A Call to Lament and Repent: Guide Our Feet to the Path of Peace
By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1:78-79 (NRSV)
This season of Lent, we are truly living in darkness and in the shadow of death as we mark, on March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the war with Iraq. It is a war that is being waged by our country, financed by our taxes, and fought by our sisters and brothers. As U.S. Christians, we issue a call to the American church to lament and repent of the sin of this war.
We lament the suffering and violence in Iraq . We mourn the nearly 4,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died, the unknown numbers of both who are wounded in body and mind, and the more than 4 million Iraqis who are displaced from their homes. With the families of U.S. soldiers torn apart, our families are also torn apart.
We lament the effects of this war on our country. The war has undermined our religious and national values. International perceptions of the U.S. churchs support for the war have hurt the cause of Christ. The abuse of prisoners and use of torture have damaged the U.S. moral standing in the world. The war is squandering billions of dollars that are urgently needed for other domestic and international needs. (march 19, 2008)
We repent of our failure to fully live the teaching of Jesus to be peacemakers. Some of us believe our faith leads to a rejection of war, while others affirm just war principles but after five years of conflict, we are convinced that continuing occupation and war in Iraq cannot be reconciled with just war teaching, and it is the obligation of Christians to help bring unjust wars to an end. The U.S. occupation must end; a transition to an international solution to Iraq must be found. A peaceful resolution is possible and must be pursued. Our country should end this war, not try to win it, and we must help the Iraqi people build a safer and more peaceful country.
We believe repentance means more than just being sorry. Repentance requires a change of heart and a commitment to a new direction. Repentance means transformation breaking out of our conformity to a foreign policy based on fear and war to a policy that is rooted in seeking justice and pursuing peace. There is a better way and the U.S. church must take the lead.
We dedicate ourselves to the biblical vision of a world in which nations do not attempt to resolve international problems by waging war on other nations. We believe the followers of the Prince of Peace should be the hardest ones, not the easiest, to convince to go to war. We are not utopians we acknowledge that human beings and nations will have conflicts. But given the toll that the habit of war has taken in our violence-torn world, we must begin to learn to resolve our inevitable conflicts by learning the arts and skills of conflict resolution and a new international approach to just peace-making and law enforcement. We must seek a world in which we allow our Lord to guide our feet into the path of peace.
As a sign of repentance and commitment to lead our nation toward a new path, I pledge to:
● Pray for our nation to learn lasting lessons from th e tragedy of the war in Iraq and commit to greater wisdom in the future.
● Help heal our nation by talking and listening to our fellow Christians, finding better ways to resolve conflicts by seeking the reconciliation of our divisions and working together for a more peaceful world.
Reach out to the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who often, after making terrible sacrifices, feel abandoned.
Urge our elected representatives to:
Repentance requires a change of direction and a new commitment to follow Jesus, who tells us very clearly, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Iraq5th Anniversary Statement Signatures | Ivy George, Professor of Sociology Gordon College | Soong-Chan Rah Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism |
| Mary Nelson, President Emeritus Bethel New Life, Inc. | David Cortright, President Fourth Freedom Forum | Christa Mazzone Palmberg Coordinator, Duke Divinity Women's Center |
Randall Balmer, Episcopal Priest and Professor of American Religious History at Barnard College, Columbia University | Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., author and spiritual teacher Center for Action and Contemplation Albuquerque, New Mexico | Brian McLaren |
| Bart Campolo, Neighborhood Minister The Walnut Hills Fellowship | Alexia K. Kelley, Executive Director Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good | Ron Sider Evangelicals for Social Action |
| Tony Campolo, Professor Emeritus of Sociology Eastern University | Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, President Skinner Leadership Institute | Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary Reformed Church in America |
| Michael Kieschnick, Chairman Beatitudes Society | Bill Watanabe Little Tokyo Service Center-Los Angeles | Alexander Patico, Secretary (No. Am.) Orthodox Peace Fellowship |
| Chuck Collins, author (Boston, MA) | Debbie McLeod Sears Yale Divinity School Student | Jim Wallis Sojourners |
Helene Slessarev-Jamir, Mildred M. Hutchinson Professor of Urban Ministries, | Jay K. Sears |
bush war + obama war $140 million a pop, the F-22 is the most expensive fighter obama feb21-2009
2009 As for war costs, Mr. Obama’s campaign projected that withdrawing combat troops from Iraq would save about $90 billion a year. But it is not clear how much any savings would be offset by increased spending in Afghanistan, where Mr. Obama has ordered an additional 17,000 troops, bringing the total there to 56,000. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/us/politics/22budget
no obama poverty
no obama peace
AFGHAN WOMEN: A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment