When Prayers Become All "Asks" And No Action

I've not yet read this book, but the title
(and some of its reviews) intrigue me.

“You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That’s how prayer works.”  

—Pope Francis

How many of our prayers are mostly of the "Gimme" type or are some version of "Bless-me-and-my-wife-and-my-son-John-and-his-wife-us-four-and-no-more?"

Probably too many, if truth be told. 

I've been convicted lately of the need to have more of my prayers reshaped into the following:

1. A time of attentive listening. How might I/we hear and respond to our Creator's wishes for "God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?" Maybe we should think of praying being more like standing at attention and reporting for duty.

2. A heartfelt pledge of allegiance. How might the so-called "Lord's Prayer" or a personalized version of Romans 12:1-2 become like a daily renewal of our baptismal induction as members of God's special forces?

3. A time of connecting with our nearby and world neighbors. What if we experienced prayer as a way of seeing all of our fellow humans through the lens of our just and compassionate Creator? Whenever we pray at a meal, for example, we could picture ourselves being around one common, worldwide table.

4. A time of creating an action plan for collaborating with God's "answers" to our requests. Our prayer lists could become a part of our daily action plans for becoming God's heart, hands and feet in making prayers come true--through our letters, phone calls, visits, acts of kindness, deeds of charity, etc. 

5. A time for inner refueling and recharging. How might some of the empowering words of scripture become the focus and content of more of our prayers? For example, this prayer from Ephesians 1:18-21 (emphases mine): 

"I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God’s powerful strength. God’s power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and sat him at God’s right side in the heavens, far above every ruler and authority and power and angelic power, any power that might be named not only now but in the future."     (Common English Version)                                           

Statement By The Ukranian Pacifist Movement

The following statement was adopted by the General Assembly of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement on the International Day of Peace 21 September 21, 2024, and posted on their website yesterday.

 Clean skies are proudly azure,

When bloodshed of inhuman war is ceased,

And peace endure.

So says the last poem written by Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko; he desired to end the first world war, but didn’t lived to see the Peace of Versailles. If he would, he might be disappointed by short-sighted plans of peaceful life written by victors who never seriously considered life without wars and because of that failed to build sustainable peace.

Of course, in most places, most of the time, people always live in peace, because peace is the need and natural right of every person and every community, including the people of Ukraine. Restraint, truth and love, good trusting relations for centuries and millennia allowed people to live peacefully on the common planet Earth and in each of its countries, including Ukraine.

Peace, rooted in every particle of existence, always surrounds us. Even when we don’t notice it. Even when injustice and evil far or near disturb us, cause pain and loss.

Faith, care and knowledge allow us to find and strengthen peace within and around us. If it is not strengthened, if past traumas are not healed, the fragile peace can suffer from intentional or unintentional harm to people and nature, from violence against oneself and others.

“How countries, burdened by war, desperately want peace! And ignorance learns true values only when they are lost: suffers getting them, doesn’t enjoy having them, and is tormented by losing them,” wrote Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, a self-described “lover and son of peace”.

At the demands of peace congresses of the world civil society, where Ukraine was also represented, pacifism became the norm of international relations. International organizations were created where you can assemble to council, find help, settle disputes with assistance of objective arbitrators, and find common ground with assistance of benevolent mediators instead of the senseless mass killing that is war.

The League of Nations, and then the United Nations, became the foundation of a new world peaceful governance, the leaders of which promised, according to the UN Charter, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to resolve international disputes by peaceful means, or, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, to maintain a peaceful and mutually beneficial cooperation with members of the international community according to generally recognized principles and norms of international law.

Unfortunately, this architecture of the universal peace of mankind on the common planet Earth was perceived by the victors of wars as a scenery behind which they continued to drill their armies and arm themselves. Instead of preparing for peace, the winners of wars prepared for new wars and set a bad example for other such “heroes”. Peaceful promises were therefore broken, and anyone who breaks them portrays himself as a hero and victim of oppression, even if he is a villain and oppressor.

The problem is not that demonic enemies oppose angelic heroes, but that all humans on the common planet suffering from unnecessary wars are victims of a flawed, outdated political system where far more effort and resources are spent to prepare and wage wars rather than to stop and avoid wars.

Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous part of this vicious system that threatens to kill all life on the planet. To prevent this from happening, we demand general and complete disarmament in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine does not participate in military blocs and adheres to three non-nuclear principles: not to accept, not to produce, and not to acquire nuclear weapons. We remember this historical fact, we take care of the realization of these peaceful aspirations of the Ukrainian people and call to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and implement its requirements in every country of the world.

