In Terra Pax

Training at MCC has taught me a lot, but not necessarily from the endless sessions.  First, it is completely refreshing to again be with other like-minded people.  Spending lots of time with couples traveling overseas makes our assignment seem a lot less impossible.  The response we've gotten from many people when we say we're heading to Africa is lots and lots of fear.  Being here reminds me of being at Eastern where doing development work was the norm.  It has been a breath of fresh air, restoring our hope, peace and joy in knowing this is where God wants us.

 

The other major thought I've had is about how we view the Bible, specifically how our society shapes our interpretation.  When thinking about Peace-Theology, I feel like most people don't take it seriously since it is perceived as "un-American".  I think this is because we don't have any idea of what "pacifism" looks like in reality.  We think it means a bunch of hippies holding banners.  However, I think the idea of reconciling relationships as a key to the kingdom at an inter-personal level is widely accepted.  Somehow we have this disconnect that while our Prince of Peace asks us to live by grace, and mercy, that its ok for our nations to use violence to solve all our problems.  What we need is a new vision of what pacifism looks like at a national level, using all the ingenuity, creativity, and wisdom God grants us to bring his Kingdom to earth.  I'm not sure where I stand on all this as of now, but its much harder to deny the fact that the reason I was ok with war was because I never took peace seriously.  Maybe its time the Church take a new look at this.