Wage Peace
Led By Rev. Steven A. Protzman
November 10, 2013
First Reading
Second Reading
Poem "Wage Peace" by Judyth Hill1
Excerpts from Mark Twain's "War Prayer"2
Wage Peace
By Steven A. Protzman
© November, 2013
Poet Judyth Hill invites us to "Wage peace", to use our breath and our ears and our hands
and our hearts to not only actively work for peace, but to act as if peace is already a reality.
As we thank and honor our veterans for their service to our country on this Veterans' Day, let
us reflect on our sixth principle, the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice
for all.
The writer Anne LaMott tells of a time when she and a friend were together, with both of their
two year old sons playing. As happens with two year olds, there began to be a lot of talk about
“me” and “mine”. And pretty soon her friend’s child raised his tightly closed fist, looked at
the other boy, and said, “I have the Itty Tro!” Now keep in mind that nobody in that room
knew what the “Itty Tro” was, but sure enough, the other child immediately said, “I WANT
the Itty Tro!”. And even the mothers, LaMott admitted, although remaining ever so much
more sophisticated about it all, had to admit to the tiniest sense of aligning with their own sons
in this struggle over… precisely nothing. In the end, when they pried open the clenched fist of
the one “who started it” they found nothing at all. It was all about symbolic power, symbolic
victory.3 After that behavior, I would have given that kid a thirty year time out. Where did
those two year olds learn this behavior? Is it human nature? Am I wasting my breath inviting
you to wage peace with these words because the strongest instinct in all life is to survive no
matter what?
The behavior of those two year olds is a reflection of the human struggle for power and for
control. At the global level, nations create their own "Itty Tro's". Stories of superiority and
the blessing of the God who is on their side are used by governments and leaders to justify the
human drive for victory and power, no matter the cost. What is equally horrifying is how a
people tend to respond. The mob mentality takes over and even those who might question the
wisdom of war are caught up in the fervor. Today's second reading was excerpts from Mark
Twain's War Prayer. The piece itself is much longer and there is a passage which describes the
war fever that has swept the nation: "Sunday morning came -- next day the battalions would
leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight
with martial dreams -- visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing
charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce
pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored,
submerged in golden seas of glory!" Mark Twain also comments on those who dare to
question this noble human enterprise: "the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove
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of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry
warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no
more in that way."4 The messenger from God is labeled as a lunatic who makes no sense.
Although the weapons of war have changed since this piece was written against the
background of the Philippine-American war in 1910, its message of the evil and horrors of
war is timeless and very relevant today. War is one of the ugliest aspects of humanity and it
reminds us that we are actually inferior to the other animals on this planet, who at least kill to
survive, rather than kill out of a sense of superiority, self-righteousness or even sport. While I
often begin my sermons with a joke or funny story, there is nothing funny or light hearted
about war. There is no humor in the lives that are lost or damaged beyond repair. There is no
joy in the enormous waste of money, energy and other resources that conflict consumes,
resources that could be used to make life more bearable for the millions of people on this earth
who do without life's basics every day. There is no laughter in the cry of the widows and
orphaned children that war leaves in its wake. There is no dignity or goodness in using
religion to justify the wholesale slaughter of human beings.
Religion, which should help us become our most noble selves and inspire us to bring about a
world where justice and peace dwell, instead creates a dilemma about war. In the scriptures of
the three Abrahamic faiths- Judaism, Christianity and Islam- there are passages that can be
used to justify either war or peace. While a peaceful world that “shall never again know war”
is one of Judaism’s goals, the Tanakh, the Hebrew scripture, is filled with stories and
discussions of war. The books Joshua and 2 Samuel are full of stories of battle and
repetitiously lists the ancient Israelites’ wars during their conquest of Israel. The Tanakh
frequently portrays God as an active warrior. In the Newer Testament, Jesus will tell you to
turn the other cheek in one passage; in another, he says that there won't be peace but brother
will rise against father and sister against mother. Christianity also has a doctrine of just war,
situations in which war is seen as a suitable response to aggression. The very word Islam
means peace and yet there are passages that invite the believer to rise up against the infidel,
those who do not follow Allah.5
History makes its own indictment of human nature. In the book What Every Person Should
Know About War Christopher Hedges writes, “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been
entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.”6 This country has
always had an addiction to the "Itty Tro's"-from the moment Christopher Columbus landed
and began slaughtering and subduing the indigenous peoples to the Puritans building their
shining city on the hill and persecuting those who didn't believe as they did. Manifest Destiny
was a myth used to justify war with Mexico and taking land from the indigenous peoples as
we moved westward. American Exceptionalism is the concept that our way of democracy and
capitalism is the only way to live and that we have the right to impose our system on the rest
of the world. Five hundred years later, we haven't learned a thing. 9/11, the event that is
spoken of as the day that America lost its innocence, was a wake up call to this country; a
wake up call we didn't heed. As a nation, we came together to grieve but we did not take time
to reflect on what we had done to bring jihad down upon us. Instead, we took up the cause of
God and country and attacked Iraq under the false pretenses of weapons of mass destruction,
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squandering the support and good will of the world. Twelve years later, our leaders act
paranoid. There are terrorists lurking around every corner. We have angered our allies by
spying on them. We barely avoided armed conflict in Syria and American drones are
committing murder in the world. The reality of war's cost in lives was denied as pictures of
our soldiers' bodies coming home in boxes from Iraq and Afghanistan were hidden from us.
We hear so many stories on the news of war and violence that many of us have become numb
to the horror.
