One of my all-time favorite movies is M*A*S*H, which premiered early . . . early in my high school years. I have viewed nearly all, if not all, of the episodes of the TV series, many of them multiple times (much to the chagrin of my family), but the movie is still the benchmark of how difficult cultural and national issues can be presented through the imagination and discerning eye of the arts. The backdrop of the Korean 'conflict' or 'police action' gave the American mind and heart the language for discussing the Viet Nam conflict of which it was, then, currently a part. The embrace and mockery of military discipline, the blood and guts of young lives spilled out upon the floors of military theatres, and the volatility of human dignity and hopes fractured in places and times of intense conflict, were put on display as the world culture sorted out the costs and advantages of waging another such operation. 'Operation', now there is a word. Always another operation, hours and hours of operations, all to put back together the lives which were inevitably shredded over the pursuit of another hill, the rollback of another enemy, or the conquering of whatever it is we most feared in that particular moment. Operations resulting in more operations, neither of which resulted in much healing or tranquility, neither of which brought health or wholeness to whatever public was waging the operation in the first place. It seemed the only time one wouldn't have to anticipate another operation was when they were too sick, too battered, or too wounded from their last operation to be an assest for a 'next operation'. Then, they were sent home to find healing in the community.
All that said, I have tremendous respect for women and men of the military and am grateful for their sacrifices which allow me to write this blog without restraint. When the movie, M*A*S*H, was released, my older brother was serving in Viet Nam, and I could not see it without thinking of him. To this day he is one of my very best friends and I love him more than these words could ever express . . . which leads me to deeper prayer for those whose brothers and sisters did not, or will not, return from whatever conflicts they face in the service of their nation. It makes all the more present the candor and intentionality of purpose and need the leadership of this, or any nation, must ponder before entering the fray. For regardless whether or not it is a conflict of our own making, what M*A*S*H reminds us of is the deep and dear human price paid by the youth of our world to protect and, sometimes, expand the privileges we desire to claim as an inalienable right. Of all of the just and justifiable wars history and historians can name, the hardest battle yet to be won is the one which gives life to future generations of the world without requiring their blood to be smeared on the doorposts of their homes, slaughtered lambs for the life of their families.
Jesus, in complete faithfulness to God, was nailed to a cross for His devotion and dedication, even His love, for the good, the life, the integrity of God's creation. So convinced were the powers and principalities of the age that a slaughter of innocence was necessary to maintain the status quo of 'earned' inalienable rights, they placed Him upon a tree attempting to ensure the silence of grace, mercy and peace among the people. So great their fear that His radical inclusion would exclude their comfort and security, overturning their way of life, they rolled a great stone over the door of His tomb. So possessed by their own cleverness in dealing with this emerging grassroots movement of equity and justice in the midst of the kingdom, they missed completely the powerful nearness of the Kingdom as the Risen Christ stood with His disciples on a hill and told them to go and make disciples of all nations.
As Jesus sent the disciples out to bring healing to Gilead, to bear a balm to all the weary children of warring nations, to gather the world community in the healing and God-given gift of all-embracing love, so He sends us out in this age to take our place at His side. We are called to bear witness to God's operation of salvation, whose blood cost required by our thirstiness for power and domination, has already been paid. We are called to clean up the floors of this worlds battle field surgeries and usher in an understanding of family that has heavenly origins. We are called, by our baptism to proclaim an end to the hostilities between feuding sisters and brothers over that which was never theirs in the first place. We are called to remember in broken body and flowing blood the price at which Life eternal has been purchased, once and for all.
Some choose to call it a holy war, I prefer to consider it a sacred peace. I live and work for the day that our children and grandchildren view M*A*S*H as a relic of a bygone era, a remnant of world much changed. I pray for a world where children all know their siblings as their best friends and, in so living, embody the Kingdom for which He lived, died, and rose again.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Don
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