November 4, 2007

War and Peace

Rali M. Weaver

First Church and Parish Dedham

I must admit I find it very difficult to make sense of the war –especially in a sermon.

Before troops first stepped foot into Afghanistan and before our country invaded Iraq- it was easy to stand in a pulpit and speak of the ideals of peace. Before we retaliated against the September 2001 attacks it was easy hold out the hope that our government would avoid war at all costs. And at the start of the war-- it was simple to tout opinions about what should or should not happen.

But today – Six years since the start of “The war on Terror” and the start of “Operation Enduring Freedom”, Four years and seven months since the start of the War in Iraq and 1647 days since President Bush stood in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner and addressed the nation from aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln -when casualties of war are still daily news-- as American soldiers are still required to serve extended tours of duty I don’t think there is much that I can say from this pulpit that will make much of a difference.

We are a country at war.

According to the US government 721 coalition soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2001, and 4,152 have died since the invasion of Iraq.

These numbers don't include the Civilian deaths. Our government doesn’t even publish a count of civilian deaths-- but according to the reports released by the American Civil Liberties Union nearly 3,400 civilian deaths have been caused by American Air strikes in Afghanistan and at last count on October 31^st there were 82,776 civilian deaths due to combat in Iraq.

There is nothing pretty about war.

One problem is that all those numbers make it all that more impersonal.

How can any of us make sense of what it means to have 91,049 families loose their children in the violence of war?

How can we make sense of what each of those lives might have meant if they had been able to live out their full life span? Or what their families’ grief might become?

How can we make sense of the 28,000 wounded or the psychological and emotional trauma for those who have been forced to complete extended tours of duty and/or prevented from quitting the army?

On May 4^th of this year the Pentagon published a report that stated that

“Approximately 10% of soldiers and marines reported mistreating non-combatants by damaging or destroying Iraqi property when not necessary by hitting or kicking a non-combatant when it was unnecessary to do so.

The report also suggested that fewer than half of all soldiers would report a team member for unethical behavior, and more than one-third believed torture should be allowed to save the life of a fellow soldier or marine.

How is it possible to make sense of the impact of a long-term deployment to a soldier? Or how their lives and decisions might be affected by this war?

And how is it possible that we find the Commander and Chief with an under supported military and over extended soldiers –seemingly gearing up for a brand new preemptive strike against Iran, what can we as citizens do?

Sometimes we protest.

In fact between January 3 and April 12, 2003 at the start of the Iraq war, 36 million people took part in almost 3,000 protests expressing their lack of support for a war in Iraq.

And there have been other types of protests too. Such as Women in Black who stand on street corners throughout the world, wearing black in silent non-violent vigils against any manifestation of violence, militarism or war.

Or the Eyes Wide Open Anti War Exhibit that works with the Quaker Groups and other Peace groups to set up displays of shoes representing the individuals who have died in the Iraq war in order to illustrate the cost this war is having in human terms.

I saw this display when I was living in San Francisco. Boots representing soldier deaths and shoes representing civilian deaths were laid out on the lawn in front of City Hall.

Walking along the shoes the cost of war was not some number of lives lost but tangible people. And I wondered could I have walked in any of their shoes? And then ---why wasn’t I walking in their shoes? And--- what had me in San Francisco safe from war when so many were dying so far away?

To be honest I don’t know if those shoes were a good or bad idea.

There was plenty of criticism complaining about the use of fallen soldiers pictures to promote an anti-war agenda and how the money for those shoes and for the advertising and transportation might have been used for something more helpful say perhaps-- feeding hungry children in Iraq.

In fact there have been nearly as many counter protests as there have been protests. And while the support for the war is waning, decent has also appeared to decrease. Perhaps it is just me but the energy behind anti war campaigns and the campaigns for peace have seemed to die down in this sixth year since the start of the War on Terror began.

I realized after the fact that there was a Peace March in the Boston Common last week on October 29^th. While there was a time when I would have been at the front of the line in peace demonstration I didn’t know about this one until I read about it the next day in the Boston Globe.

Polls suggest that the majority of American Citizens do not support the war, but I wonder how many are still actively fighting against it?

The temptation is to watch television but not the television that might remind us of the bad news. The temptation is to numb out to ignore all that is wrong with the world.

We can go to parties, we can go to concerts, we can observe public meetings, we can even enter places of worship and not ever know we are a country at war.

I wonder if that was true during World War I or World War II or even Korea or Vietnam. Did life just go on? Or were people actively in search of some way to contribute to the war effort?

