THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
November 11, 2002
I don’t care what the official name is, I still think of it as Armistice Day. For it was on this day in 1918 that the guns quit and really the world’s first if abortive attempt at world peace was underway. Thinking of what we tried to do then and also at the end of WW2 and what we face now we can see frustration and failure but also I think glimmerings of hope. Bestiality continues but so do the voices of alternative ways besides force to resolve our grievances with one another. Much too much of the former and a cynical disbelief in the latter are still prevalent but more and more people are realizing the ultimate futility of force even if many in our leadership do not. All previous world empires lived and died by force. At the pinnacle of our power as a nation, obtained by the blood of those honored this day and all who have followed after them, we again have an opportunity to root out evil with love, to change the way nations resolve issues so we no longer have a need for these kinds of holidays.
You say this is a forlorn hope. Of course it is if we can’t see alternates. If we can’t put our minds into the minds of those who oppose us and try to find out why. Each week we pray in our church for our enemies, as well as those we just don’t like. Also for our friends, of course.
Jesus went into the "foreign places" because those where the ones who realized they were separated from God were to be found. Where are the "foreign places" in our neighborhoods, where we are not comfortable? Are we willing to go into such places acting the gospel within us? And how about those who don’t realize this separation, who think, "I’m OK." Can we so live that our lives show our motivation is to live and act as Jesus would? Can this ideal be translated into our actions unto the uttermost ends of the earth? Jesus was concerned for all. Let us also be.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
201 Oak St.
Mauston, WI 53948-1333 608-8474555
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