Today, Ukrainians are victims of brutal Russian aggression and have the right to fair compensation for the suffering and return of what was conquered by war criminals. Without restoration of justice, there can be no true, honest reconciliation.

The victim’s desire to have victory over the attacker is natural. One must have courage and make reasonable efforts to defend one’s rights in a peaceful way, overcoming fear and anger and deceptive temptations to take cruel revenge or surrender to the mercy of a stronger one.

A truly strong one has a conscience not to do evil and does not need anyone’s destruction or enslavement. And the one who does not have a conscience is deprived of conscious and effective unity and peace with all humanity and nature, and this is one’s weakness.

No victory will be fair if it is not mutual. Common victory, when everyone is satisfied and no one is offended, has a name: peace.

If you want peace, you must prepare for peace.

The aggressor state is preparing for a long-term war against the West. With blunt brutality, the Kremlin is trying to force Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to hate Ukraine and fight in the Russian army, which destroys cities and kills people with barbaric bombings.

This wild and outdated policy, like the general increase in militaristic arbitrariness, is a challenge that cannot be feared.

Rejecting the myopic temptations of the outdated policies of opportunism and surrenderism, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement remains faithful to principles of the “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World” and the statement on the development of unarmed forces of pacifists to resist Russian aggression and implement the Ukrainian vision of world peace, common peace for all humans.

We will continue consistently to move forward on the path of unarmed protection of civilians, nonviolent resistance to aggression and tyranny. We will make every effort to direct as many people as possible to this peaceful path: by personal example, enlightenment, information, etc.

We firmly believe that peace, not war, is the norm of human life, as we stated in the “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World.” Peace≠war: peace is not war, this is the pacifist formula of peace. We consider it an axiom that peace is not equal to war, we support and implement the values of peace, democracy and justice in our activities.

We form and implement a long-term vision of a world without wars and demand that everyone who proposes peace plans must necessarily include in these plans a long-term vision of a peaceful future without wars (a realistic path to eternal peace) and take into account the fair restoration of the rights of Ukrainians as victims of aggression (dignity of victim, so that the power of justice, with support of entire peaceful world, restores and reinvigorates the strength and resilience of Ukraine as a victim of Putin’s genocidal war of aggression).

We support the United Nations in initiatives to build peace through peaceful means and have high hopes for the Summit Of The Future. We hope that world leaders will seize the opportunity to adopt a universal pact for a peaceful future, so that politics, economics, science and technology will work for peace, not war, to liberate future generations from the yoke of war.

We will inspire peaceful people to be strong and courageous in their desire to remain civilians, to protect peaceful life in a peaceful way, to uphold human rights to peace and conscientious objection to military service.

We need global peaceful transformations and more effective global nonviolent governance, involving the efforts of world peace movements into successful activities of the United Nations and achieving such a power of nonviolent actions that will be able to stop Russian aggression.

We, the pacifists, know that the highest law of life is “Thou shalt not kill!”, therefore we cannot become soldiers, murderers and executioners. This is a key point in our strategy to approach peace.

Our vision of the future is eternal peace. And by demanding that all peace plans must include real paths to this desired future, we resist militaristic madness, the desire to fight endlessly. Justice should be brought peacefully, not by war. Highest justice is a world without wars.

War is a crime against humanity, therefore we are determined not to support any kind of war and will strive for the removal of all causes of war.

UKRAINIAN PACIFIST MOVEMENT

To Avoid Voting For A "Lesser of Two Evils"

How do we choose when each candidate promotes policies
and represents positions we simply can't endorse?

I hear lots of concerned citizens, including many people of faith, who lean toward voting for a particular presidential candidate but who know that by doing so they are also supporting a lot of policies they find reprehensible. 

For example, many of my fellow pro life friends believe they must vote Republican for the sake of supporting more restrictive laws limiting abortions. At the same time, they are appalled, among other things, at the prospect of millions of undocumented workers or individuals with temporary legal status having their lives and their families disrupted through forced expulsions if Trump is elected. In communities like Springfield, Ohio, or localities lkie ours this would create unimaginable harm to our community and economy.

Others strongly prefer the Democratic party's policies and candidates, but are equally appalled by how Harris continues to support the kind of military aid that will result in thousands of ever more people being brutally bombed in Gaza and in the escalating and dangerous Ukraine/Russian war.

Yet in spite of feeling highly conflicted, many see the privilege of voting as too important for them to simply refrain from taking part in an election, believing their vote might at least move the needle of justice in a slightly more positive direction. Yet they feel uneasy about having that same vote lend support to policies they strongly oppose.

