How can we be peace makers?
sermon by Manfred Schreyer

(NIV)  Mat 5:1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, :2 and he began to teach them, saying: :3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. :4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. :5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. :6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. :7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. :8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. :10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. :11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. :13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. :14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. :15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. :17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.:18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. :19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

• We as Church of the Brethren are known for our stance on peace and have been known so since our founders.

• Yet the issue of peace is a difficult issue. Over the time some of us have served in the military. They have protected our political system for the very peace we all desire.

• The arguments about peace are very diverse across all denominations. Some argue that peace can only be achieved when violence is eradicated.

• The recent war against Iraq only symbolizes the sometimes deep divide over solving the arguments about peace and war.

• What do we do with a people or a regime that is willing to slaughter its people in gruesome ways and continues to torture thousands of people.

• When we stand for peace, the virtue that all of humankind really desires for themselves, do we neglect the behavior of those who we do not understand in hope that they may change their mind?

• Or do we recognize that their behavior in regards to human rights issues is different then ours and we allow them to be different? If we do, so do we not run the risk of being “overrun” by violence some day. I believe that people are brought by leadership to the place of accepting violence and human right violation and the very same people see “their way” as the way of the truth.

• Most of the conflicts in this world runs between Muslim and Christians. Their understanding of God is so very different than ours and their understanding of Grace is so very different that many of us cannot even claim that we are worshiping the same God. Extremist Muslims do not hate us as human beings; extremist Muslims hate what we seem to stand for. They hate the behavior of our society. They hate women showing off their body on HBO, they hate prostitution, they hate the decadence of our society . . . and the funny thing is the values they hate. . . .most of us hate as well. But they also do not believe in the order of democracy. Most Muslims believe in a patriarchal society. They believe in strict laws and their justice is often grim and brutal in comparison to ours.
They believe in family; the structure of the family and they enforce the structure of the family harshly.

• No, I mind you not all Muslims are believers in extreme measures, not all Muslims are violent and for the most part only fundamentalist of Islam like Shiites proclaim violence as an act for God.

• Having said that we have to understand that Islam does not encourage it's followers the questioning of faith and it participates heavily in political affairs; from a Muslim perspective, Government and Islam should govern a country.

• Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity and grows at a rate of 400% per year in the United States.

• Obviously the religion offers humankind something that others are not able to give . . . but I will save that for a later sermon.

• If you have the determination by a religion of not questioning the things that are present, those who are involved in a political framework . . . then a system comes to a halt in all aspects of society. The fact is that most Moslem cultures are far behind the West in technology, scientific discoveries, etc. The entire culture comes to a halt and within it knowledge goes into a coma like state. If you trace the culture of muslemic cultures in its early stages you will find that many of them had brilliant scientists and ancient libraries are filled with discoveries in any aspect of science, etc.

• It is not that Muslims hate a good burger from McDonald’s, their anger is about what McDonald is associated with. Progress, decadence, humanism . . . a society that knows no limits, everything goes from abortion to the acceptance of homosexuals, prostitution, where according to Islam virtues are limited.

• We can agree, the society we live in as Christians has developed into a society where we have learned to accept almost everything . . . with the exception of another system such as Muslim ruled societies. Obviously for reasons not only to protect human rights but also to protect the integrity of the system which we believe is the right system.
• It comes down to the issue of truth and knowledge and allowing knowledge to progress.

• Islamic ruled countries as I mentioned before really live centuries behind our knowledge base. We as a progressive society have claimed new truths. . .the truth that racism is wrong, that we all have the same rights, that slavery is wrong, that humans have to be respected and that the pursuit of happiness has to be made available . . .

• Peace and war really come down to these two issues: Knowledge and truth.

• I believe that truth comes through knowledge, knowledge comes through experience and experience comes through creative thoughts. When we are able to separate the good from the bad over time, when we are able to become fully aware of human thought consequences, then we come closer to the truth.

• Peace and War. I believe that even though we mark the wars as the wars of religion, we really fight as people who have gained more experience and are closer to the truth. Please, do not interpret my analogy that Christianity is superior in knowledge that any other religion, but the choice of religion can only be practiced in a system that allows for questioning about us . . . the human.

• And so Jesus says this, that blessed are the peace makers. We all can be peacemakers, because wars will lead to oppressed minds, wars lead to unforgiving memories, wars lead to losses of minds and loved ones. We as Christians need to be peacemakers in giving those options who have no options. In giving them the option of peace. We as a nation have not done so in a way others may understand in their knowledge of the world.

• The reality is that if in a conflict people believe they can bring peace to others (them) by teaching them “the/a new” system (through power) in order to bring peace, then they are wrong. Peace can only come from within. By claiming the idea and now by indoctrinating an idea or by any other force. This takes time, skill, negotiation . . . The best reference is the Berlin Wall. The wall did not come down because of force, but because of the peoples’ journey toward freedom.

• Jesus asks of sacrifice, of mercy, in being meek. We cannot believe by grabbing our weapons to subdue the human mind peace . . .but to give the option of peace.

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