Season 4 - Episode 39
To listen to an audio version of this post, visit www.covenantchurch.ca/podcasts/covenant-weekly.
Of all the values that we are discussing in our current series, the one we get to today should, in theory, resonate best with our broader Canadian context. Here in Canada, we stereotypically apologize - and we’re sorry for it. For decades we were identified around the world as peacekeepers. One of the most famous Canadian realities over the past 15-20 years is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its subsequent 94 calls to action. Surely the value of Pursuing Peace should be easily accepted within our church and beyond! Maybe not so much. While we apologize politely, we are also known to cheer maniacally at the sight of two huge men trying to punch each other in the head, even though it is a disruption of and a violation of the rules of the game they are purportedly playing. Our annual memorial to grieve the lives lost in violent conflict has transitioned to include a level of glorification of those whose primary training includes and emphasizes how to kill other humans. And our national rallying cry in recent months has become, “elbows up,” a direct reference to inflicting pain on another under the guise of self-defence. I point these things out simply to highlight the reality that the value of Pursuing Peace is just as countercultural in Canada as it is in other parts of the world. And it is just as countercultural today as it was when early Anabaptists committed to it 500 years ago. But what could or should it mean for us in a Be In Christ Church of Canada context today? We’re talking about Pursuing Peace in this Covenant Weekly for June 10, 2025.
Pursuing Peace: We value all human life and promote forgiveness, understanding, reconciliation, and nonviolent resolution of conflict.
Any attempt to talk about pursuing peace necessitates limits, otherwise, we could be here for years exploring the topic. If you are interested in and willing to explore the topic, I recommend borrowing one of the copies of a book called “A Peace Reader” that I have in the church office. It includes a very good chapter contributed by Glenn Robitaille. You could also search Ronald Sider and the keyword Peace to find YouTube videos of a Canadian-born BIC scholar who devoted his life to combining academic study and the practical pursuit of peace and reconciliation. (If you do this YouTube search, you will almost certainly find videos of people accusing him of being a false teacher, too!)
For our purposes today, I want to highlight some of the language within our value statement. Pursuing peace begins with a value of all human life. While this may sound like an obvious thing, many within the church struggle to value all human life. (Or they don’t struggle with the fact that they don’t value all human life.) But a foundational conviction for us is that all human beings bear the image of God and, as such, are valuable. To dehumanize or devalue another is an affront to God, even if they dehumanize themselves through their attitudes and/or actions.
From that foundational value of all human life, we promote forgiveness - the release of others, and ourselves, from grudges or resentment. We don’t present it as an easy reality, but a necessary one for true freedom to reign. (For a profound story about this from an Anabaptist context, consider this article or this related one.) A key line in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray emphasizes the essential reality of forgiveness and its connection to how God relates to us. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Alongside forgiveness, we promote understanding, reconciliation, and nonviolent resolution of conflict.
Pursuing peace is not a naivite that pretends everything is hunky dory! It is a posture that is curious about the other. Instead of lashing out, it encourages us to wonder, “What led them to this conclusion? What has happened in their life or reality that has brought them to this way of behaving?” This is a pursuit of understanding.
Reconciliation is the desire to see relationships restored and brought back to a place of rightness after they have been damaged. Full restoration may be impossible or even unwise. But some level of reconciliation is desired and worked for, for the sake of all involved.
Perhaps the “non-violent resolution of conflict” is the most critiqued part of our value. People quickly (and rightly) think about global conflict or even localized violence in our schools or neighbourhoods. They question the wisdom and effectiveness of non-violent resolution. Perhaps this idea of effectiveness most dramatically exposes the counter-cultural reality of the Anabaptist/BIC perspective. Our primary goal is not to be effective. It is to follow Jesus. Jesus - the one who went to the cross instead of calling angels to defend him. Jesus - the one who called out for God’s forgiveness for the ones who were torturing and killing him. Jesus - the one who extended the hope of paradise to one who “deservedly” (from a human perspective) hung on the cross beside him.
It seems foolish to us, but effectiveness (in human terms) was never the goal for Jesus. The pursuit of peace, shalom, rightness was. And it doesn’t come through punching back the one who punched us. All that does is escalate the tension and violence and leave two people with black eyes. Practicing non-violent resolution of conflict may not prove effective. Or, it may change the world.
At the very least, it commits to pursuing peace as a truly high value, for our own lives and for the lives of all who bear the image of God. Each one is loved and valued by God and are, therefore, valued by us, too!