Peace with Justice
The UCC at 50 Series - Part 5
Micah 6:8
July 1, 2007
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
Journey with me, if you will, to a road somewhere in the world on which you find yourself
one among many travelers -all of you part of a long line of desperate people, all moving in the
same direction. You are thirsty and hungry. The sun is high in the sky and burning, but you
have nothing to cover your head. You can only carry some of your belongings, the rest you had
to leave behind. You know that the walk will be a long one. You do not know where, or how, it
will end, nor do you know what may happen along the way. The people around you are
generally silent - all moving with a sense of urgency, but resigned to this trip. All of you know
you may never again see the family members and friends who began this trek with you or those
who could not or would not join you.
You are walking this long road with people forced to flee their homes because of war,
threat of injury or unrest in their community that would more than likely result in their deaths.
You are walking away from extreme poverty toward a dream of work in another land. You are
trying to find a safe place to live but you do not know where that may be. You could be among
refugees and displaced people of Sudan, the Balkans, East Timor, Iraq, Columbia, Mexico, or
many other places in the world.
The UCC at 50 Series - Part 5
Micah 6:8
July 1, 2007
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
Journey with me, if you will, to a road somewhere in the world on which you find yourself
one among many travelers -all of you part of a long line of desperate people, all moving in the
same direction. You are thirsty and hungry. The sun is high in the sky and burning, but you
have nothing to cover your head. You can only carry some of your belongings, the rest you had
to leave behind. You know that the walk will be a long one. You do not know where, or how, it
will end, nor do you know what may happen along the way. The people around you are
generally silent - all moving with a sense of urgency, but resigned to this trip. All of you know
you may never again see the family members and friends who began this trek with you or those
who could not or would not join you.
You are walking this long road with people forced to flee their homes because of war,
threat of injury or unrest in their community that would more than likely result in their deaths.
You are walking away from extreme poverty toward a dream of work in another land. You are
trying to find a safe place to live but you do not know where that may be. You could be among
refugees and displaced people of Sudan, the Balkans, East Timor, Iraq, Columbia, Mexico, or
many other places in the world.
Or imagine that you are not on the road at all, but sitting hopelessly in your home because
there is no where you can go. Perhaps you are one of the millions of people in the richest
country in the world who must choose between a roof over your head or food to eat. Perhaps
you are one of the working poor who cannot even afford a place to live. Perhaps your children
are among the 9 million who have no access to health care. You might even be the parent of a
child who died because no one would treat his tooth abscess or provide the drugs needed to
treat her cancer. You might go to work every day and still find yourself unable to provide the
basic necessities for yourself or your family.
Whether you are on the road or on the street, whether you are fleeing persecution or
weighed down with poverty, you long for peace; you hope for justice; you dream of a place
where your children will have enough to eat, a safe place to sleep, a school to educate their
minds and resources to keep their bodies strong and healthy. Will anyone stand with you? Does
anyone care?
Now imagine yourself in the midst of the 1985 General Synod of the United Church of
Christ. Quite a different setting! At this gathering, you hear the delegates debate a resolution
calling the United Church of Christ to become a "just peace church." You hear the call to "work
to end the institution of war" by working to eliminate the root causes of violence. You hear the
invitation to be in solidarity with those who are victims of war, violence, and injustice. You
remember that throughout the long history of our predecessor denominations -the
Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church- our forbearers have
cared for the poor, the orphans, the slaves. You hear the echoes of prophets like Micah who
proclaim that more important than the forms of worship or the offerings given or the sacrifices
made or the creeds espoused is God's requirement to, "do justice, and to love kindness, and to
walk humbly with your God," [Micah 6:8 NRSV] or as Eugene Peterson puts it to "do what is fair
O:\Sermons\Sermons 2007\07-01-07 micah 6-8 peace with justice.doc
Last printed 7/2/2007 1:54:00 PM - 2 -
and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too
seriously-- take God seriously." [Micah 6:8 MSG] And you know that you are part of a
denomination that throughout its history has called its members to stand with the poor and
labor for justice. You know you are among people who care for the lonely, feed the hungry,
shelter the homeless, provide refuge for the frightened, give voice to the voiceless, empower
the powerless, bring hope to the hopeless, healing to the broken and love to all.
