| Peace with Justice
Sunday May 18, 2008 |
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Grace's Sermon
| Today is Peace with Justice
Sunday. A couple of months ago, I eagerly signed up to deliver a peace with justice sermon, It wasn't until recently, however, when I began to actually write the sermon, that I realized how many things peace with justice could really mean. This is my interpretation. When I started gathering ideas for this sermon, you can probably guess what I turned to: Google. After a few searches, I realized that maybe it would all be easier if I actually looked up a definition or two. That's where dictionary.com comes in. "Peace," the website says, means "the normal, nonwarring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world." Now I found that definition kind of funny, because how often do we feel that we're in a state of peace? A recent World Health Organization report estimated the cost of interpersonal violence in the U.S. (excluding war related costs) at $300 billion a year. Well, interpersonal violence is hardly a warring condition between nations, but still, that doesn't sound too peaceful to me. In 2001, there were almost 21,000 homicides and 31,000 suicides, and almost 1.8 million people were assaulted. In 2002, 3,012 children and teens were killed by gunfire in the United States. That's one child every three hours. And every year, at least 4 to 5 times as many kids and teens suffer from non-fatal firearm injuries. This list really isn't getting any better. So it seems that dictionary.com's definition of peace as the "the normal, nonwarring condition of a nation" may be slightly amiss. Whether or not a nation is at war, peace still seems quite elusive in the world. Maybe we should look at an alternative definition dictionary.com provides for peace: "a state of tranquility or serenity." So here are some statistics we can use to decide whether or not we're at peace: Half the world (nearly three billion people) live on less than two dollars a day. According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they "die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world." Less than 1% of what the world spent every year on weapons is all it would have taken to put every child into school by the year 2000. Close to half of all people in developing countries suffer from a health problem caused by poor water and sanitation. Okay, so maybe the world isn't so peaceful by that second definition either. Death and sickness don't seem very tranquil or serene. But what can we do to help? Let me just digress a bit by saying that Matthew 25, verses 34 to 46 is actually one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Now, this is not only because it doesn't have any foreign names I can't pronounce, but also because it has a clear message: "The King will answer them, 'I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" This is saying that the things you do to benefit others benefit the Lord, who will be pleased with your actions. So, back to the question I asked earlier: how can we help others in an effort to spread peace? This is another reason I love Matthew 25, verses 34 to 46 so much: we actually get a straight answer, and as a bonus, it can be taken literally. This is just one lucky passage. Through this passage, we can infer that we can help others by feeding the hungry and giving drinks to the thirsty through organizations such as Open Door. We can welcome the stranger by helping new neighbors and other new members of our community. We can clothe the naked through local clothing drives. We can visit and say a prayer with the sick in hospitals and with the imprisoned. All these actions are beneficial to society and pleasing to God, but often these are isolated actions that we may only do every now and then. And even though we can all volunteer at soup kitchens, the next day the same person you served is likely come in hungry again. These acts of charity are like putting a Band Aid on a larger social issue. Justice, on the other hand, is reforming society to help people who are at a disadvantage. It's more than putting Band Aids on a social issue, it's seeking ways to resolve it. A story that illustrates the difference between charity and justice begins with a man walking along a path adjacent to a river that runs through his village. He spots a baby floating in the river, so he immediately jumps in and pulls the child to safety. The next day, a second villager finds a baby in the river, and he, like the first man, rescues the baby. Each day, more and more babies are found floating in the water, so a group of villagers dedicate themselves to the crusade of rescuing these babies. One passer-by, watching the other villagers pull babies out of the water by the dozens, doesn't stop to help, but instead begins to run up the path. A villager helping with the babies turns to the man and asks him what he could be off to do that is so much more important than pulling the children out of the water. The man shouts back to him, "I'm going upstream to find out who keeps throwing these babies into the river!" Justice is a systematic approach to helping people that seeks to "level the playing field," so to speak, by stopping a problem at its source. Charity is counseling rape victims and the families of homicide victims in Darfur. Justice is suppressing the threat of rape and murder during times of governmental instability. Charity is offering medical resources to people in Kenya. Justice is freeing voters from post-election abuse. Justice acts to prevent a threat, while charity hands it a Band Aid after the threat has been fulfilled. The world doesn't always do too well with justice, though. The United States justice system's purpose is to help victims and potential victims of crime through imprisonment and other sentencing. Often our criminal justice system, however, is referred to as the criminal injustice system. In the present system, it appears that sometimes social vengeance is more popular than rehabilitation. The death penalty is a prime example of this attitude. In 2007, 42 inmates were executed in the United States. The United Methodist Church condemns the death penalty, viewing retribution as an inadequate reason to take human life. And, as Mahatma Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." The United Methodist Church also recognizes that use of the death penalty can often be influenced by a person's socioeconomic status, race, and educational background, which illustrates the injustice present in this system. But there is hope for criminal justice worldwide. For example, since 2006, there has been a 25% decrease in executions and death sentences around the world. Without justice we cannot have peace. On Peace with Justice Sunday, think about the ways in which you can be a more righteous person in the world. We recognize the plights of victims of injustice, of violence and of poverty, but we have an opportunity to do more: to have a positive impact on the lives of these people. We can give of our time and our money to the church's mission activities. We, or at least those over eighteen, can vote for political candidates that promote peace and condemn injustices throughout the world. Through justice, we have an opportunity to give others more than Band Aids -- we can give them peace. |
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