Memorial Day: "Do this, in remembrance of me."

As I finished dinner Sunday night, I tuned in late to "60 Minutes" just in time to hear the comments of Andy Rooney on the importance of continuing to remember American soldiers who died in wartime, and on a future Memorial Day worth celebrating. Some of Andy's words follow here (see the "60 minutes" CBS website for a video of his complete comments):

...the men--boys really--who died in our wars really deserve at least a few moments of reflection, during which we consider what they did for us: they died. We use the phrase "gave their lives", but they didn't give their lives, their lives were taken from them. There is more bravery at war than in peace and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity, war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.
Because I was in the army during WWII, I have more to remember on Memorial Day than most of you. I had good friends who were killed.(Here Andy remembers three close friends who died in WWII, where he served in the Army). I won't think of them any more on Memorial Day (however) than I think of them on any other day of my life....
...I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day (itself) not to the memory of those who died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future, if we don't find some new way--some new religion, maybe, that takes war out of our lives. That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating.
--Andy Rooney, "60 Minutes" May 25, 2008.

Fortunately, for Andy and the rest of us, we already have this "new way". Walter Wink, a New Testament theologian calls it "Gospel Nonviolence: Jesus's Third Way+. Gospel nonviolence is not only the way of Jesus himself, but a way he taught all of his disciples both during his life (the “way of the cross”) and in his own resurrection: ("Put your fingers in the prints of my hands, put your hand in my side. Do not be afraid, but believe”, he said to Thomas. “Then he breathed upon them, saying: 'Peace be with you.")
It is also the way which was recognized, taught, and practiced by all of the Apostles and most of the Early Church: what we now call "the Apostle's teaching and fellowship". This was a fellowship, a growing community of believers in the crucified and Risen Christ. The bible itself first calls them followers of “the way”: a way which included the nonviolence and peace of Jesus Christ as central to their own faith, teaching, and public witness: even to the point of martyrdom by stoning before the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin (as with St. Stephen), and, later, in the Roman Coliseum (with the later martyrs). It is the teaching and fellowship of these Early Apostles which I pledge to follow every time we Episcopalians, among those Christians who hold to the “Apostolic succession”, recite at our oath of baptism. This oath also includes this pledge: "Will you strive for justice and peace, and respect the dignity of every human being?" "I will, with God's help".
Especially with God's help, then, we don't need a "new religion". We just need to follow faithfully, by God's amazing Grace, the religion we already proclaim to practice and uphold. Neither do we need a "new way", for "the way the truth and the life" of fidelity to God, and to true peace, has already been manifest in Jesus--a life lived not just for Christians, but for all people of every faith, culture, or creed. And, if that weren't enough upon which to base a new, "Third Way" (a way beyond fear or acquiescence on the one hand, and force of arms on the other), we have a cloud of countless witnesses to the way of peace through nonviolence: Isaiah of Jerusalem, A.J. Heschel, members of the Israeli peace movement and former military who have refused to defend by force the unjust occupation of Palestinian land, and countless members of the Jewish Peace Fellowship; Badshah Khan, countless Sufi Mystics and martyrs, and current members of the Muslim Peace Fellowship; St. Francis, St. Clare, the Quakers, Anabaptists, Mennonites, and Bretheren; David Oakerhater, Bp. Paul Jones, Evelyn Underhill, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Dan and Philip Berrigan, and countless other Christians; Mohandes Gandhi and the thousands of Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim Satyagrahis who liberated India from British rule without firing a single shot. Members of the Danish resistance: a widespread public movement of Danes who resisted, nonviolently, their Nazi occupiers, and managed to rescue thousands of Jews from deportation to death camps. Members of the White Rose, a brave group of young students who openly called upon their German brethren to resist and refuse allegiance to Hitler's warmaking. Historic and contemporary adherents to the Buddhist faith, including, today, Tich Nhat Hanh, who prayed, served, and stood against the terrible tides of war in both North and South Vietnam, and was nominated by Dr. King himself for a Nobel Prize, and the Dalai Lama, whose story is by now familiar to all.