One option, of course, is for individuals to simply avoid voting altogether and to exert their influence in other ways. 

But here's a third option I've been pondering:

What if every conflicted voter who leans toward supporting one party would find a conflicted voter who leans in the other direction to simply pledge together to abstain from casting a vote in this fall's election? 

This could do several things:

1. It would  engage caring citizens with opposing views in important conversations that may help them understand each other better in spite of their differences.

2. Neither could be accused of simply being passive and doing nothing about matters of national or local concern through not voting and thus simply accepting the will of the voting majority.

3. Since each person's unmarked ballot in this agreement would have the direct effect of canceling the vote of someone who would have voted differently, each will have exercised their civic responsibility in a more impactful and significant way than either simply not voting or voting without having negotiated such an agreement, in which case ones single vote would have been canceled by another's in any case. .

4. All of this could be worked out between any two individuals operating in good faith, and would require no special organizing or funding. 

5. Each agreement could be tailored to the two persons involved, as to whether it would involve every item on a ballot, for example, or just the persons at the top of the ticket. 

6. Followers of Jesus could use this as a way of demonstrating their commitment to policies they see as being accordance with the future and forever reign of God and at variance with short sighted politics of the present age. In other words, it would highlight choices involving above versus below rather than just left versus right.

Feel free to offer your thoughts, or put your contact information and your voting preference in a comment below if you want to connect with an interested vote-trading partner. 

Here's a link to a really thoughtful piece by blogger Jonny Rashid on this topic

https://jonnyrashid.substack.com/p/the-plight-of-the-palestinians-in?utm_source=publicationsearch&fbclid=IwY2xjawFXHxFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdSupJ5CrfJpJBi8wdzMkDutVpotAzykqgP6P1xbEsVVA3DzN3x8R5UCJQ_aem_yyicj2kbd75TeeR1E9U2ng

On The Revolutionary Reincarnation of God

God has no hands but our hands,

in which to feed them bread.

God has no feet but our feet,

to walk among the almost dead.

We say we are His and He is ours;

Deeds are the proof of this, not words;

And these are the proving hours.

- Author Uncertain

Have you ever wondered how God can offer personal attention to every one of the billions of human beings on earth, along with all of the other of earth's creatures? We are told that no sparrow falls without God's notice.

What if God's plan from the beginning was that each of us citizens of God's kingdom, blessed with two hands, two feet and a caring heart, would be a primary means by which God's care and compassion were to be shown? And what if we were to pray constantly as though everything depended on God, but live daily as though everything depended on us as bearers of God's image?

Note the following texts:

     God created humanity in God’s own image,

        in the divine image God created them,

        male and female God created them.

     God blessed them and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and master it. Take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and everything crawling on the ground.”

Genesis 1:27-28 (Common English Bible)

When I look up at your skies,

    at what your fingers made—

    the moon and the stars

    that you set firmly in place—

         what are human beings

            that you think about them;

        what are human beings

            that you pay attention to them?

You’ve made them only slightly less than divine,

    crowning them with glory and grandeur.

You’ve let them rule over your handiwork,

    putting everything under their feet—

         all sheep and all cattle,

        the wild animals too,

         the birds in the sky,

        the fish of the ocean,

        everything that travels the pathways of the sea.

Psalm 8:3-8 (CEB)

     Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.

     Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

I Thessalonians 5:12-14 New Living translation)

     Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT)

     Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (CEB)

Guest Post: A Mennonite Voters Guide?

William Higgins is on the staff of LMC, a
fellowship of Anabaptist churches formerly
known as Lancaster Mennonite Conference.

I post the following with the kind permission of William Higgins, a staff member at LMC who works in the area of theological education and Anabaptist Christian identity formation:

Some things to consider during an election season

1. We already have a Messiah. Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9). Because Jesus is the one, true Messiah, “the King of kings  and the Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16) there can be no other. This is why we must firmly reject political false messiahs who come and say they will save us and make our problems go away. Our King is more than able to take care of us.

2. We already have a political party. God’s kingdom has come, and we are submitted to God’s rule. As such we are a holy nation, citizens of heaven and God’s ambassadors (1 Peter 2:9; Philippians 3:20; 2 Corinthians 5:20). God has chosen to use us to change the world (1 Corinthians 1:26-30); to bring about the new creation. It is true that God uses governments to keep order. But it is the church that is a light to the nations of God’s better way of being and living (Matthew 5:14).

3. We already have a political platform. This is found in the Scriptures, for instance, Jesus’s inaugural sermon (Luke 4:16-21), the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the two greatest commands (Mark  12:28-34), the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and Paul’s reflections on God’s purpose of joining together Jews and Gentiles in the Messiah (Ephesians 3:1-13). These and more guide us as we work for the spread of God’s kingdom on earth by inviting people to be a part of our alternative community ruled by Jesus.

