2007 Holiday Pastoral Letter from Rev. William G. Sinkford
December 14, 2007
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Dear Friends:
This holiday season, when so many of us are praying for peace, my thoughts keep returning to the powerful words of the apostle Paul:
Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places ... Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
(From Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, 6:11-15)
Paul certainly had a way with words, didn't he? I think many of us, regardless of our theological perspectives, can enthusiastically support a "gospel of peace." But, like other Pauline letters, this one could easily be misused. There's something incongruous about a battle metaphor for spreading the good news. We argue against those religious fundamentalists who wield religion as a weapon. But on the other hand, I have "fought" for peace, and I know many of you have as well.
This paradox is understandable. Nothing inspires a fighting spirit like witnessing the true cost of war. When I hear that nearly 4,000 U.S. troops and as many as a half million Iraqis have been killed for a war that began with a lie, I get angry. I can't believe the number of injured troops coming home, and I can't even fathom the number of injured people trying to make it through another day in Iraq. And when I hear that the money spent on this violence in one month is enough to completely rebuild New Orleans, or that the money spent in one week could provide three meals a day for nearly an entire year for 6 million children—the same number who die each year from malnutrition—I am ready to fight. I can't sit still when I hear these things, and I hope you can't either, because that is a righteous anger.
The challenge to people of faith is to transform anger into action. Rather than simply fight, we've got to follow through with actions committed to end the fighting. Whether or not one believes there can ever be just reasons for war— and opinion is not unanimous within our faith—the proper response toward our troops is one of honor and gratitude for their willingness to serve. No sacrifice they have made is in vain, and we cannot let it become so. But to those who worry that pulling the troops out would render their service meaningless, I say it does not do justice to our nation's sons and daughters for us to stop thinking about whether we are on the right course. "Staying the course" without raising questions does not give meaning to their sacrifice. It is nothing more than a tragic guarantee of further sacrifice. In memory of our fallen soldiers and out of love and respect for the people of Iraq and the troops that remain there, we must act now to end this hopeless war.
We have marched, and signed petitions, and held vigils, and still the war goes on. Our military commanders will most likely tell us the surge was a success, and that we need to give it more time to work. They will ask yet again for our patience, for our complicity in prolonging the bloodshed. And now our President tells us, despite his national intelligence estimate on Iran, that this other country is also a threat to us. Far more than a surge of troops, we need a surge of truth. It is hard not to despair when our leaders seem bent on war.
For peacemakers, hope is hard to hold onto at times like these. When we begin to lose hope, we need to know that our comrades are holding it for us until we can carry it again ourselves. And sometimes we need to be the one carrying hope for our brothers and sisters. Perhaps we need "armor" from God after all. Not the kind that keeps bullets out, but the kind that strengthens us in the face of fury and despair, the kind that shores us up to find salvation, when so much has already been lost. The belt of truth. The breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet. Paul says, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
One shoe does not fit all, as Paul knows, but we'll walk side by side with the shield of faith—the hope we hold for and with each other. This holiday season, let us find in "the armor of God," a shield to protect the spirits of peacemakers. I am praying for the peacemakers, and also I'm praying for the war-makers. My prayer for those with the power to beat swords into plowshares is expressed beautifully by Jill-Beth Sweeney Schultheis in her poem, "Remember Peace":
We will hold you until you soften.
We will love you until you begin to melt.
We will sing to you until you remember peace.
During this holy season, may we all work together to nurture hope and to remember peace.
In faith,
William G. Sinkford
President
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Last updated on Wednesday, December 19, 2007.
