Peace

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."  - Albert Einstein

As I mentioned in a previous post, a couple of years ago I started attending an Episcopal church. The Episcopal service is liturgical and follows a fairly regimented order.  There are words from the priest and responses from the congregation.  There are readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament and also a reading from one of the gospels and from the psalms.  There is music and there is communion.

There is also the 'passing of the peace.'  This was not something that I grew up with. But, having attended Catholic mass with my best friend for 35 years it was certainly not unfamiliar.  The words that are said are simple: "The peace of the Lord," "Peace be with you," "Peace to you, " or, simply, "Peace." They are accompanied by a handshake or, during cold and flu season, a nod or a wave or an elbow bump.  The Catholic masses that I have attended practice a "points of the compass" passing of the peace.  The person in front of you, the person behind you, the person to the right, the person to the left.  30 seconds to a minute. Done.

During my first service at St. Lukes I was expecting this same process.  And I was wrong.  No points

of the compass at this place.  People were out of their pews and up and down the aisles, passing the peace with anyone they could get their hands on.  It was, momentarily, a little intimidating, but I met more than a dozen people during that first visit specifically during this part of the service.  They asked my name, told me theirs, welcomed me to their church and introduced me to the next person.  It took me a few weeks to get the hang of it, but now I am across the aisle and greeting and welcoming newcomers as well. The 'passing of the peace' is generally a 5 minute process.

One of the outcomes of this practice is that it puts you into contact with people whom you might not otherwise meet.  After the service ends, many people will go across the hall to the library and stay for the coffee time and that allows you to chat and get to know people a little better in a more social setting. But there are many people who don't stay - they are out the door at the end of the service.  The passing of the peace allows you to connect with those people as well - to look them in the eye and recognize them as a person, with a name, and not just as the 'woman in the pink sweater' or the 'guy with the bald spot.'

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the passing of the peace.  I've been thinking of it in terms of our current cultural 'moment.'  A few days ago Donald Trump said in a tweet that "Democrats are the problem.  They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they  may be, to pour into and infest our country..."

Now, I can disagree with the premise of this tweet on any number of fronts.  I'm a Democrat and I care about crime and I don't want illegal immigrants pouring into our country.  I believe in common sense immigration policies and I think we can all see from recent events in Europe that a huge influx of people into any country without a certain amount of planning can create significant social issues in terms of housing, resources and jobs. It can create a scenario where immigrants are trading one set of problems for the same set of problems in a new place.

But the real problem I have with this tweet is his language.  "Infest."  As though they are termites, cockroaches, or vermin of some sort and, as such, must be eliminated.  These immigrants, legal or not, are human beings.  They are people - people just like the people who already live here.  Some are good. Some are probably bad.  They are people - humans created in the image of God.

How is it that we can look at other humans as an 'infestation?'  How can we de-humanize others in such a way?  We can do it when we separate ourselves - when we surround ourselves with people who look just like us and talk just like us and think just like us.  We create an echo chamber in which to live which allows us to see anyone who isn't just like us as -- an infestation.  But when we speak about them as though they are less than human, we allow ourselves to commit atrocities in the ways we treat them.  We keep them in cages. We separate them from their children.

In the years leading up to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda the government referred to the Tutsis as 'cockraoches'.  This is how Rwandan local radio incited the Hutus to violence:
"You have to kill the Tutsis, they're cockroaches."
"All those who are listening, rise so we can fight for our Rwanda.  Fight with the weeapons you have at your disposal: those who have arrows, with arrows, those who have spears, with spears. We must all fight."
"We must all fight the Tutsis.  We must finish with them, exterminate them, sweep them from the whole country.  There must be no refuge for them."
"They must be exterminated.  There is no other way."
"We will squash the infestation."
This strategy by the Rwandan government was quite successful.  The UN estimates that around 800,000 were killed in a 100 day period.

Singer and songwriter Jimi Hendrix once said, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."  The first step down the path of hatred and all that follows from it is the de-humanizing of the 'other'.  The passing of the peace is a practice that reminds us that though we may be strangers we are still connected to one another.  Though we may be different we are all still human.  Peace be with you.