How we
relate to one another in a diverse world is one of the big questions facing us
in the world today. Modern travel and
migration have added to the need to find good ways of relating to one another –
ways of peace and not of conflict.
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| Belfast Peace Line |
There is
something about our humanity that seems to seek to define ourselves against
others. My own upbringing in Northern
Ireland was in the setting of the two tribes of Irish Republicanism and Ulster
Loyalism, who defined themselves against one another and spent a bloody number
of years in conflict. I have a memory as
a child of meeting up with a group from Catholic West Belfast who had never
knowingly met with Protestants in their lives.
With such distance and separation came suspicion, fear and a lack of
trust. Religious issues were drawn into
the conflict, in part to legitimise the conflict by claiming that God was on
one side or another. The two communities
were divided by the ironically called ‘Peace Line’.
Recently at
meetings of the Baptist World Alliance in Chile, I have had the privilege of
meeting with a number of people who seek to follow the ‘Prince of Peace’ in
situations of conflict. Some of these
people have come from the deeply divided land of Nigeria, where there has been
a flare up of violence in recent days, directed against the Christian
community. It seems that the Gospel demands
that we pursue peace in the world. The
picture presented of the heavenly community gathered together from every tribe
and tongue is to be no mere heavenly dream, but something that we strive for
here on earth. This striving after peace
is no easy pursuit, but rather is one that demands costly forgiveness and
grace. We need to see others first and
foremost as created in the image of God and loved by him, rather than labelled
as the enemy, whether by virtue of race, religion or some other criteria.
Jesus said,
“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God” (Matthew
5:9). Peace-making necessitates the
closing of the distance of separation, the growing in mutual understanding, and
the commitment to love as Christ has loved us.
We all need to consider what this means for us personally – Where and
with whom do we need to make peace?
