liadanslyre

peacemaking

well. sometimes i know where a post is going prior to posting it. this is not the case this evening.

i should first say, i don't really know much about the topic and honestly have only given it thought since 9/11. i had a close mennonite friend at my previous work who told me about all the great things that the mennonite central committee does around the world. as i read more about anabaptist views i was intrigued, confused, and a bit frustrated. this is definitely new territory for me.

recently,i read matt's post. he's a guy i met- who probably doesn't remember meeting me from landing place. those folks at landing place have lots of active bloggers and i always like reading them b/c i find them thoughtful. they have mennonite roots too. like i said- i love me the mennonites.

here are a couple of things i got on my mind:

• i think that working for peace does not necessarily mean you have to be a complete pacifist.
• i think those protestors during the republican national convention were funny.
• i think we way undersell what peace even is...
• i would be interested in reading about some famous christian pacifist. it is hard for me to believe that people who love something wouldn't be willing to fight for it if it were endangered.
• i think it is important for christians to be part of the politcal process. the Church could easily hamstring ourselves when we put it at odds with the advancement of the Kingdom. when times arise when christians are asked to compromise on the central issues of Gospel life- then we part ways and don't shame those that choose not to.
• i think every american christian should live in a developing country for some length of time. i think the anarchists in nyc should too.
• should christians look to politicians to advance the Kingdom of God?

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at this point- i've realized that this will be way too long of a post.
instead, i'll post by topic over the next week.
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but i do just want to say something about those protestors.

ok- so am i actually suppose to be be persuaded by this? we were at my mom's and we had cspan on. so we're watching it and i saw one of the protestors pee pee! now, i'm sorry- am i supposed to take you seriously?

for as much hatred of the current administration was brewing in nyc last week; you would've thought the anarchist's were the war mongers. here we got people breathing hate and protesting an administration of war mongering in the context of security measures, blockades, tear gas, police dogs- for the protestors. the news was predicting violent clashes.

it seems nearsighted at best- or disingenuine at worse to protest a war because you want peace and do so using violent, threatening or illegal means.

ok. that's it for now.