As I read Stanley Hauerwas' essay Should War Be Eliminated? I was reminded that war and peace are not opposites. Not really. The essay is pretty bold as Hauerwas calls out the Catholic Church for being insincere in their pursuit of peace due to their willingness to say Christians can practice violence and fight in wars waged by that nations which they say have a duty to do so for the sake of "justice" and "protection" for it's citizens. I assure you that the article is far more interesting and provocative than I'm presenting it to be. You should give it a read because it is basically a pacifist supporting war for half the essay. Anyhow, as he usually does, Hauerwas points out that the Church ought to stand firm in being the Church and show that the world is the world and not the Church (or kingdom). He says that the Church can not only hope for peace but work for it. As it stands, we hope for peace but work for war and as a result we have it war. Hauerwas suggests there is an alternative to war and that is is the peace of Jesus Christ.
Such a peace... is not simply the absence of war, but rather it is a peace that is itself an alternative to a world at war. As such it is not some ideal, but an actual way of life among a concrete group of people... we must see peace as a possibility amid a world at war.
This got me thinking; One can not be peaceful alone. Sure, being a peaceful person is great and a wonderful first step but it's not sufficient (see my post How to Make Peace).* One must be joined with other people of peace. The alternative to a world at war is a society of shalom/peace. A concrete group of people is found in every congregation. Every Christian congregation ought to be filled with people who fully embrace enemy love and the peace of Christ which he left us at his ascension. The Church has the potential to offer within its people an alternative to the world that is constantly waging war and that alternative is rest.
So what does it look like to become communities [concrete groups of people] who share a way of life that embraces, preaches, and offers peace to all? What does it look like to not merely be a gathering of peaceful individuals but to become a larger unit of peace for the sake of God and for the sake of the world?
I don't have a suitable answer but perhaps part of the answer involves actually doing things together. Unfortunately for many church-goers this means moving from acquaintances to friends who actually like each other to family who actually need each other! (What a way to lose attendance! Just tell folks they have to actually spend time being intimate and vulnerable with each other until there are no more secrets!) We must grow together through shared experiences! Moving away from private and individualized faith and religion is absolutely vital! A lot is involved in this process of becoming a people of peace. Sound biblical teaching on the peace of Christ, shared doctrine, consistent submission to and sharing of the sacraments, shared prayer, shared suffering, serving of one another, shared service to others, shared preaching to the world, shared stories amongst each others, and so on must me embraced. We must engage liturgy together (consistently meeting and acting together for the sake of worship)! We must love the world around us as a unit. Here is the practical stuff: Walls of division must fall. The poor must find help among the people of the Church. The orphaned must find homes among them. The widowed must find comfort. The prisoner must find mercy.
To be an alternative to a world at war the Church must completely be the Church as she ought to be. She can not merely be gathered individuals trying to live their individual lives well but she must must be individuals dropping their individual cloaks and putting on their robes of the heavenly kingdom. The Church must be a net to catch the falling ones. Unless Christians bind themselves together and function with the same purpose and with the same means they will never be able to offer a proper witness. Unity is key. If individuals becoming people of peace is step one (as it often is) then step two would be bringing those individuals into a undivided unit of peace.** Unless Christian brothers and sisters share the same peace in every way they will inevitably be part of the world at war.
For Hauerwas the answer lies predominantly in the Churches understanding of herself. He writes "For what creates new opportunities [for peace] is being a kind of people who have been freed from the assumption that war is our fate." The Church must be a people who close the backdoor of war, unforgiveness, hate, anger, and violence with the faithful proclamation that Christ Jesus is Lord and has overcome the powers of the world through death on a cross and that this very same suffering servant has ushered in His kingdom to this world and His power comes with it for all who believe in Him (John 16:33).
*I suppose one could turn that post into a partial answer for this post by moving the focus form the individual to the local congregation. However, this would still leave much lacking for the post is primarily concerned with one's own person and how to alter one's character. The character of a community is formed quite differently (I believe) than an individuals and it consists of much more time, suffering, and action.
**After completing this I am uneasy about deeming individual peace and unified people of peace as steps 1 and 2. Of course many people will become people of peace only by entering a community of peace. This leaves us at the question of how do we not simply operate as individuals of peace or work as individuals together for the same cause but how do we find our identity together as a unified or concrete group of peace. How do we move from being people of peace to a people of peace?
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