Brother Andrew on Middle East Peace

i have just started a book by brother andrew in the last few days. i was so struck by some of the things he was writing about, i wanted to share it as soon as possible with whoever would listen.

a little background on brother andrew (to read more click here) is that he has been a lifelong dutch missionary first to the USSR and now the Middle East. he has quite a story to tell. you can read his book God’s Smuggler from his days in the Soviet Union.

anyway, this book i am reading is called Light Force. it is about the Middle East. the particular section i want to share comes from his time in Beirut, Lebanon in 1986. he spoke to a group of lebanese pastors and gave these remarks:

“this problem of peace breaks down into three parts. first, peace in our hearts. God can never bring peace to the world through people who do not have peace in their own hearts. second, peace in our own home. through the sheer determination pledged by every member, we say, ‘we shall not fight!’ that means not fighting one another in the home, not fighting our neighbor, not fighting our friends, not fighting our colleagues, fellow students, or anyone. the very basis of our life and actions is the peace that God has given, and fgrom that peace, we act. and the numbers of ‘homes of peace’ will determine how close Lebanon is to peace.

let me emphasize this point. we need to create a movement. every ‘home of peace’ should be recognizable. that implies that this is a haven where everyone is welcome to find refuge. it could be done with a sticker or a symbol on the front door or whatever we have the courage for. every ‘home of peace’ could have some literature, which the Bible Society will produce, on the theme of peace, and Open Doors will finance that. the third part is peace in our community, in our churches, in our spheres of influence. it is said that they will know we are Christians by our love. this peace movement will demonstrate love everywhere we go.”

this is probably one of the best synopsises i have ever read about what it means to have peace. because it doesnt work from the top down. it doesnt talk about political peace, or even a cease fire. it talks about personal peace. brother andrew then encourages home peace. and finally church peace. and notice, he nevers includes a political peace. instead, he calls the Lebanese Christians to act like Christ. it is only our responsibility to love others, because we follow Christ. we cannot expect or demand love from them. but this will not start at even the church level. each individual must be a peacemaker himself or herself. each family must be an example to the other arounds them of peace and love. each family must truly love their neighbors, even the annoying ones and, worse yet, the evil ones. and finally if all the families do it, then all the local churches will do it. and it will spread. and the churches will reach their entire community.

there is hope. but it has to start small. we must dream big. we must allow God to reach many, many people. we must not limit Him. but, on the other hand, we cannot play God. we cannot pretend to have all the answer to political peace. we cannot even really work for political peace. we will only fail, because we are not God. but we can start with ourselves. and we can work from ourselves to our family and so on.

i hope this is as much a blessing to you as it was to me.

may we find the full shalom of Christ, not just a political “cease-fire”, but a true shalom with self, family, church, and the community.