Trying

The views reflected in this blog are my own and do not represent the views of the Department of Defense, the US Navy, Camp Lemonnier, or Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. In other words, if you don't like it, blame me not them.

I had the occasion recently to be in a conversation about what it means to be a Christian in the midst of all the chaos of this world. What I realized during the conversation is how much I am in the midst of the messiness. I’m not really surprised by that realization. I made the choice to serve in the US Navy because I knew that this world is a complicated reality and I wanted (needed) to do what I could to address that reality. It is important to me not to get stuck living in a theological exercise – an academic exploration of what it means to be Christian – and to actually live out my faith in a way that addresses real stuff. God is not simply something about which to talk and think. God is at work in a world that is truly messed up.

It’s not getting less messed up either. We’re at “war” – again. We've begun airstrikes against ISIS in support of a Middle East coalition to end a threat. Right there we run into the common problem – or should I say problems. This is where it gets messy. This is where the academic exercise ends. Because there simply aren't easy answers when we try to respond to what this world does to itself. I don’t consider myself a militarist. I don’t think violence solves the problem.

But I’m also a realist. I have been pondering Romans 12:18 a lot lately, “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Scripture clearly suggests that the Kingdom of God is not about power and violence, but we don’t live within the fulfilled Kingdom. That little clause, “so far as it depends on you” carries a lot of weight. There is an acknowledgment that we can’t choose peace on our own. Someone else has to be at peace with us or we can’t live peaceably.

The other idea that is a constant companion comes from Stanley Hauerwas:

“you must be willing to watch innocent people suffer for your convictions. Of course, that’s true. In the hard cases, it means it’s not just your death, it’s watching other people die, whom you might have been able to defend. Now of course, you want to try to do everything you can that would prevent that alternative. But you may have to envision that.”

Trust me that I’m not taking this quote out of context. Hauerwas was speaking about how we respond to the violence of the world. I think I can live out “turn the other cheek” when it comes to myself, but I don’t think I can stand by and watch someone else suffer or die because I think it’s more important to stick to a theological ideal.

I’ll be the first to admit that the United States has made a lot of mistakes in how we've handled our role in the world. The messes that exist have our fingerprints on them, but they didn't start when we responded to 9/11 by starting two wars. The conflicts we are now working through have existed throughout recorded history. There aren't any easy answers.

Only the Sith deal in absolutes. If you think pacifism is the only answer, then I encourage you to step away from the theoretical realm and the comfort of your western life to spread the message of nonviolent response to Somali refugees, Iraqi Christians and non-Sunni Muslims, and anyone else who is facing the danger of genocide. We have to stop arguing about ideas that really only matter if they lead to actual change in the world. It may be that the nonviolent path of Jesus is right (assuming we understand it properly), but until you're "willing to pick up a weapon and stand a post" (to add a bit of irony in a Jack Nicholson voice), then all your rightness doesn't do a damn thing for threatened and dying innocents.

Homeless Children at a Day Shelter in Djibouti

I have been accused of defending imperial aggression. I assure you that I don’t think violence is the answer. But I am determined not to live in an academic exercise about what we wish the rest of the world would be. I'm going to give everything I have to make a difference - small though it may be. And right now, that means taking care of people whose job sucks on a daily basis, living among people whose lives are in constant danger because of poverty, malnutrition, and violent extremism. It’s not an academic exercise for me. It’s what I've been called to do. All I can do is try.