As we look at our history and seek to understand what it means to say that we are a peace
with justice church, I think it is important to understand that he United Church of Christ is not a
pacifist church. In other words, we are not like the Quakers, Mennonites or Amish who seek to
practice non-violence in every situation and all circumstances. We understand that there are
times when war may be necessary, but only as a last resort, only after every other means of
resolving conflicts has been exhausted.
Fresh from my time at the General Synod in Hartford and all that I experienced there, as I
was thinking about the call to become a peace with justice church, the phrase "If you want
peace, work for justice," came to my mind. Wanting to find out who first made such an
observation, I googled the phrase and discovered that a journalist by the name of Henry Louis
Mencken first wrote this phrase that was later quoted by Pope Paul VI. But Mencken and Pope
Paul were not the only ones to grasp the connection between peace and justice. Former
President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower said "Peace and justice are two sides of the same
coin. ... Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and
cooperation can finally lead men [and women] to the dawn of eternal peace." Even actor
Harrison Ford understood this truth when he said, "Peace is not the absence of war but the
presence of justice." In fact the word for "Peace" used throughout the Hebrew Bible is "Shalom"
-a word that includes not just the absence of conflict or war, but rather the fullness of life -that
is justice- for all people.
There was a certain man who because he loved to fish went to a river not too far from
his home every day. One day a baby in a basket came floating down the river. The man fished
out the baby, took it home, and he and his wife took care of it.
A few days later, another basket with another baby came floating by. He fished that
baby out of the water, took it home and likewise cared for it; then, a few days later, another
baby. And so it went for nearly a month, until finally he said to his wife, "I'm going to go
upstream and find out whose putting all those babies in the river!"
Such is the call to work for justice. It is the call not only to fish the babies out of the river
and care for them, but to do what we can do to keep them out of the river in the first place. As
Edith A. Guffey, UCC associate general minister, said "From the UCC's beginning until now,
justice and peace have been a crucial part of our faith and what it means to be Christ's Church.
Challenging unjust systems often takes us to uncomfortable and unpopular places, but Jesus'
words are clear: we must stand with the least of these."
Poverty and hunger, war and violence, racism and sexism, and all the other "isms" threaten
the human community. Throughout our history, the UCC has spoken in ways that offer hope to
those who experience such social maladies and challenges the powers that seek their
perpetuation. But more than just speaking, individual members of local congregations have
boycotted and advocated, written letters and joined marches, become mentors and stood as
allies, reached out and lifted up, each in his or her own way hearing God's call to "do what is
fair and just to your neighbors -all of them-, to be compassionate and loyal in your love, and ...
to take God seriously." In the places we work and live and go to school, in the community and
nation we call home, in small ways and big, may we continue to do the justice to be done each
day. Amen.
there is no where you can go. Perhaps you are one of the millions of people in the richest
country in the world who must choose between a roof over your head or food to eat. Perhaps
you are one of the working poor who cannot even afford a place to live. Perhaps your children
are among the 9 million who have no access to health care. You might even be the parent of a
child who died because no one would treat his tooth abscess or provide the drugs needed to
treat her cancer. You might go to work every day and still find yourself unable to provide the
basic necessities for yourself or your family.
Whether you are on the road or on the street, whether you are fleeing persecution or
weighed down with poverty, you long for peace; you hope for justice; you dream of a place
where your children will have enough to eat, a safe place to sleep, a school to educate their
minds and resources to keep their bodies strong and healthy. Will anyone stand with you? Does
anyone care?
