Life in the church can evoke the strongest responses in people. The very people who are to be distinguished by their love, often betray that love as they conduct the business of the community of love. This is an abiding source of bafflement for laypeople and pastors alike. If we are not the world, nor of it, how is it that the relationships within the church are marked by the same rancor and animosity that relations outside the church are? Over the years of my ministry among God's people I have been comforted by the insight that Christian people think and act passionately about the church, because their church is such an important part of their lives. The result is that people often open their mouths before they put their brains in gear when involved in church life. This, of course, is true of both laypeople and pastors. So much wreckage could be avoided if we were just a bit more careful when we tried to defend our church, her faith, or her practice. While it is common to be overly passionate about such things, it is never right. We become overzealous and betray the truth of what we are saying. We may say the right thing, but we may say it in a way that is not helpful. This is why church people are willing to say things to a fellow believer that they would not say to a co-worker or a neighbor.

 

While laypeople are quite capable of hurting their fellow members, it does seem that when church leaders err in their zeal, the fallout is far worse. It is worse because failures of leadership affect far more people than the failures of the rank and file members. Careful stewardship of the flock by leaders is so crucial to congregational life, that when they fall short they become a major cross for the community, even a cause of "holy war" in which the tactics not only hurt the people involved, but also do irreparable damage to the church's long-term health. When a "no holds barred" death match ensues in congregational life the carnage is significant. If we are willing to do virtually anything to defend our position, a position often identified with "God's will," then we will produce an amazing amount of havoc. We will pass on our warring madness to those who are near enough to catch it like a black plague. Holy war forgets that those waging it are fallible, flawed, and fractured human beings. God is wholly other.

 

Those who attempt to make peace in such circumstances, are considered mad men. In the aftermath of the cowardly 9-11 attacks on the United States no politician dared to sound a note of caution to a war-frenzied nation. Only when it was safe to express doubts did they come out of the dove's nest, becoming full-fledged peacemakers. Christ is the one who came to speak peace to humanity's warring madness. He was considered quite daft, even by His own earthly family, because He refused to use the tactics of power on His enemies. He gave Himself over into the power of those who hated Him, and absorbed into His own holy person their holy war against God. He preached peace when the world had only ears for rapine and crushing legal burdens. He gave the truth when power bent the pruning hooks of truth into spears. He turned spears into the weapon of His grace when the centurion opened His side to issue blood and water from Him, returning the spear into a pruning hook in the process. He has given peace that we might give it to each other.