Preaching peace
on the brink of war

'Prophetic preaching in a Time of Crisis' was the topic for a workshop at LTSP
organized by The Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia

Professor Robert B. Robinson: "The witness is the important part."

In a time of international turmoil, how do Christians find a voice for peace? Can people both pray for peace and remain patriotic? Where do pastors find resources to both comfort and educate their congregations during war? These questions, and numerous others were addressed at a March 18 Prophetic Preaching workshop for church leaders organized by the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia (MCCP) and hosted by The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP).

Participating were area clergy and lay leaders, including the Rev. Dr. Robert Robinson, the seminary’s Anna Burkhalter Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew. Fourteen speakers addressed an audience of more than 40 other attendees. Activities for the day included morning worship, panel discussions, reflections on history, and two small-group sermon presentations. Dr. Robinson welcomed the group with solemn words.

"The reality is that we meet in a time of crisis," he said. "We know that this crisis is theological at its heart. The heart of that theological crisis is the question of whether God’s passion for opposing evil can be expressed through modern warfare and through the politics of the modern nation state. The real work that we do today will focus on congregations--to lead congregations in this discussion of what God is doing, where God is present in our midst now."

John Stoesz, executive director of MCCP, opened worship with these pertinent questions: "Christian unity is a gift that God gives us in Jesus Christ. We all affirm one God, one world, one human family. And so at a time like this, when it looks like our world will be at war, how do we stand? What is our witness?"

The highlight of worship was a sermon by guest preacher the Rev. Isaac Miller, rector at the Episcopal Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia.

"We all struggle with, Where is the One whom we follow as Lord? Where is the son of Mary as we stand before our sisters and brothers in the faith, in the struggle to speak something of God’s truth, God’s love, and God’s call to us all," Miller said. "My guess is that we all recognize that Jesus is with us all. That includes those folks in Mesopotamia who are about to experience unimaginable violence, destruction, and death. He’s with the sons and daughters, brothers and sisters from this country who are camped out in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and on ships at sea. He’s with us. I hope and pray that we are held near and dear."

His sermon set a tone for the day as picked up by the Rev. Alfred Krass, a key planner for the event. "If we do prophecy in the wrong way we promote division," Krass said. "But if we do prophecy in a New Testament way we will work not to divide hawks from doves, peace activists from police and the military, Americans from Iraqis but to bring them into a new relationship where each sees the other as God's child."

Other highlights from the event:

• Dr. Robert Robinson, LTSP professor of Old Testament: "We are all called to prophecy. The important thing for us is that God’s word be in our midst. Success of the witness does not belong to us. You deliver your witness knowing that it probably will not be received. It is not dependent on success, but you are not measured by your failure either. The witness is the important part."

• The Rev. Richard Fernandez, former director of Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam: "We should not back away from moral argument in the political world. We all have our point of view, but at the end of the day, our voice is as Christians, and we should speak as Christians. Good men and women dying for a cause does not make that cause one whit more good."

• The Rev. Darwin Collins, regional minister for The Christian Church in Philadelphia: "Be prophetic, but be pastoral theologians as well. They (congregations) first must hear the faithfulness of God’s presence in a terrifying world. We have good news to share. We have the hopeful Word to share."

• The Rev. Patricia Pearce, pastor of Tabernacle United Church in West Philadelphia: She described the gospel of "God so loved the world" as a gospel of inclusion that seeks to bring divided people together. "We are witnessing the struggle between two sacred stories, redemptive violence and God so loved the world. We have to nurture the second sacred story. They (the governing bodies) have to know that there is another way, and part of our task is to help them to see it."

• The Rev. Dr. Paul Mojzes, professor of Religious Studies at Rosemont College, shared the results of his study on the former Yugoslavia and noted that in that setting each church had contributed to developing a kind of nationalism that demonized those of other ethnic backgrounds. He added that, "You cannot talk about the prophets without speaking about what is going on now. We (the Church) have a tradition of resisting. We have to stand up and be counted."