Now imagine yourself in the midst of the 1985 General Synod of the United Church of
Christ. Quite a different setting! At this gathering, you hear the delegates debate a resolution
calling the United Church of Christ to become a "just peace church." You hear the call to "work
to end the institution of war" by working to eliminate the root causes of violence. You hear the
invitation to be in solidarity with those who are victims of war, violence, and injustice. You
remember that throughout the long history of our predecessor denominations -the
Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church- our forbearers have
cared for the poor, the orphans, the slaves. You hear the echoes of prophets like Micah who
proclaim that more important than the forms of worship or the offerings given or the sacrifices
made or the creeds espoused is God's requirement to, "do justice, and to love kindness, and to
walk humbly with your God," [Micah 6:8 NRSV] or as Eugene Peterson puts it to "do what is fair
O:\Sermons\Sermons 2007\07-01-07 micah 6-8 peace with justice.doc
Last printed 7/2/2007 1:54:00 PM - 2 -
and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too
seriously-- take God seriously." [Micah 6:8 MSG] And you know that you are part of a
denomination that throughout its history has called its members to stand with the poor and
labor for justice. You know you are among people who care for the lonely, feed the hungry,
shelter the homeless, provide refuge for the frightened, give voice to the voiceless, empower
the powerless, bring hope to the hopeless, healing to the broken and love to all.
As we look at our history and seek to understand what it means to say that we are a peace
with justice church, I think it is important to understand that he United Church of Christ is not a
pacifist church. In other words, we are not like the Quakers, Mennonites or Amish who seek to
practice non-violence in every situation and all circumstances. We understand that there are
times when war may be necessary, but only as a last resort, only after every other means of
resolving conflicts has been exhausted.
Fresh from my time at the General Synod in Hartford and all that I experienced there, as I
was thinking about the call to become a peace with justice church, the phrase "If you want
peace, work for justice," came to my mind. Wanting to find out who first made such an
observation, I googled the phrase and discovered that a journalist by the name of Henry Louis
Mencken first wrote this phrase that was later quoted by Pope Paul VI. But Mencken and Pope
Paul were not the only ones to grasp the connection between peace and justice. Former
President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower said "Peace and justice are two sides of the same
coin. ... Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and
cooperation can finally lead men [and women] to the dawn of eternal peace." Even actor
Harrison Ford understood this truth when he said, "Peace is not the absence of war but the
presence of justice." In fact the word for "Peace" used throughout the Hebrew Bible is "Shalom"
-a word that includes not just the absence of conflict or war, but rather the fullness of life -that
is justice- for all people.
There was a certain man who because he loved to fish went to a river not too far from
his home every day. One day a baby in a basket came floating down the river. The man fished
out the baby, took it home, and he and his wife took care of it.
A few days later, another basket with another baby came floating by. He fished that
baby out of the water, took it home and likewise cared for it; then, a few days later, another
baby. And so it went for nearly a month, until finally he said to his wife, "I'm going to go
upstream and find out whose putting all those babies in the river!"
Such is the call to work for justice. It is the call not only to fish the babies out of the river
and care for them, but to do what we can do to keep them out of the river in the first place. As
Edith A. Guffey, UCC associate general minister, said "From the UCC's beginning until now,
justice and peace have been a crucial part of our faith and what it means to be Christ's Church.
Challenging unjust systems often takes us to uncomfortable and unpopular places, but Jesus'
words are clear: we must stand with the least of these."
Poverty and hunger, war and violence, racism and sexism, and all the other "isms" threaten
the human community. Throughout our history, the UCC has spoken in ways that offer hope to
those who experience such social maladies and challenges the powers that seek their
perpetuation. But more than just speaking, individual members of local congregations have
boycotted and advocated, written letters and joined marches, become mentors and stood as
allies, reached out and lifted up, each in his or her own way hearing God's call to "do what is
fair and just to your neighbors -all of them-, to be compassionate and loyal in your love, and ...
to take God seriously." In the places we work and live and go to school, in the community and
nation we call home, in small ways and big, may we continue to do the justice to be done each
day. Amen.
