My dad was a conscientious objector during the Second World War. He worked in a camp in Alberta. So, as the son of a pacifist, and a pacifist myself, what must I do on November 11, so that I am committed to not going to war anymore ? To remember is to work for peace ( on a MCC button ), and what should I remember this year ?
I am remembering a few things this November. My mom and dad left the Ukraine/Russia as young children with their families in the early 1920’s. They were so appreciative that Canada accepted them as refugees. They fled the Soviet Union before the Communists began to persecute Mennonites and many other people. I am so fortunate to have grown up and lived in Canada, as a very peaceful place my parents coming to Canada.
Shirley and I spent three years working at a refugee camp in Thailand. Part of our work was to prepare refugees for life in Canada. The main part of our work, I think, was to hear their stories. It seemed that no Cambodian family was intact when we interviewed them. For some, they were the only surviving members of their immediate family. Others had siblings spread out over the whole world. Then there were the families that were still living in Cambodia, and they were sure they would never see them again. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge Communists defeated the U.S backed Lon Nol government. The next three years were terror. The Khmer Rouge emptied the cities, killed the educated, and turned children on their parents. Maybe over a million people were killed or died of starvation. How do you forgive such torture and killing ?. I remember this during Remembrance Day.
I remember the words of Paul ( early church leader ) as we live into November 11. He was always working with people and churches that did not get along on everything. In Ephesians 2, he says that Christ broke down the dividing wall of hostility. Christ killed death or enmity. The work of Christ’s death is for theologians to figure out the meaning. But, the work of reconciliation is for all of us. The Greeks and Jews of the Ephesian Church had different world and cultural views. Their languages were not the same, and their foods were sometimes different. Paul says in the short letter to them, that Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between them. You do not say these kinds of words unless there are problems in the church. This is what makes Scripture holy for me. Paul and others are writing about the real stuff of life. I remember Paul’s commitment to peacemaking and peacebuilding on this November 11.
There are fewer conflicts in the world today. For me, this makes the Syrian conflict so tragic. I know it is complex. There are national concerns, Arabic, Russian, American, Syrian, Iranian. There are religious concerns Christian, Muslim, Jewish and secular. There are geographical complexities as well. An enemy if a friend of your friend, and then a friend is an enemy of your enemy. But, this Friday I will remember this situation. More weapons are not the answer. More violence is not the answer to the issues that are so difficult to name and possibly fix.
It would be easier to throw up my hands, and say I do not care. But, as a Christian human being, I must think about these things, and pray. I believe that we have the skills and resources to end violence in Canada and other places . I must work on my own peacemaking practices.
Finally, my thoughts go to Colombia. After four years of peace negotiations, the electorate of Colombia voted it down just by a sliver of votes. What must they do now ? Our daughter Hannah lives and works in Colombia. She is committed to going forward. Pray for the people, leaders, women and rebel leaders that they might find ways to make peace happen.
Peace must be the only way to treat the world and each other. I still have violent and non-compassionate tendencies in my own life. This is what I must remember.
Fred Redekop
I am working for Mennonite Central Committee in Kitchener since October.
Ponder Anew 