Jim Kenney's picture

Jim Kenney

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Peace in Our Hearts for December 9, 2012

I have just posted my story and message for December 9, Advent 2: Peace.  The story is a true story about a young Trinidadian woman who has been doing amazing things for peace since she was 13.  For more on her story, start with Wikipedia and Choc'late Allen.  The message looks at internal and external issues around peace.

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MikePaterson's picture

MikePaterson

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It is a puzzle, Jim. 

I was quite involved (years ago) in the anti-nuclear movement in New Zealand, taking part in protest flotillas against U.S. nuclear vessels entering New Zealand ports.

 

The photo is of USS Haddow surrounded by protest boats.

 

Then, when France’s refused to accept an International Court of Justice injunction against its very damaging atmospheric nuclear testing programme at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia, a newly elected New Zealand Government sent two  frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and Otago, into the international waters around the test area as a protest.

 

We — New Zealanders as a whole — were successful and there are are still no nuclear vessels entering New Zealand harbours. and French nuclear tests in the Pacific ended.

And, in 1987, the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act was passed into law, establishing this country as a nuclear and biological weapon-free zone. In a largely symbolic action, the U.S .Congress retaliated with the Broomfield Act, that downgraded New Zealand’s status from "ally" to "friend". Prime Minister David Lange responded by saying that if the end of the security alliance was the cost of New Zealand’s nuclear-free status, then "it is the price we are prepared to pay".

 

In 1989, 52 per cent of New Zealanders indicated that they'd rather break defence ties than admit nuclear-armed ships. By 1990, even the right-wing National opposition had signed up to anti-nuclearism.

 

It's funny, looking back. We were told by governments of the day (the '60s-'70s) that New Zealand's defence treaty obligations under ANZUS made those superpower incursions essential for "regional security"… the alternative would be invasion by hordes of merciless Asian Communists, or Soviet nuclear annihilation. Instead, we got French secret service divers blowing up Greenpeace's 'Rainbow Warror' in Auckland Harbour: a seriously cowardly act of state terrorism in retaliation for protesting against the

 

Those anti-protest fantasies and violence (in France's case) blossomed out of fears based on racism and ideology.

 

We too had fears: we were scared of thinking that was locked into militarism and nuclearism. We saw bloc politics as the threat (and it IS a threat to Canada now!). We simply — naively — felt that, if we stood in their way, we would make them go away. We certainly didn't want them to become the focus of our lives, national consciousness or politics. Well, they did go away, in the face-to-face kind of a way. But not really. The World still rocks in agony with the results of the sort of thinking to which we objected and against which we tried to act.

 

And the REAL victory was that we — many of us, certainly — lost our fear.  We did not lose our fear because none of us were killed or beaten — the protests were very gently policed — but becuse we saw the fruits of our action among each other. We went to these events with a happy sense of purpose and learned something about the human capacity for living and acting together. Many of us have taken that sort of awareness into the whole of our lives and the rest of our lives.

 

Fear is NOT necessary. Putting fear aside does not diminish the threat, but it helps to proof against it. In fear, we huddle in surrender to the values of the aggressor, we reach for the ways of the aggressor to resist and end up playing the aggressor's game by the aggressor's rules and that's a good way to amplify the damage that's done. Without fear, we we hang onto OUR options, OUR values, OUR rules. Where there's no fear, freedom is unassailable. To live without fear takes courage, certainly, lots of it. But it is worth it. It's the only path to peace — peace starts in OUR hearts; we can't WAGE peace with terror, suspicion, racism, dogma or ideology in our hearts. All of these fear-sourced impulses are self-destructive in the end and the price is struck against us from the start: our freedoms (moral, spiritual, intellectual, expressive…) are all sacrificed on hell's altar and we sink deeper and deeper into mires of paranoia, greed and defensiveness.

 

The way of fear, is the way of destruction. and THAT is the challenge to overcome. Fearlessness has the sweet taste of Choc'late.

 

"Fear not," the Angels sang… look at the Chrismas story (at Jim's excellent blog):

 

"Fear not, Zacharias" (Luke 1:13); "Fear not, Mary" (Luke 1:30); "Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people," the angel told the shepherds (Luke 2:10)…  “Fear not” is the most frequently repeated command in the Bible. Fear, the Bible would seem to suggest, is antithetical to faith.

 

And it FEELS so GOOD to realise that fear is an empty emotion: it is unnecessary, it dulls our wits, it costs us joy, it damages our relationships, it circumstribes our every freedom, it corrupts every motive, darkens every dream, frustrates every hope and makes us personally unattractive. It sickens us physically and mentally. And it consumes enormous energy. It really isn't worth the bother.

 

Letting go of it is far easier than many people think.

 

My dad taught me this approach to fear: "the worst" hardly ever happens. If it does, you'll deal with it best if you see the situation clearly… that takes a cool head, not a terrified one. Bad things happen all around us and we are all going to experience some of them sooner or later. The best proof against damage as a result of the bad stuff is to live fully and open to the joy thta all the good stuff brings our way, and to share it as widely as you can. When bad stuff happens, of you've done that in the "good" times, you'll find you're surrounded by friends and people who love you who'll help you get through it, and the experience and memories you have of the "good times" strengthen you for any ordeal you may one day have to face. Anticipating grief and pain makes you MORE not less vulnerable to it. It works for me: telling fear to "go away" and getting on with reality which, when you go looking for it, overflows with goodness, beauty and abundance… and the taste of "Choc'late" (see Kim's blog).

SG's picture

SG

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I took the angle that internal peace can lead to external peace (It may be the only thing that ever does)

 

The Children's Time asked if they knew what we celebrate on Christmas. They said Jesus being born. I told them we really did not know the date but if we love someone we want to mark their birthday... (they knew their own birthdays) and so we celebrate on that date (not going to have them have to unlearn things or feel misled). We mark it and celebrate because Jesus was special to us.

 

Then, I went into talking about how special they were and we read On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

 

At the end, I asked if that made them feel special and at peace.... knowing they were/are loved, loved by God....

and then I talked about the others in the room, the neighbourhood, the country, the world....
 

I wrapped that when we realize ALL are special, then we will finally have peace in the world.
 

 

The Meditation talked about John welcoming those the Temple did not. It prepared the way for the one to come.... to touch the unclean....

 

I asked who is crying out from the wilderness... what prophetic voices are calling out.... what people not welcomed are crying out.... (I gave plenty of examples they migth choose from)

 

I asked, How are we preparing the way? How are we straightening the road, lowering mountains, lifitng valleys....etc....

 

I wrapped with the thought that
the peace we find in Christ, in Christmas, is that ALL are loved by God.

 

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Arminius

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SG wrote:

I took the angle that internal peace can lead to external peace (It may be the only thing that ever does)

 

 

Yes, Stevie, I also think that inner peace is the pre-requisite to outer peace. And I feel that the Christmas message "Peace on Earth" refers to this inner peace that leads to outer peace.

 

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