I am writing for those who profess Jesus as their hope in a broken world, freeing persons from sin and death and restoring all of God’s creation. If Uncle Sam is your hope, you need not read any further.
There is an increasing likelihood that violence will knock on your door, seeking to recruit you. It will present its grand vision and a ruthless payment plan laid out for generations. As many of you know, it has already come to claim you.
As we also know, one cannot serve two gods. The Prince of Peace is not just your personal emotional stabilizer. The Prince of Peace flips tables of injustice and lives into the theological legacy of Jeremiah the Prophet: “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14).
Who are we, as Christians, if we are not inciting true peace and justice? Who are we if we are not subverting the Tower of Babel’s arrogance and misplaced ambition? We must stand with God, de-escalating violence.
I mean this in the most straightforward way possible. Resisting violence is an act of faith in the person of Jesus.Enacting and emboldening violence and aiding chaos through violence is the cowardice act of a very different kind of faith, if it can even be called such a thing.
This is not a persuasion for apolitical Christianity. This is not a defense for silent Christianity.
This is not necessarily a wholesale prescription for “pacifism” or a call to avoid anything that is not “pacifism.” Quite the contrary. Instead, we must resist the Empire’s recruitment and Chaos’ siren call.
Is it not the Destroyer who prefers your silence? Is it not Caesar who preys on fear?
In contrast, the Almighty God requires humble walking. Our God demands we love mercy and do the work of justice.
We are in a world where felons cannot vote but can be elected. We are in a world where insurrectionists can be pardoned by the finger that bears the ring they kiss.
The empire is falling. Choose your King more wisely than we choose presidents.
The empire is not “the solid rock.” It is not where we, as Christians, are called to stand. Resist empire’s spoils, for they are soon expiring in hand and poisonous to the touch.
Walk with a life consistent with the methodology found in the gospels. Preserve your integrity amid the crookedness.
Read Bonhoeffer. Be not afraid.
Pray Often. Love Always.
Let us ask for mercy since, in our spiritual immaturity, we are still tempted and lean towards the “way of Barabas” over the “way of Jesus.”
During a week when we remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., let us not forget his words to New York’s Riverside Church in 1967: “We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”
Let us add the words from his book “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
Brien Luke McChesney is a First year Master of Divinity student at Iliff School of Theology. He is pursuing ordination in the United Methodist Church and is passionate about college ministry, youth ministry and children’s ministry. He is happily married to the most amazing woman ever, Liz, whose encouragement and support makes all of his work possible.