stassen (the support of a
group) and peacemaking. Marriage: practicing peacemaking—Anthony married
someone a lot like his mom—a nuclear personality.
Possible
Songs (5): “Lay Down my Sword and Shield Down by the Riverside,”
(10 min) In practicing “nonviolence” in one’s
personal life.
Consider 5 animals and their character traits.
(see: http://news.discovery.com/animals/animal-personalities-which-matches-yours-140617.htm
https://weirdblog.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/personality-types-lion-beaver-otter-and-golden-retriever/
Show picture: What is this animal known for?
What are the negative and positive aspects of its character?
We have a hard time with certain personalities. Which
animal do you most identify with in your own way of relating? Which one is
hardest for you to deal with? Describe a time in which you had a conflict
or painful disagreement with someone and instead of reacting with anger or
judgment, you tried to have understand the positive aspects of that person’s
negative traits and then you able to have a conversation with that person and
understand their point of view. What happened?
Lectio divina/meditation on
the prayer of St Francis (15 minutes).
(10 min?) Discussion of how
nonviolence is applied locally and internationally through faith-based lobbying
and organizing, AVP, Nonviolent Peace Force, etc. (10 minutes)
In my five minutes, I’d like to talk about David
Hartsough and nonviolent resistance. The principles of nonviolence are grounded
in having “the courage to love” (MLK’s term) when confronted by injustice.
Speaking truth to power in love. Nonviolent campaigns work better than violent
campaigns because they have a broad base of support and morally disarm their
opponents. How can you kill crowds holding flowers or candles? This is based on
Jesus’ principle of “walking the extra mile,” disarming your opponent by doing
what is not expected.
Song (5 minutes): “Christ in
Me.”
Discussion
of how nonviolence is applied locally and internationally through faith-based
lobbying and organizing, AVP, Nonviolent Peace Force, etc. (10 minutes)
During my first talk, I discussed Compassionate
Listening as a peacemaking tool. Now I’d like to talk about nonviolent resistance.
Recently Jill and were visited by a dear friend named David Hartsoug. David is
a Quaker, a preacher’s kid, and an amazing practitioner of nonviolent
resistance. I highly recommend his book “Waging Peace”: it’s a real page
turner. David met MLK when he was 15 years old and decided to join the Civil
Rights movement as a teenager. He went to Howard University, one of the few
whites to do so, and became involved with the lunch counter sit ins in Maryland
and Virginia. He learned how to respond to hatred with love. At one point
during a sit in in Virginia an angry white man threatened to kill David with a
switchblade knife. With the man holding a knife poised over his heart, David
prayed and the following words came to his lips, “Do whatever your conscience
tells you to do and I will try to love you.” The man’s jaw dropped and he
walked out, a changed man. From this moment on David became convinced that
nonviolent resistance is more powerful than any knife or other weapon. For the
next fifty years David took part in every nonviolent movement. He and traveled
all over the world, to Germany, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Ten years ago
he started the Nonviolent Peace Force and recently started a new initiative
called “World Beyond War.” David believes that war can be abolished, just like
slavery was made illegal, and he has brought together some of leading peace
activists, scholars and experts to find ways to transition from a culture of
war to a culture of peace. I am working with this group and others to end war.
I believe that nonviolent resistance is what Jesus meant when he told us to
“turn the other check.” He didn’t tell us to run away or to be doormats. He
told us to stand up to violent people with courageous love and faith, like
David Hartsough did, and trust that love will prevail.
A lot of research has been to done to show us
that nonviolent resistance works, and we
can move from a war system to a peace system. I’ll share some of these books
with you later. For now I’d like to share two stories of how nonviolence works.
First, I’d like to lift up the women of Liberia who helped to end the Civil War
there.