I am not just talking about peace protests-- but I wonder if during other wars that were more supported by the populace was there an active attempt to help?

I have been longing for a way to tangibly acknowledge what is going on in our world.

Not to support or protest it, but to acknowledge it and find ways of helping where help is needed.

I long for the government to ration something – let’s say tomatoes --so that every time we went to the grocery store we would know that our inability to buy tomatoes was helping to make this impossible situation better.

Or I wish we were encouraged to plant gardens in the attempt to feed ourselves so that all our food could be sent to feed hungry children in war torn countries.

I wish there was some concrete united way we could focus our energies on the home front for good instead of evil.

The problem is that there actually is rationing going on, but we are hardly aware of it and it does not seem to serve the good. Remember how hard it was go to get Flu Shots and the number of our elder citizens who were caught unaware of the rationing of flu vaccine and suffered in long lines or long winters without the shot.

Or perhaps you have noticed how much gas and oil prices have gone up, and how significantly the cost of living has increased or how many people’s retirement savings have been lost since the start of the war.

We may not have consented to the efforts but we are feeling the effects.

Yet war and peace discussions rarely talk about the effects of war on the citizenry.

How do we tolerate this ever present danger of war in these times?

Even if we do not have a friend or relative in the service I would argue that each of our spirits are effected by the knowledge that the world is at war, and that people are suffering. Where can we grieve the loss of our innocence? Or even our financial security? How can we make sense of the inflammatory color-coded terror alerts? What can we do about the way children in schools are being taught to expect danger with plans for school lock downs and police regularly in school hallways?

I have heard the cleaning up of the war to be likened to putting all the toothpaste back in the tube after it has been squeezed out. And I am certain that with every action in the war on Terror-- the world will never be the same.

If we think about war only in the restoration sense-- if we think about war as though it were wholly separate from peace I believe we are missing an opportunity.

I remember distinctly the day after those planes hit the World Trade Center waking up depressed and anxious. And as I usually do when I am feeling depressed and anxious I sat in meditation.

And the first thing that came into my head was a sappy song.

“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me…”

do you know it?

Have you heard it in your head too?

It is a sappy idealistic song. But it also makes a great deal of sense.

I know that I cannot stop the war by myself and I cannot make the world stop fighting.

Protesting may make me feel better, but standing on a street corner will only be a way of registering my decent, it will not change the world.

The only thing I can do as an individual is to find peace in my heart and express it in every moment.

I begin by taking time each day to focus on my breath.

I have set a quiet space in the parsonage for such a purpose.

And every morning when I wake I set aside 20 minutes or so to breathe in and out.

Finding peace in myself helps me to respond in peace in every moment.

You may accomplish the same peace in praying or walking in the woods or spending some quiet fun time with your family.

I believe that whatever your method, whatever you do each day to feed your soul is a vital effort to healing our world.

I believe I must also stay awake to the realities of the world. I must pay attention to the suffering so that I am awake to the truth. I put aside each day to stay informed by reading the newspaper and seeking answers through alternative media sources on the internet.

Most importantly I believe we as a community must refuse to allow the violence of war in our church.

Our church must be a place of sanctuary.

And here we must find our collective peace.

I know today I may have shared with you some uncomfortable truths. Things you already knew but wished you would never hear again.

But I believe that even difficult truths shared in love (as I hope I have done) can help us to acknowledge the grief and worries that obstruct our peace.

As I see it truth and peace walk hand in hand so if we cannot acknowledge and speak the truth here, we will never find peace in our world.

Finally, I believe that if we ever want non-violence outside of our walls -we must as a community-- adopt a spirit of non-violence.

What I am proposing is that here at First Church and Parish in Dedham we reject the use of force of any kind in the making of decisions. Not that we accept passively anything that opposes our senses but that as a community we focus on using education, persuasion, non-violent direct interaction and non-cooperation in all of our decision making.

I am proposing that here in our parish we work to find ways to live out that peace that we wish was present in the world.

Creating true peace in a time of war takes great effort.

And it can only start with each of us as individuals, in small actions.

But if we combine our collective efforts to make this parish a more peaceful place we will have done something very important for the world.

How better can we honor those who have died than to live more peacefully ourselves?

How better can we honor our troops who have given so much for our freedom than that we live in peace and harmony together?

It will not be easy and it will require great discipline and effort, but what more can we do?

Let us begin today in a sprit of peace striving together to create peace in our corner of the world.

May it be so.