When will we come to our senses? When will we understand that war is a spiritual sickness
that destroys everything it touches? Where is the spirit of the 1960s and 70s, the age of
rebellion with its anti-war protests and rejection of a broken system? Some of you were there,
wearing your bell bottoms, running around in wildly painted vans, saying things like "make
love, not war" and "groovy, baby"; and singing songs like "One Tin Soldier", "This Land is
Your Land", and "Turn, Turn, Turn". When did we become so complacent? Are there so
many things competing for our attention and our energy that we simply cannot commit to
waging peace? Tomorrow, Veterans' Day, is a holiday. We take this time to remember and to
honor our veterans, people who were willing to risk their lives to protect the freedoms we
enjoy, the privileges we take for granted. I thank our veterans and I honor you this day, but
my words, indeed any words, of thanks are not enough. Nor should we mark the day by
celebrating with parades or fireworks or festive outings. Veterans' Day and Memorial Day
should be days of sorrow and repentance for all the times in human history and in American
history when we settled with the sword what should have been settled with words of peace and
reconciliation. These should be days to grieve our brutality and evil, our inability to find
peaceful means to overcome our differences and to live in harmony with one another. These
should be days in which we dare to dream of world peace, even if it seems impossible. These
should be days in which we truly thank and honor our veterans by committing our lives to
waging peace.
We may believe that as individuals we are powerless, but one person can make a world of
difference. I learned this week about Dr. Robert Muller. He was an international civil servant
with the United Nations for 40 years. He served as Assistant Secretary General and his ideas
about world government, world peace and spirituality led to the increased representation of
religions in the UN. In 2003 Dr. Muller was awarded the Goi Peace Prize. In his acceptance
speech he wrote a daring narrative about the world: "Never before in the history of the world
has there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation about the very
legitimacy of war. The whole world is in now having this critical and historic dialogue-listening to all kinds of points of view and positions about going to war or not going to war.
In a huge global public conversation the world is asking-"Is war legitimate? Is there enough
evidence to warrant an attack? What will be the consequences? The costs? What will happen
after a war? How will this set off other conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives?
What kind of negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for declaring
war?" Dr. Muller goes on to say that: "We, the world community, are WAGING peace. It is
difficult, hard work. It is constant and we must not let up. It is working and it is an historic
milestone of immense proportions. It has never happened before-never in human history-and
it is happening now-every day every hour-waging peace through a global conversation." After
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he retired from the UN, Dr. Muller was an internationally acclaimed, multilingual speaker and
author of fourteen books published in various languages. One of his major writings came
from creating one idea-dream each day for nurturing a better world. His goal was to have
written 2000 ideas and dreams by the beginning of the new millennium. He achieved this and
went on to write over 7000 ideas and dreams, many of which have been achieved.7
As Unitarian Universalists, we have a shared dream of peace. Our sixth principle calls us to
affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. How
do we begin the journey toward such peace? Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu provides some
guidance. He wrote: “If there’s to be peace in the world, there must be peace in our
communities. If there’s to be peace in our communities, there must be peace in our families.
If there’s to be peace in our families, there must be peace in ourselves.” True peace begins
with each one of us. Have we looked in our own hearts? Are we at peace with ourselves?
Are we living peace in our relationships? Is our response to conflict one of peace and the
desire to be reconciled? In a few moments, we will sing the words “Let there be peace on
earth, and let it begin with me”. Together we will affirm our willingness to take personal
responsibility for peace, for it must begin with each and every one of us.
The first reading, Judyth Hill's poem "Wage Peace" also provides guidance for us as we
commit our lives to peace. We can't literally breathe in destruction and violence and breathe
out peace and beauty, but we can visualize what peace looks like. We can use the tools we
have at our disposal to recreate the world. Judyth tells us that when we "hear sirens, pray
loud. Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers. Make soup. Play music,
learn the word for thank you in three languages. Learn to knit, and make a hat." She invites
us to dream of a different world, a world at peace, and then make it happen. Plant flowers,
create beauty, practice gratitude. Live as if armistice has already arrived. Live as if peace is a
reality, not a distant dream. In the song "Turn, Turn, Turn" there are these words: "A time for
peace, I swear it's not too late." Will you commit your life to waging peace?
I invite you to join me now in a meditation for waging peace. This time is a gift to reflect on
how you can wage peace or to offer a prayer for peace. To pray for peace in your heart, for
peace in this city, for peace in the world. As you feel comfortable, you are also welcome to
come forward and light a candle. Come forward and light a candle of hope, a candle of grief,
a candle of remembrance, a candle that symbolizes your commitment to wage peace, or a
candle that is your prayer for peace.
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References
1
Hill, Judyth, Wage Peace, Poem,
http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2002/09/11_hill_wage-peace.htm
2
Twain, Mark, War Prayer, http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/making/warprayer.html
3
Bagley-Bonner, Judy, "Another Sermon About Peace?, Sermon September 12, 2013,
http://eastshore.org/sermons_read/2012/09-23-12.html
4
Twain, Mark, ibid.
5
Dorn, A. Walter and Cation, Anne Frances, The Justifications for War and Peace in World
Religions, Defense R and D Canada, Contract Report, July 2009
6
Belote, Thom, "Where Does Peace Begin?", Sermon May 9, 2010,
http://revthom.blogspot.com/2010/05/sermon-where-does-peace-begin-delivered.html
7
http://www.michaelherman.com/cgi/wiki.cgi?WagingPeace
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