If you have any doubts about the power of
nonviolence, or of women, I urge you to watch the documentary called “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.” It’s about the nonviolent campaign in Liberia
that earned two Liberian women a Nobel Peace Prize. Ten years ago Liberia was
dominated by a vicious dictator named Charles Taylor. He went to church and
professed to be a Christian. He was opposed by war lords who were mainly
Muslim. Taylor and the war lords recruited child soldiers, gave them drugs and
told them to go out and rape and pillage the country. The people of Liberia
lived in terror. Finally, the Christian women of Liberia had enough of this war
madness and decided to launch a nonviolent campaign for peace. They prayed,
wore white clothing and demonstrated in public places chanting a simple chant:
“We want peace, not war.” The Christian women were joined by Muslim women and
this created a broad base of support. The women were amazingly courageous and
creative in practicing nonviolent techniques. They even took a page from the
Greek playwright’s playbook “Lysistrata” and withheld sex from their husbands
unless their husbands opposed war. In the end, the Liberian women prevailed and
drove out Charles Taylor and the male war lords. They elected a women
president, a United Methodist educated at Harvard. This is the only woman
elected democratically in Africa, and she is still in office. This is a huge
success story. The women of Liberia deserved a Nobel Prize.
This week we learned that a group of Tunisian peacemakers won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2010 things were so bad in Tunisia that an unemployed vegetable vendor immolated himself, burned himself alive, as a protest. This sparked an uprising in Tunisia that led to the rise of an extremist Islamist government. The country seemed poised for a civil war when groups of Tunisians began to organize themselves to promote democracy. Labor leaders, human rights activists, lawyers and a business organization got together and were instrumental in achieving a peaceful transfer of power by advocating dialogue across the political spectrum. They helped to draw opposing parties together. Today Tunisia is only success democratic story in the Middle East.
All of
the violent campaigns, all of the violent interventions by foreign powers, have
failed miserably, in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Syria. Not all
nonviolent campaigns have succeeded, of course. Egypt didn’t turn out well, but
at least there wasn’t a lot of bloodshed and refugees fleeing the country. So
I’d call Egypt a partial success and Tunisia a success.
Our country teaches us that we often need
violence to bring about freedom or security, but this is a lie. Erica
Chenoweth, a social scientist, did rigorous study comparing over 200 violent
and nonviolent movements in the 20th century. Her careful research
shows that nonviolent movements succeed twice as often as violent ones. And the
results of nonviolent campaigns are usually more democratic and lasting than
violent ones.
So the good news is that Jesus’ nonviolent
methodology works better than violence.
Nonviolent campaigns work better than violent campaigns because they have
a broad base of support and morally disarm their opponents. It is difficult for
armed supporters of an unjust regime to fire on crowds of people holding
flowers or candles. If they do, public opinion turns against the unjust regime
and sooner or later they tend to fall.
Jesus advocated this principle as a way to oppose the Roman empire. He
called it “turning the other cheek” or “walking the extra mile,” disarming your
opponent by doing what is not expected—responding not with fear or violence,
but with courage and love.
We Americans need to learn this lesson and apply
it in our foreign policy as well as domestically. Guns don’t make us safer. In
fact, Jesus tell us, “Those who live by violence die by violence.” What makes
us safe is having good relations with our neighbors, and with other countries
in the world. This is true Christian realism.
In your five minutes, maybe you can talk about
your work (democracy is a form of non-violent direct action that empowers a
broad base that in turn changes the fabric of society)
Example from my experience—Inclusionary Housing
Ordinance
Example in my book—the Nehemiah Housing Strategy
in New York.
Also Walter Wink’s “Engaging the Powers.”
Examples of nonviolence that work in the Bible and in history. (Moses--let my
people go, Esther--saved her people from destruction, the prophets—all spoke to
kings and those in authority, Jesus confronted the authorities 27 times).
Shepherd and sheep leading the way—a little child will lead them—Natalie Brown
Sharing of resources on
nonviolence (5 minutes).
(5
min) Song: “Lift Every Voice in Song.”
Jill: Close with prayer for
ourselves, our communities, our nation and our world. (10 minutes).
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