« The Art Of The True Self | Main | Loving Our Enemies In Real Life »
Love Your Enemies . . . (H.J.M. Nouwen)
By gartenfische | December 7, 2007
Here we touch one of the greatest dangers that face peacemakers: that peacemakers themselves become the victims of the evil forces they are trying to overcome. The same fear of “the enemy” that leads warmakers to war can begin to affect the peacemaker who sees the warmaker as “the enemy.” Words of anger and hostility can gradually enter into the language of the peacemaker. Even the sense of urgency and emergency that motivates the arms race can become the driving force behind the peacemaker. Then indeed the strategy of war and the strategy of peace have become the same, and peacemaking has lost its heart.
One of the reasons why so many people have developed strong reservations about the peace movement is precisely that they do not see the peace they seek in the peacemakers themselves. Often what they see are fearful and angry people trying to convince others of the urgency of their protest. The tragedy is that peacemakers often reveal more of the demons they are fighting than of the peace they want to bring about.
The words of Jesus go right to the heart of our struggle: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly” (Lk 6: 27-28). The more I reflect on these words, the more I consider them to be the test for peacemakers. What my enemies deserve is not my anger, rejection, resentment, or disdain, but my love. Spiritual guides throughout history have said that love for the enemy is the cornerstone of the message of Jesus and the core of holiness.
— Henri J. M. Nouwen in Peacework
- - - - - - - - - - - -
See a twisted Twelve Days of Christmas post at wyrdbyrd (I didn’t write it, got it in an e-mail). And then scroll down and read about Salt of the Earth (really—I want to share this very cool movie with you).
Topics: God, Christianity |
December 7th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Henri Nouwen was so wise. What good words about peace and peacemakers.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:18 am
this is exactly why i became a quaker. absolute nonviolent conflict resolution. no exceptions.
December 8th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
wow. cuts right to the heart of it, doesn’t it?
December 8th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
It’s good to be reminded of this…
December 9th, 2007 at 10:25 am
This is a good day to be reminded of this. Thank you.
It is so much easier to turn in some ways - even if not to hate then to turn to the “not love”. But we are commanded otherwise.
That of course requires turning back. It requires an open heart. Vulnerability. Courage. Faith.
It is intimate and challenging.
Yet that is what we are called to and that is what we must do.
Your post is a reverential prayer to this effort and I am grateful to have read it today.
December 9th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
WORD!
December 15th, 2007 at 8:18 am
I love the passage you share here. As a Quaker and a peace activist, I struggle with being peaceful every day. Maybe that’s what God wants me to do?
December 15th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
PoodleDoc, I think God does want us to do that. I went to a peace/anti-war demonstration a couple of years ago that was so unpeaceful, so anger-filled, that I haven’t been to one since. It’s just not the energy that I believe we need to bring to our work for peace.