March 2009
I received a reminder this week about a stance that was taken several years ago by Redlands United Church of Christ. While looking through some papers, Mary Belle Carter came across the decision to become a “Just Peace Church.” I hadn’t even heard about the term, much less that RUCC had decided to embrace it (although I’m not surprised!). Thank goodness for the Internet…
At the 1985 General Synod, a pronouncement was adopted affirming the United Church of Christ as a Just Peace Church and defined that as the “interrelation of friendship, justice, and common security from violence” and stated its opposition to the institution of war. The term “Just Peace” came from a statement made in 1971 by the second president of the UCC, Robert Moss: “We now need to put as much effort into defining a just peace as we have done in the past in defining a just war.”
The pronouncement went on to give the Biblical and theological foundations for Just Peace:
A Just Peace is grounded in God’s activity in creation. Creation shows the desire of God to sustain the world and not destroy. The creation anticipates what is to come: the history-long relationship between God and humanity and the coming vision of shalom.
Just Peace is grounded in covenant relationship. God creates and calls us into covenant, God’s gift of friendship: “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore” (Ezekiel 37:26). When God’s abiding presence is embraced, human well-being results, or Shalom, which can be translated Just Peace.
A Just Peace is grounded in the reconciling activity of Jesus Christ. Human sin is the rejection of the covenant of friendship with God and one another and the creation and perpetuation of structures of evil. Through God’s own suffering love in the cross, the power of these structures has been broken and the possibility for relationship restored.
A Just Peace is grounded in the presence of the Holy Spirit. God sends the Holy Spirit to continue the struggle to overcome the powers ranged against human bonding. Thus, our hope for a Just Peace does not rest on human efforts alone, but on God’s promise that we will “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
A Just Peace is grounded in the community of reconciliation: the Just Peace Church. Jesus, who is our peace (Ephesians 2:14), performed signs of forgiveness and healing and made manifest that God’s reign is for those who are in need. The church is a continuation of that servant manifestation. As a Just Peace Church, we embody a Christ fully engaged in human events. The church is thus a real countervailing power to those forces that divide, that perpetuate human enmity and injustice, and that destroy.
Just Peace is grounded in hope. Shalom is the vision that pulls all creation toward a time when weapons are swept off the earth and all creatures lie down together without fear; where all have their own fig tree and dwell secure from want. As Christians, we offer this conviction to the world: Peace is possible.
After reading this, I understand exactly why RUCC would adopt such a stance for our local church. It fits in perfectly with our vision of service to the community, taking stands on important political topics, our involvement in immigration issues, our commitment to the environment, our work for marriage equality, and many others.
Today, more than ever, we need to promote peace in our world and in our community. Together, we will show by our beliefs, our actions, and our very lives, that peace is indeed possible.
With optimism and hope,
Loring Fiske-Phillips
