A Response to “Iran Bombing Threat” – by Bruce Gillette

Read Chris Iosso’s article as published on Unbound

Chris Iosso’s excel­lent arti­cle is one that we all should be shar­ing within our churches, pres­by­ter­ies (for PCUSA folks) and online friends around the coun­try. Peo­ple of faith were too timid in oppos­ing the forces for war with Iraq with the results of thou­sands dead, more wounded, bil­lions wasted and a more inse­cure, unjust world. We need to be bolder now in pur­su­ing the ways of peace and coun­ter­ing forces of destruction.

Today’s news reports “Iran’s Supreme Leader Lauds Obama” seehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/ayatollah-khamenei-obama_n_1330645.htmlWe need more local reli­gious lead­ers to fol­low Gradye Par­sons’ exam­ple here in theUSA. I am meet­ing with Sen­a­tor Coons’ for­eign pol­icy staff next week. I hope oth­ers are try­ing to meet and com­mun­ci­ate with oth­ers in Con­gress now.

The PCUSA GA study paper “Iraq: Our Respon­si­bil­ity and the Future” looks at the Just War doc­tine and is good read­ing to see how it needs to be applied today, it is a down­load­able file at http://www.pcusa.org/media/uploads/acswp/pdf/iraq-resolution.pdf

The PCUSA’s Con­fes­sion of 1967 speaks today:

“God’s rec­on­cil­i­a­tion in Jesus Christ is the ground of the peace, jus­tice, and free­dom among nations which all pow­ers of gov­ern­ment are called to serve and defend. The church, in its own life, is called to prac­tice the for­give­ness of ene­mies and to com­mend to the nations as prac­ti­cal pol­i­tics the search for coop­er­a­tion and peace. This search requires that the nations pur­sue fresh and respon­si­ble rela­tions across every line of con­flict, even at risk to national secu­rity, to reduce areas of strife and to broaden inter­na­tional under­stand­ing. Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion among nations becomes pecu­liarly urgent as coun­tries develop nuclear, chem­i­cal, and bio­log­i­cal weapons, divert­ing their man­power and resources from con­struc­tive uses and risk­ing the anni­hi­la­tion of mankind. Although nations may serve God’s pur­poses in his­tory, the church which iden­ti­fies the sov­er­eignty of any one nation or any one way of life with the cause of God denies the Lord­ship of Christ and betrays its calling.”

Beyond our study and advo­cacy, we need to pray. St. Augus­tine says those who sing pray twice, here is a hymn writ­ten on the eve of the war with Iraq that con­tin­ues to be relevant:

God, Whose Love Is Always Stronger
BEACH SPRING 8.7.8.7 D (“God Whose Giv­ing Knows No Ending”)

God, whose love is always stronger Than our weak­ness, pride and fear,
In your world, we pray and won­der How to be more faith­ful here.
Hate too often grows inside us; Fear rules what the nations do.
So we pray, when wars divide us: Give us love, Lord! Make us new!

Love is patient, kind and car­ing, Never arro­gant or rude,
Never boast­ful, all things bear­ing; Love rejoices in the truth.
When we’re caught up in believ­ing War will make the ter­ror cease,
Show us Jesus’ way of liv­ing; May our strength be in your peace.

May our faith in you be nour­ished; May your churches hear your call.
May our lives be filled with courage As we speak your love for all.
Now embold­ened by your Spirit Who has given us new birth,
Give us love, that we may share it Till your love renews the earth!

Bib­li­cal Ref­er­ences: Romans 8:28–39; 2 Corinthi­ans 12:9; John 3:7; Rev­e­la­tion 21:5; 1 Corinthi­ans 13:4–5; John 14:27; Matthew 5–7; 1 Thes­sa­lo­ni­ans 2:2; John 3:16, 17:18; Psalm 46:9; Romans 8:22.
Tune: The Sacred Harp, 1844. Harm. James H. Wood, 1958.
Alter­nate Tune: ABBOT’S LEIGH 8.7.8.7 D (God Is Here!) by Cyril Vin­cent Tay­lor, 1941.
Alter­nate Tune: HYFRYDOL 8.7.8.7 D (Alleluia! Sing to Jesus!) by Row­land Hugh Prichard, 1831.
Text: Copy­right © 2003 by Car­olyn Win­frey Gillette. All rights reserved.

http://www.carolynshymns.com/god_whose_love_is_always_stronger.html

Rev. Bruce Gillette and his wife, Carolyn, are co-pastors of Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware. He earned a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology in Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. His is the co-author of “A New Creation in Christ: A Study Guide for Churches Uniting in Christ.” He served as the moderator of the 68-member Assembly Committee on Peacemaking for the 2004 General Assembly meeting.