Long enough have I been dwelling with those who hate shalom. I am for shalom, but when I speak, they are for fighting.
- Psalm 120.6-7
Becoming missional is all about becoming agents of new creation - that is - becoming instruments of God's shalom.
Every day media outlets reveal humanity’s willingness to fight. The mechanisms of war and human violence are often put forward as a means to an end. We’re told that we must go to war if we want to see peace. It’s said that armed conflict is inevitable if we want to see true development work happen around the world. Really? Is it true that we must have military solutions to the problems we face in the world?
The difficulty with this view is that war and violence often play a false role in history. They parade as the true way to liberate people from oppression and to bring a sense of security. But the hard truth to which the history of civilization attests is that violence begets the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, violence multiplies evil. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”
In contrast, God’s vision for shalom is centered on humility, compassion, and mercy. It involves the human acts of making amends, peacemaking, restoration, and living in harmony. Shalom is a movement toward fullness and completeness and encapsulates a vision of wholeness for the individual, within societal relations, and for the whole of creation.
Without question, the one true God wants all people to live in harmony, to be at peace, to love one another, and to live whole and fulfilled lives. This is the mission of God for the people of God.
All disciples of Jesus agree that we both worship the Prince of Peace and are called to be a people of peace. God implores us: "Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it" (Psalm 34.14; 1 Peter 3.11). Peace is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22). And Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5.9).
God is the source of lasting peace. A relationship with Jesus is the only path to perfect peace. And in the strength of the Holy Spirit we are called to pray and work for peace.
In light of Scripture's teaching, we must conclude that peacemaking, like war, is waged. It is an act that involves the formation of an alternative consciousness, an alternative imagination. Peacemaking is deliberate and is rooted in grace. It takes the initiative in settling disputes. It involves the demand to love, feed, and forgive enemies.
"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience" (Thomas Merton on Peace).
And yet, we Christians so often neglect our vocation to be peacemakers. We avoid or suppress the violence in our own hearts. We become numb and calloused to the world’s pain. We fall prey to the twin evils of cynicism and apathy.
In light of this tension we ought to join the lament of Henri Nouwen: "Out of the depths of our being, we cry to God for peace. Out of that fearful place where we have to confess that we too are part of the destruction against which we are protesting…Out of that empty spot of silence where we feel helpless, embarrassed, and powerless, where we suffer from our own impotence to stop the reign of death in our world…we cry to the Lord and say: 'Lord have mercy'" (The Road to Peace).
The same grace that brings us salvation impels us to face our fears and insecurity’s and to work for God’s shalom. The shape this takes will vary from person to person. But what remains the same is our common vocation to be peacemakers in God’s world.
This will always be a major part of the mission of God's people!
