Peacemaking

Peacemaking

I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

“TURN OFF THE NEWS. Take a break from it. You’ll feel refreshed after some time away.” My words were good intentioned as I listened to a best friend tell me how utterly exhausting it has been to be a person of color living in our culture.

“Julie, I wish I could, but I can’t. What we are seeing on the news is a desperate need for justice, for change that has been too long in coming. My son inherited my brown skin. I can’t take a break from this, no matter how exhausting it is.”

My friend and I are spiritual sisters, and her loving but firm rebuke was deserved. The problem is, I can turn off the news. I don’t have the same stake in seeking justice as my BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) brothers and sisters do because my day-to-day life isn’t impacted. I can be tempted to spout Scripture about loving one another and peace because angry protests and demands for justice make me uncomfortable.

But I cannot abandon my friend. I love her. I love her son. I cannot unhear her words, her stories. I cannot ignore her tears as she worries about her brown-skinned son. I cannot smooth over the hurt and anger in the name of surface-level peacekeeping when what she needs are people who will come alongside to do the hard work of peacemaking.

Peacemaking requires humility and intentionality. It requires us to be quiet, listening carefully to concerns and stories that may not be anything like our experiences without dismissing or diminishing another’s words. It requires us to ask questions, offering to come alongside on actionable steps forward as someone else leads, rather than assuming we know the solution and can fix it. Peacemaking often requires apology and repentance, asking God to show us where we’ve been hard-hearted and wrong and then doing better. I spent far too many years thinking peacemaking required smoothing over conflict, leaving hard things unresolved and unaddressed when doing so required difficult conversations and uncomfortable feelings. Peacemaking seeks justice, and justice oftentimes requires us to speak up, to stand up, to step outside of our comfort zones.

Lord, show us where we have been peacekeepers, maintaining a surface level comfort when you’ve called us to peacemaking, standing against injustice and oppression. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Diversify your social media feeds. Listen to voices from different races, genders, and perspectives, asking God to reveal where you can be a peacemaker.