Reflecting on Violence

Virginia Tech, City Hall of Kirkwood, MO., Northern Illinois University . . . in the collective conscience of folks in this region of the world, these places and events in recent days are unified by one horrid reality: violence. Webster's Dictionary defines violence in these terms: 1a "exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse b: an instance of violent treatment or procedure" (p. 1297 Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, (c) 1973).

Whether it is the discharge of a firearm, the detonation of a bomb, the beating of a spouse or child, the misuse of law for personal gain, racial or cultural discrimination, religious persecution, or the disenfranchisement of civil rights from people who differ, bottom line: it is all violence - and violence holds as a basic tenant of its ethos the claiming of power by the devaluing of life. Power over another is gained by eliminating their life; Power over another is achieved by beating them into submission; Power over another is garnered by denigrating another's integrity with false accusations; Power over another is claimed in removing their personal rights: Violence becomes an end unto itself, so much so, that the one imposing the violence will only forfeit the power they have gained when an even greater violence is exercised upon them. Violence begets violence.

Some would say that guns are to blame, others say our wide-open media culture is to blame. I say a culture which promotes the acceptability of violence is to blame. Yet, assigning blame will always be the easier response, just as violence will always find a way to express itself, a tool to do its bidding. The harder task is finding and exercising viable and ongoing paths to peace and mutual valuing of life. Don't believe it? Consider Christ who walked the way of valuing, even loving, all of life. Those who imagined their security and power threatened by Him, eventually had Him crucified. Violence imposed upon Him that power could be claimed from Him. Violence.

Forgiveness of the perpetrators of violence is only one step, the harder hill to climb is establishing a culture of peace and mutuality, for few if any want to be mutual, especially if it means the sharing of advantages with others deemed 'less valuable' than they. From a Christian perspective, the end of this world's preoccupation with violence begins in the waters of baptism as God's grace is received - and continues for a lifetime as the gifts of the Communion Table are celebrated remembering Christ's body and blood given for all that none should ever again succumb to the violence of degredation at the hands of this world's petty rulers.

As we weep for the victims of violence, let us also be clear that we not contribute to the violence in the ways we behave towards and with each other. The violence of this world may never fully be eliminated, but it will not be addressed locally until each of us rejects it personally. For life, Christ gives us life. Violence is not a claiming of life, it is damning of the value God assigns to all life in the very presence of the cross and an empty tomb.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don