Chinches, churches and world peace

This week got off to a less than pleasant start when on Monday night I couldn't sleep because of this terrible sensation that I was being bitten by some terrible little bug that was inflicting me with its horrible itch causing venom...Here they call them "chinches" - or better known as bed bugs!!! Apparently the chinches decided to be my welcoming committee to my new casa (they must be menno chinches because they formed a committee :). Needless to say I fumigated my mattress and room and will be sleeping on the couch tonight.

On a better note, I was invited to participate in a Ecumenical meeting at a local Orthodox church. The meeting included Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Mennonites from all over the city of Santa Cruz. The theme of the meeting was the planning of an ecumenical conference next week on the topic of grace and the sacraments where each church will be sharing from its own faith traditions in an effort to learn from each other through our commonalities and our differences. Christ's longest recorded prayer, found in John 17, was a prayer for the unity of his followers. How exciting to be a part of a group working for the unity of the body of Christ - working for dialogue and understanding - understanding that we do not have to agree, but rather to recognize our common humanity, our unity in Christ, and our shared purpose as participants in the reign of God.

In my own faith I want to be a follower. I want to work toward making the reign of God initiated by Christ visible. For me this means a commitment to social justice and working for peace in a world marred by conflict and violence, whether it be physical violence, economic violence, emotional violence, or the violence of exclusion. Sometimes though it seems like working for peace is pointless - many say "There will always be war" - and they are probably right because there will probably always be people willing to sell the weapons that make war possible, and willing to fund the purchase of those weapons. War is a business after all - a big business. World peace isn't impossible - it's unlikely - not because it isn't "God's will," but because it isn't the will of humans to put God's desire for shalom (peace that results from well-being/wholeness) before their own avarice. God doesn't will us to destroy each other - humankind wills its own destruction because money has become its god. Until humanity is willing to put first God's kingdom and commit fully to participating in it, there will be no peace on earth.