The rally call

Curiosity is a powerful spiritual discipline.

Curiosity has blessed me with many opportunities to spend time with kind, intelligent and reasonable people, in many different social, political and theological camps. I’m grateful for the privilege of hearing the typically calm and logical explanations they have for the positions they hold.

In these moments, I’ve seen glimmers of hope in the reconciling power of honest and humble conversation. Yet, that glimmer of hope has dimmed in the past few years.

Today, many people seem to view listening and engaging in dialogue as insufficient. There is intensifying pressure to pick sides. Lines are being drawn. There are “good guys” and “bad guys,” and we must choose our allegiances.

“You must pick a side. Silence is complicity. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” I’ve heard variations of this same message from people on all sides of just about every issue under the sun. I find the logic of these statements flawed. The only thing? Really?

I think it’s clear the people who are convinced they are right and on God’s side have done far more damage throughout history than the quiet listeners seeking more dialogue and understanding.

Recently, I’ve felt pressure from some people to choose a side in the Israel-Palestine conflict. As with most complicated issues and conflicts in our world, it’s not that simple for me. Any reductionist oversimplification of a complex, nuanced and heart-breaking reality won’t and can’t be helpful. Or truthful.

Not all Palestinian and Israeli people fit into homogeneous categories or sides, sharing the same beliefs, attitudes, values, politics and responsibility for what has happened and is happening. There are many Palestinians and Israelis working toward a lasting, peaceful, two-state resolution. I support their work for peace, not one side.

American sociologist and preacher Tony Campolo has said that whenever someone asks him if he is a Democrat or a Republican, he responds, “Name the issue.”

I love this. Like Campolo, I find myself aligned with different people and groups, depending on the issue or topic. My allegiance is always and only to the Divine Reality (kingdom of God), where the sun shines on all human beings, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust.

The need to make complex and nuanced issues black and white is usually part of the problem, not the solution.

We’re not as different from our perceived enemies as we think we are. I sense the same self-righteousness, judgmentalism, fear, ignorance, hyperbolic rhetoric, dogmatism and intolerance coming from all sides on any given issue. Myself included.

It seems to be getting worse. Public discourse today increasingly sounds like battle cries and rally calls to wage war. I agree that these issues are serious, and we need to be courageous and take action, but I refuse to join a war.

I joined the Mennonite church and Anabaptist tradition for a reason. I refuse to dehumanize and cause harm to anyone, in any way, on any side of an issue.

Frankly, I’m overwhelmed by the anger, hostility, hatred, blaming and scapegoating energy that has permeated Canadian culture, focused on naming, defeating and even eliminating the enemy.

The spirit of this age is clearly a spirit of war. It seems everyone is at war with someone or some group.

The Spirit of God isn’t calling me to wage war or fight for truth, justice, peace, freedom, equality or any other word you think I should fight for. The world has enough warriors, fighting for their causes.

The world doesn’t need more warriors. It needs more medics and healers to bravely venture into the battlefields around us and mend the wounded and broken on all sides.

The issues we face today are real and important, but so are the people being torn apart by the social, political, theological and cultural wars we’re fighting (not to mention the literal wars).

It may seem like some of us are cowardly centrists, sitting on the fence. But many of us are not sitting, we’re continually hopping over the fences we’ve collectively built, to extend the compassion and grace of God to all those hurting and suffering.

The rally call of Christ we’ve heard is to go into all the world and bring divine healing, peace and reconciliation to all people, no matter which side of the fence they’re on.

Troy Watson is a pastor at Avon Mennonite Church in Stratford, Ontario, and can be reached at troy@avonchurch.ca.

Read more Life in the Postmodern Shift columns:
Opened eyes
The narcissism epidemic
Organic architecture