On Earth Peace is inviting you, your congregation, and the Church of the Brethren to join in discovering and recovering the particular Brethren DNA of sacrificial discipleship. Our commitments to service, peace, reconciliation, and justice --- are special to what makes Brethren ourselves. Being Brethren is not just the same as being any other Christian.

Brethren Christians orient ourselves to follow the Prince of Peace on a path of costly discipleship. Jesus being Lord and Savior affects how we live our lives, the million decisions that make up the day - how we treat family, co-workers, strangers, those different from us. How we learn to live in and live from Christ’s sacrificial love. Jesus proclaimed a saving message of wholeness and liberation for the Blind, Sick, Poor, Widow, and Prisoner, and an early church who preached to Centurions and Eunuchs alike, to those at the center and those at the margins. Regardless of whether you consider yourself conservative, evangelical, moderate, progressive - these teachings about how to follow Jesus can guide us as part of a living and historic peace church.

It matters what kind of Christian we are, because we live in a polarized society. In 2024 any of us regardless of our political perspective might describe the United States as a polarized place, split along lines of belief, worldview, and vision. School boards are breaking down. The upcoming election is heating up. In United States society, if not within the Church of the Brethren, people are more and more ready to write people off, call names, and sometimes throw a punch. And some advocate worse violence --That’s the air we’re breathing. Drawing from the work of the Horizons Project, I observe that there’s a breakdown of social connection in our society, and some are attempting to divide or control others. This is not a single individual or a few individuals doing this. It's also not a “red”, “blue”, “left”, or “right” phenomenon. Any party or ideology is susceptible to wanting to shut down or attack others.

This kind of polarization can and does escalate to political violence. Political violence is one group of people threatening or hurting another group of people for political reasons.  For example: Community members being threatened for speaking up on a school board or town council; white nationalists threatening a mosque; armed militias threatening libraries; public release of personal contact info to scare someone into silence; a pastor being intimidated by anonymous attackers to put them in their place; or self-appointed election watchers bringing guns to a polling place to intimidate voters.

Hardy Merriman writes: While relatively few in the US are directly physically attacked for their political activities, when these incidents happen, fear ripples outward among public officials and communities across the country, including and beyond Black and brown communities that have historically been targeted with political violence…Virtually no one is exempt from being targeted. Threats are directed at non-partisan election workers; elected officials of both major parties; professionals in schools, healthcare, and libraries; clergy; journalists; judges and juries; members of law enforcement; non-profit organizations; historically marginalized groups; businesses; and ordinary people seeking to uphold democracy and constitutional rights. --Harnessing Our Power to End (HOPE) Political Violence, 22nd Century Initiative and the Horizons Project, 2024. Online. www.endpoliticalviolence.org.

There are Brethren in these categories, people we know who have already received threats and intimidation for speaking out, often after speaking out and speaking up about Brethren values like peace, equity, and justice.

Those who threaten or incite political violence are trying to limit people's involvement in community life. In short, our public space is under attack from bullies.

The question I want to bring to the Church of the Brethren in 2024: Not just what should society do, or what should Christians do, but what should we do about this as the Church of the Brethren, an historic and living peace church for 300 years? What is our responsibility as a peace church in a polarized society rife with threats of violence? What is our faith’s best expression in these times?

Alexander Mack Seal - Artist: Kay Guyer 

In the words of Baptist minister Jarvis Williams: As Christians, “our weapon is our ability to bear the burdens of others - bear burdens for our brother and sisters - being willing to bleed so they don’t have to bleed.”
Our uniquely Brethren DNA of radical discipleship, means following Jesus even unto the cross. We follow Jesus in how he lived and how he engaged people. And it doesn’t look like some of what we are seeing around us.

At our best, our kind of Christian has believed in sacrificing ourselves or paying a great personal cost to stop violence.
We lift up Ted Studebaker [a pacifist and conscientious objector who was killed in Vietnam doing alternative service],
We lift up Art Gish [who stopped an Israeli tank from bulldozing a Palestinian house],
We honor Peggy Gish [who has worked as a nonviolent accompanier of people under threat in Iraq and Kurdistan];
We think of John Kline, an elder in our tradition from Virginia who crossed back and forth across the border during the civil war and was assassinated.
We think of the Seagoing Cowboys…young men who accompanied animals donated to starving European communities after the Second World War.

Jesus told Peter to put his sword away. We know that verse as pacifists. What does it mean in our current moment, in these politics that surround us?
Luke 9:52-54 - When Jesus wasn’t welcomed, the disciples wanted to rain down fire but Jesus rebuked them. Are there those among us now in the US who want to rain down fire on their opponents? What is our responsibility in this moment as those who stand with Jesus’ rebuke of the call for violence?

How can we Brethren stand up in this environment and engage in creative ways? How could we prepare ourselves to be ready to respond to our neighbors in love and to our world with Christian nonviolence?
On Earth Peace would like to join with all who seek to respond creatively and courageously.

Please let us know if this issue concerns you or affects you by emailing OEP @ OnEarthPeace.org, and stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to engage.