Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
The Third Sunday of Lent
March 23, 2003
I have been the minister here for almost 25 years now – it is hard to believe! And I don’t think we have ever gathered on a Sunday quite like this. I felt moved to share some reflections because I am quite sure we come here today, particularly if you listened to the news this morning, with many different thoughts, feeling, and emotions and I just wanted to share a little bit of what I am feeling. I suppose whatever I say is really an invitation to ongoing dialogue within our church and within our community.
Basically what I am feeling today is sad. Not exhilarated, not angry really, but sad. I am sad that we have to gather together as servants of the Prince of Peace in a time of war. I’m sad that diplomacy has failed, that a peaceful solution could not be found. I am sad that we felt moved to launch, one could argue, for the first time in our history, a preemptive strike - that we are doing the invading. I’m sad for what that might mean to the future of our world. I’m sad for all of those, military and civilian, who have lost their lives or have been wounded and all those who may yet loose their lives or be wounded. They are in my prayers constantly.
I am sad that in the name of honorable goals – peace, liberation, democracy – we have had to unleash such tremendous violence. I hope the end will somehow justify the means and the loss of life. And I am sad because I fear that even when the official war is over, the violence may continue. And I guess I am also just a little afraid. In launching this assault we have crossed a very dangerous boundary and I am not sure if we can go back.
Sure of our own moral clarity we have literally announced to the world that the United States reserves the right to attack any nation or group that we perceive as a threat. And I think this is a dangerous new twist in the theory of self-defense. What really worries me, why I am frightened, is whether or not other nations will choose to follow our lead? If we can attack someone we perceive as a threat, then what’s to prevent another country from doing that as well? Have we now legitimized the launching of preemptive assaults against potential threats by any nation that feels threatened?
Is Saddam Hussein an oppressive and cruel leader? Yes! And my Christian commitment to justice and well-being tells me that we must condemn his injustice and work towards justice for all the people of Iraq. And for that matter, for all people anywhere who suffer oppression and injustice. Burma comes to mind. North Korea. And yet here is where I am conflicted, for even as my faith commitment tells me, yes, we must work for justice and peace and the end of oppression, it also leaves me with grave reservations about the methods we are using in Iraq. I am totally conflicted on this. And as I said, I suspect that we come together this morning with many different points of view about this. I have no monopoly on the truth.
My hope is that we can keep talking and keep listening in this church. Opposition to the war is not disloyalty or lack of patriotism. Support of the war is not blindness or ignorance. People of good will, people of faith, can disagree and it doesn’t mean we are less moral or less Christian than someone else. So no matter what happens, let’s keep listening to each other and let’s keep caring for each other. And let’s keep asking in this place, what would God have us do?
I continue to hold in my prayers as I already said, all the men and women in the line of fire. May they all return home safely. I honor their commitment every time I see those fresh, young faces. I pray for them daily. I pray for President Bush and our leaders. I pray for the innocent ones, the civilians of Iraq. We talk so much about Saddam that it sounds like Iraq is a country with one person in it. But when we drop bombs and missiles on a city of several million people, civilians are going to be killed and injured, no matter how precise our weapons are. And they are not simply “collateral damage.” According to Jesus they are our neighbors, our brothers and sisters. God numbers every hair on their heads. Also let’s not forget that over 50% of the population of Iraq is under 15 years of age – so I hold them all in my prayers.
Even though the President and I disagree on this war, in some way I hope I’m wrong and he’s right. I hope we do emerge with peace. I hope we do emerge with justice in Iraq and throughout the world. I will be the first to say, if that happens, that I was wrong. But for now, I continue to fear that the circle of violence will only expand.
And finally a word about pride and humility and God. As I have been listening to administration spokespersons, I find my thoughts going back to Abraham Lincoln. I have been reading some of Lincoln these days. Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, was filled with great uncertainty. He was hopeful he was doing the right thing. He once hosted a delegation of northern clergy in the White House. During the meeting one clergyman said he hoped the, “Lord was on our side.” Lincoln quickly responded, “I don’t agree with you.” This stunned these clergymen. He continued, “I’m not at all concerned about that for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety in prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”
More than a crusade of good versus evil, Lincoln saw the Civil War and its terrible cost in terms of divine judgment. The entire nation and not just the South was guilty. Proclaiming April 30, 1863 as a National Fast Day, he asked Americans to observe a day for personal and national repentance. Can you image an elected leader asking for such a thing today?
How refreshing a breeze of Lincoln-esc humility before God would be in these days. Of all the sins of the Bible, pride, the conviction that God is on my side and that I can do no wrong, is the most dangerous. None of the Kings of Israel were immune from this, even the great King David. And it always brought them down. The conviction that we are the righteous and the chosen and that we are divinely ordained to destroy all that we perceive as evil in the world will only lead us to disaster. In the worlds of Lincoln: “We must think anew and we must act anew.” In the worlds of Archbishop Oscar Ramero: “We cannot love by hating, we cannot defend life by killing.”