Nebraska Synod ELCA

“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations…
because, in truth, because they have misled my people,  saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace.”

—from Ezekiel 13:9-10 NRSV—

Beloved in Christ,

In January 2021, I taught a January term class at Midland University in which we spent three weeks learning about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mahatma Gandhi, and Oscar Romero, three people who put their lives on the line for their beliefs. On January 6th, in our morning session on Bonhoeffer, I covered the 1933 fire which destroyed the Reichstag, the German Parliament building — just a few hours before the U.S. Capitol building was stormed by violent protestors. I spent the afternoon and evening preparing the next day’s lecture while watching in horror as the events of that terrible day in our American history unfolded before our eyes. I was deeply troubled by the rage and wanton destruction of that moment, and I remain troubled by it four years later.

It is disturbingly ironic that a nation which has prided itself on the peaceful transition of power for over 200 years has also struggled with pervasive violence throughout those same 200 years. We are a nation marked by violence, from broken treaties and outright war against the Indigenous peoples and tribes who called this land “home” long before European settlers forced their way onto the continent to our contemporary struggles with gun violence and political animosity that labels disagreement as a hostile act and political opponents as enemies of the state.

It’s enough to make a person lose hope, and I’m sure many of you reading this have felt that way more than once in your lives. There are, however, signs of hope that can pierce the shroud of violence and death that is sometimes cast over us. While we commemorate a bleak day in American history this month, we also take time to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., perhaps our foremost example of the power of peaceful, nonviolent resistance in the face of oppression, racism, and violence. In his case, as in many others, being a person of peace did not mean that his life was peaceful. Being a person of peace meant that regardless of how violent the world around himself became, Dr. King would not respond to violence with violence. In one of his best known sermons, he said, “Returning hate for hate mul­ti­plies hate, adding deep­er dark­ness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness can­not dri­ve out dark­ness; only light can do that. Hate can­not dri­ve out hate; only love can do that.” To this we might add: violence cannot drive out violence; only peace can do that. Dr. King was taken from this world by an act of violence, but his was a life of peace, all the way to the end.

In August 1934, Bonhoeffer delivered a homily during devotions at an ecumenical conference in Fanø, Denmark. As a pastor already drawing the attention of the Third Reich, he could have played it safe, but he said this instead:

“There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared. It is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God’s commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.”

In a nation and a world marked by violence, God calls us to be those who dare to practice peace — not only when it makes our daily lives easier, but also and perhaps most importantly when practicing peace makes life less peaceful. In these days of Epiphany, when we talk about how the love of Christ shines into the world, let us cultivate that love through peace as individuals, congregations, and the entire synod – walking the daring way of peace, together.

Yours in Christ,
Bishop Scott Alan Johnson

Questions to Ponder

1. How do you practice peace in your own life? Do you meditate? Focus on your breathing? Take time for prayer? Practice Active Listening? These are all practices which can enhance and expand the presence of peace in your life – if you don’t have a practice, take one up for the season of Epiphany.
2. Name a person you’d say is a “person of peace.” How do they live out peace in their lives? Do they know you think of them in that way? If not, why not tell them?

A prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.