I remember the first time I popped in Boysetsfire's After the Eulogy album to hear the chanting of a crowd screaming, "No justice, no peace!" Chilling! ... but I wouldn't recommend anything after that album... yuck! Anyways, I digress.

This week, for my class we are discussing just that: the relationship between justice and peace. In Just Peacemaking, the section on justice argues that just economic, humanitarian and democratic processes are necessary in order for peace to be obtainable. Stassen shared with us this nifty diagram that distinguishes active peacemaking from pacifism and just war theory. To add to the conversation we also heard from Dr. Lindy Scott who shared some thoughts from his book with Rene Padilla, Terrorism and the War in Iraq: A Christian Word from Latin America. Here's my thoughts on this subject as it relates to my home, sweet, home...

The relationship between justice and peace seems logical. It is difficult to conceive of those within socially and economically unjust situations not attempting to disrupt a system which oppresses them. And the more desperate the situation, the more desperate the responses may be. Therefore, it seems reasonable that fair representation, human rights, economic stability and personal freedoms be required steps if peace is the desired outcome.

In the San Diego/Tijuana region, there is a great economic disparity between those living in San Diego and those within Tijuana. Hispanic immigrants living in San Diego without documentation are often paid unfairly and neglected basic human rights. Still, they migrate because there are fewer options in Mexico.

Even though these injustices exist, Hispanic immigrants have not violently risen up against the authorities. But they do willfully disobey U.S. immigration laws. And this does commonly bring violence against the migrant; sometimes physically, sometimes in other ways. In order for peace to be achieved, economic justice will first have to be achieved.

While war clearly is not on the horizon in this situation, the border has been increasingly militarized. As the situation escalates in this manner, Stassen’s diagram is helpful. It provides those of us that live in this region another set of questions to ask those on both sides of the issue of migration. Rather than managing how we forcefully stop migration–such as spending more money on weapons and larger walls–we can ask how it can peacefully be accomplished through sustainable economic development throughout Latin America (but especially in Baja) and advancement of immigrant, human rights in both Latin America and the U.S. (but, again, especially in San Diego). Both of these practices–addressed in just peacemaking–could potentially decrease migration and the reactionary violence due to it.

It is often stated that The Politics of Jesus is one of Christianity Today’s most influential books of the past century. I agree. Yoder’s work is frequently sited and often provides the basis for other writer’s arguments.

The book served as an introduction to Anabaptism for me. I had two assumptions about Anabaptism beforehand: that nonviolence, or pacifism, equaled withdrawal, and that salvation was rooted in the resurrection, not the cross.

Yoder, an Anabaptist, places emphasis on the cross. He writes, “The cross is not a detour or a hurdle on the way to the kingdom, nor is it even the way to the kingdom; it is the kingdom come.” This startled me! But as Yoder goes on to discuss suffering, servanthood and subordination it made all the more sense.

Further along, Yoder discusses our relationship to authorities. Here, nonviolence potentially becomes most tangible. Yoder quotes Berkhof: “All resistance and every attack against the gods of this age will be unfruitful, unless the church herself is resistance and attack, unless she demonstrates in her life and fellowship how men can live freed from the Powers.” Yoder’s argument provides another nonviolence perspective. One that engages the world; the ostracized and powerful.

Week one of Biblical and Practical Peacemaking is winding down. I'm enjoying Just Peacemaking, edited by Dr. Stassen. And here is the question they have posed to us: What obstacles do you think might prevent churches from teaching and preaching about peacemaking?

Many obstacles prevent churches from teaching and preaching peace. I would like to focus on one particular obstacle that I see as a pre-cursor to others: consumerism. Often our theology reflects the consumer-oriented norms of Western culture. Over time, consumerism erodes the social awareness and commitment that our Scriptures and history remind us of. Unaware of this approach to the Christian Story we begin to lack the imagination for an alternative, peacemaking society. Instead, we begin to reflect popular culture ideals for social engagement–we become increasingly concerned only in that which brings us safety and comfort, while increasingly uninterested in the plight of anyone that does not directly effect our lifestyles.

In order for us to become peace making communities, we must challenge a self-understanding of church as an institution that delivers religious good and services. Instead we must re-discover an understanding of the church as a those called to embody the Message of Jesus today. One way in which we might begin to do this is by beginning to reinterpret our sacred consumptive practice: communion.

No matter what a person’s politics may be, few San Diego residents show concern for the thousands of migrants that die alone in our mountains and deserts. In our faith community, a step towards addressing this apathy was celebrating communion with a tortilla instead of the common bread or wafer. Before passing the elements, we remember why we use the tortilla. This simple act has radically effected our desire to build peace in our community.

Communion understood as the moment in which all divisions are exposed, yet no longer divisive, may be a tangible tool towards helping us develop a new self-understanding, moving us towards an atmosphere where the desire and energy to be peace makers is a potential.

What do you think?