All these persons, and many more, have witnessed to the way of peace, the way of nonviolence, the way wherein all outward warfare may, and--one day--truly will cease. We only have need to follow, more faithfully, in "the way" which Jesus, and these many witnesses, have already pioneered. The task is just that simple--exceedingly simple. And also just that difficult--enormously difficult. With God's help, however, all things are not only possible but, in Christ, the Victory over violence and war has already been won. We only have to bear witness to, and embody, His victory more fully on earth, as it already is—most gloriously--in heaven.
Perhaps we can start with our remembering Jesus himself (as we do regularly in the Comunion Service, the Eucharist: "in remembrance of me") on this Memorial Day. Perhaps we can also remember those who also gave their lives, or "laid down their lives for their friends" not only by carrying, bearing, or brandishing the sword, but also by putting up the sword (as Jesus told Peter), and nevertheless stood against the tide of war, the threats to civilians, or the absurd claims of unjust war by the leaders of our nation, and, indeed, many other nations. Perhaps if we remember them, along with Jesus himself, we might be moved to further consider, and even practice more deeply what Andy Rooney calls a "new way, some new religion...that takes war out of our lives."
Quaker founder, George Fox, put it this way, as he himself faced ostracism, persecution, belittlement, and banning from many Anglican and English churches of his day: "I went forth into the world seeking that of God in every human being; seeking the way that puts an end to all outward forms of warring."
This "new way" has, indeed, been with us at least since Jesus and the Early Apostles and, perhaps (according to Gandhi) for many millennia before them, at least in Vedic (Indian) tradition. It is a way which our own church, our society, and our world must long, like Andy Rooney, to embrace more fully, if we simply "have ears to hear". Given a new generation of Californians, many of whom have not been raised knowing much of the bible or the Christian faith, yet who, like Andy Rooney, are weary of war, the "harvest is plentiful" for the Good News of Jesus Christ, and his "new way" of the nonviolent cross: a "war which makes all for peace", in the words of an American Indian warrior-turned-saint (and Episcopal Deacon), David Pendleton Oakerhater.
I invite all of us at Trinity Cathedral to include nonviolence-- this important dimension of Jesus's own "Good News"-- in our preaching, teaching, learning, and daily practice as followers of the Prince of Peace. I invite us to include justice, peace, reconciliation, conflict resolution, mediation, and dialog with those we love, with those with whom we may disagree, and even with those we may consider “enemies”: in ALL aspects of our lives. And I offer myself, as a hospice chaplain, as one struggling to be a faithful peacemaker, and as a member of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and the (Interfaith) Fellowship of Reconciliation, to further contribute in this effort.
May we all this weekend remember those in the military who served and died in our nation's many wars (at least since the Civil War, when the first Memorial Day began), and find comfort in God's promise of eternal life for all: be they saints, sinners, or (like most of us) somewhere in between. May we also remember those who also gave their lives for peace, for justice, for nonviolence: to end slavery, to harbor and rescue slaves, Jews, refugees, and victims, to resist the Nazis, to ban the bomb, to stop an unjust war, and needless loss of both American and "enemy" lives, and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ: all those who believed it better and more faithful, at least for themselves, to do so without bearing arms. Those who, instead, both foolishly and faithfully, risked their lives to, instead, to brave the Cross.
And may we remember more clearly the person, the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus Christ and his nonviolent way of the Cross: the "new religion (actually, a restatement of a very old religion) that takes war out of our lives." May you, and Andy Rooney, truly have a Memorial Day worth celebrating.

+ For Wink, Jesus's “Third Way” involves his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, Luke's “beatitudes”, and his teaching and references to bearing the Cross among his disciples: a way beyond fear or acquiescence on the one hand, and force of arms to secure God's Kingdom on the other. For those of us who saw the film “Gandhi”, or are familiar with the teaching and witness of Dr. King or the Dalai Lama, this “Third Way” may be more familiar). I am hoping to include Walter Wink's short but very powerful and insightful commentary on Jesus in a workshop and class at Trinity Cathedral this Fall. Keep your “eye on the Cross” (our newsletter), for further information, and call or Email me with your own questions, comments, or proposed topics for our discussion, reflection, and faithful practice. I would especially welcome anyone who has personally or professionally practiced nonviolence, conflict resolution, therapeutic treatment of persons with PTSD, reconciliation of estranged partners or adversaries, or participated in the peace, civil rights, or environmental “movements”. I also welcome anyone who has served our country in wartime: either as a soldier, a medic, a chaplain, a U.S. or U.N. Peacekeeper, or as a conscientious objector offering alternative service to those in need in our own country, or abroad.