4. We already have all the power we need. Jesus has all authority (Matthew 28:18). We have the power of the good news of Jesus (Romans 1:16) and the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). It is this power that transforms people’s lives. It also creates new communities that embody the way of Jesus. And these communities are to be a force for good in the nations where we live as exiles (Hebrews 11:13). Remember, the early church did not have worldly political power, and Greco-Roman culture was in a worse condition than ours. But God used them to change the world.

5. We already have a firm basis of faith and hope as we live in this world. God is sovereign and oversees all. We do not need to heed the voices that call us to fear; that say, “if our candidate isn’t elected civilization will collapse.” Scripture tells us, “Do not put your trust in princes, in a son (or daughter) of man, in whom there is no salvation” (Psalm 146:3). God is the one who raises up and brings down nations and rulers (Daniel 5:21b). And this regardless of how we might vote. And even if the worst happens, Jesus still reigns and watches over us.

As we engage with the world as representatives of God’s kingdom to address its problems and seek its well-being in love for our neighbors (Jeremiah 29:7), we should not be governed by fear. Rather we can have great faith and hope in God and the power God has given us, in our party and platform, and in our King, Jesus.

For those who choose to go beyond these Christian political commitments and actions to participate in the election, here are some further things to consider:

A. Are you factoring a candidate’s character into your political choices? Policies matter, but character also matters. The various parties may debate about whose candidates have been or are worse. Yet they have both put forward character-deficient contenders. And in all of these situations, Christians have voted for them. What does this communicate to the world when Christians give their support to people who lack basic decency? “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6). The morals of society are eroded by such candidates. And they are eroded as well by the seeming lack of concern by voters who empower these candidates.

B. Are you working to make sure the church is not torn apart by your political choices? Political participation can bring division into the church. Yet we are called to “be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50; Ephesians 4:1-6). To oversimplify things, one party says we must support their candidate because they will lower the number of abortions. The other party says we must support their candidate because they will stand up for the weak and powerless. Both concerns are dear to God’s heart. When we are simply acting as Christians to engage the world in Jesus’s name, we can pursue these things together as fellow believers. When we are forced by the world to choose between our various convictions, it pulls us apart.

C. Are you considering those who feel deep pain because of your political choices? Political participation can wound fellow believers. When someone, out of deep conviction, votes for a candidate because of a concern for the widow, the orphan, the immigrant and the racial-ethnic minority, others will be distressed by this. “Where is the concern for the unborn child?” When someone, out of deep conviction, votes for a candidate because of a concern for unborn children, others will be distressed by this. “Where is the concern for the weak and vulnerable who are already born?” Both sides can say to each other, “How can you vote for . . .? That person is evil and offensive to me!”

D. Are you acting on behalf of the whole counsel of God? Paul says he declared “the whole counsel of God” to the Ephesian believers (Acts 20:27). If you are voting for one party, how are you addressing the other Christian concerns that are not addressed by your party? If we seek to represent Christian convictions through the American political process, how can we address the issues our candidate will not address or even opposes?

E. Are you thinking about how your political choices will affect your witness as a representative of Jesus? If you vote in ways that some communities see as clearly disadvantaging them, will they be able to hear you when you speak about your faith? If you have used worldly political power to force something on them, will they be alienated from Jesus?

F. Are your political statements consistent with your Christian faith and practice? If you spread gossip and slander about a candidate on social media, it is still gossip and slander. If you cheer on your candidate as they lie, you are approving of sin (James 3:6). Scripture calls us to “honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). This, even if the person is not honorable. We are to show respect to all people because they are loved by God and made in God’s image. We can disagree with them, dislike them and even be disgusted by their behavior. But this does not justify expressions of hatred, ridicule or scorn. If you count the person as an enemy, love them and pray for them (Luke 6:27-28).

G. Are you protecting yourself against idolatry? Political ideologies seek our complete allegiance. And sadly, for many, politics becomes their true religion, including some Christians. This is evidenced by how they believe that only their candidate and platform can make a difference in the world. They put their faith and hope in these and thus also their efforts, energy and finances. Yet we can’t serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). And we must beware of all worldly ideologies that seek to take us “captive” (Colossians 2:8). We need to keep political involvement in proper perspective. This is not how God is going to fix the world. Jesus is working through his people to bring true and lasting change.

Here's an election related piece I wrote in 2016 

https://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-handful-of-florida-mennonites.html