11 January
Dear friends,
As the new year progresses, Ive noticed through my conversations this week that the pace of life has picked up significantly. This might be a good moment to take a break, make yourself a cup of tea, and enjoy some momentary sunshine.
This week, I was inspired by the PhD defence of an old friend at Vrije Universiteit. He wrote about the language of violence and war, comparing the imagery in the Book of Lamentations with contemporary Glavda accounts of violence. He discovered that, although these contexts are vastly different, people facing violence across time and space articulate pain and suffering in similar ways and often use comparable adaptive strategies.
However, it was not just the technical details that inspired me. It was the stories we shared over the years. He is a minister of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, a community I did not know much about until my discussions with him. It became clear that they are a radically pacifist community, actively promoting peace in their region. He shared how their church collaborated with a local mosque to appoint “watchers”—individuals stationed a few kilometres away from their town to warn the community of approaching terrorist groups. Together, Muslims and Christians have created local safe places, safeguarding their schools and hospitals with a shared vision of peace.
Every time I see him, including at his PhD defence, he wears a pin from his denomination, which bears their slogan: “Do something for peace”. A few years ago, I received one of these badges, and it has been sitting on my desk, reminding me daily to “do something for peace”. For him, this is not merely a philosophical concept or a theological idea; it is a daily commitment. He believes that if their community does not actively work for peace, the alternatives—war and death—will inevitably take over.
As we begin this year, perhaps we can find inspiration in this thought: “Do something for peace.” Let us wage peace, because blessed are the peacemakers.
Rev. Marius Louw