Worthy of Our Calling?

EMU's Mission Statement, approved by the Board of Trustees in March of 2002 states, "Eastern Mennonite University educates students to live in a global context. Our Anabaptist Christian community challenges students to pursue their life calling through scholarly inquiry, artistic creation, guided practice, and life-changing cross-cultural encounter. We invite each person to experience Christ and follow His call to witness faithfully, serve compassionately, and walk boldly in the way of nonviolence and peace."

In a series of articles, the Weather Vane will be examining the concluding phrase in our mission. What does it mean for EMU students, faculty, and staff, to "walk boldly in the way of nonviolence and peace?" What does this mean for EMU as a university?

This call to bold nonviolence is connected to the invitation to experience Christ and follow His call. Bold nonviolence is an act of faith. It cannot be the kind of activity that people would do apart from faith.

The articles will be shaped around the vision of bold non-violence. The following quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ron Sider display this vision. The first quote comes from the leader of the bold nonviolence movement for African-American civil rights. The second quote is specifically addressed to Mennonites who embrace nonviolence.

During the 1965 preparations for the second Freedom Summer a student asked Dr. King, "Do you see any way in which nonviolence can be effectively applied to problems of world importance, particularly to Vietnam and especially to world peace?" Dr. King replied:

Oh, yes. I think that first it is important to say that this must be done. I think that the problems of war are so serious now and the danger of universal annihilation is such a great threat that we must experiment with the nonviolent method in international dimensions."

...Maybe the time has come for men committed to the idea of nonviolence and committed to peace to develop the idea of a peace army, which will stand alongside and over against the standing armies of the world. There are nonviolent techniques that can be used and that must be used if we are to survive. If mankind assumes that he has a right and a need to survive, then we must find some alternative to war. And maybe there will come a day and a time when a group of nonviolent devotees will say that we will present our very bodies, whether it's in a Vietnam or in a Dominican Republic, or wherever it is - without weapons, without arms - and we are doing this to bring it to the conscience and the consciousness of the world and even if it means death we are accepting that in order to save the soul of humanity.

Almost 20 years later, in 1984, Mennonite theologian Ron Sider, unaware of Dr. King's vision, told the Mennonite World Conference:

Those who have believed in peace through the sword have not hesitated to die. Proudly, courageously, they have marched off to death. Again and again, they sacrificed bright futures to the tragic illusion that one more righteous crusade would bring peace in their time. For their loved ones, for justice, and for peace, they have laid down their lives by the millions.

Why do we pacifists think that our way - Jesus' way - to peace will involve so little cost? Unless we Mennonites and Brethren in Christ are ready to start to die by the thousands in dramatic vigorous new exploits for peace and justice, we should sadly confess that we really never meant what we said....

...What would happen if the Christian church today developed a new nonviolent peacekeeping force of 100,000 persons ready to move into violent conflicts and stand peacefully between warring parties...? Frequently we would get killed by the thousands. But everyone assumes that for the sake of peace it is moral and just for soldiers to get killed by the hundreds of thousands, even millions. Do we not have as much courage and faith as soldiers?

Again and again, I believe, praying, Spirit-filled Christians, in such peacekeeping forces would by God's special grace, be able to end the violence and nurture justice. We would discover that love for enemies is not utopian madness or destructive masochism but rather God's alternative to the centuries of escalating violence that now threatens the entire planet. But we must face the cross. The cross - death by the thousands by those who believe in Jesus - is the only way to convince our violent world of the truth of Christ's alternative.

For centuries we Anabaptists have believed there is a different way, a better way. Our world needs that alternative. Now. But the world will be able to listen to our words only if large numbers of our people live what we say. Our best sons and daughters, our leaders, and all of our people must be ready to risk death. The cross comes before the resurrection.

There is finally only one question: Do we believe Jesus enough to pay the cost of following Him? Do you? Do I?

You can listen to all of Ron Sider's speech at:

http://odeo.com/audio/4574313/view