This Burning Heart
“Love God. Love your neighbor.” Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But at the same time it’s a huge ask, loving those we can’t seem to find even a smidgen of common ground with. And, of course, the “love God” part is difficult too, because loving God requires that we put that difficult love into actual action.
Similarly, “peacebuilding” is an intimidating word. For most, it seems out of reach—something that occurs in faraway places, an attempt to stop a violent conflict, maybe, or the process of cleaning up after one, rebuilding a country that suffered the horrors of war.
What if we reimagine peacebuilding as a spiritual practice that we implement in our ordinary lives? If we see it as a Christian discipline to be lived out, as a natural response to our love for God, a direct action stemming from our love of neighbor?
Peace Catalyst International defines peacebuilding as “a process that aims to nonviolently transform the relationships and cultural and social conditions that generate destructive and violent conflict.” With this in mind, peacebuilding can occur at the individual, familial, congregational, communal, national, international, even cosmological level. In other words, it can encompass everything from deciding to participate in therapy to address past trauma to organizing a tree-planting event in hopes of changing atmospheric conditions.
During our final gathering for a justice and reconciliation course, I listened to my fellow Luther Seminary students present the projects they’d designed to align with the class theme. What ideas they had! One student wants to work with her congregation to ensure it is actively welcoming to those with personality disorders who’ve often been made to feel they need to be “fixed” to participate in church. Another plans to create a Bible study group for queer youth, establishing a safe space for those who are often ostracized or met with preaching that demands they change themselves. To address individual hurts, one woman wants to ensure that mainline churches are aware of the harms that many who were raised in fundamentalist environments carry with them, even as they move away from those congregations. A man in New Mexico hopes to build bridges between Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American groups by encouraging dialogue amongst the communities. At the national level, my colleagues are working to make changes to the justice system, encouraging restorative justice rather than punitive and creating programs to reduce recidivism rates.
Each of these plans are—to me, at least—a stellar example of peacebuilding. They are seeking to heal divides that lead to injustice and inequity and actively working to dismantle oppression and bring marginalized people into spaces that allow them to flourish. This is the way we create not just peace, but just peace. In other words, this is God’s vision of peace, the fullness of shalom.
This just peace is outlined in the Old Testament, the rules set out for the ways Israelites are meant to live in communities: caring for one another, taking care of the weak and the vulnerable, holding each other accountable when they harm or hurt one of God’s creatures, and forgiving one another when they do just that. Jesus’s ministry on earth showed his pursuit of just peace: in healing the sick and forgiving sins, he both recognized the dignity of every individual and brought people back into community. In teaching the rich to lessen their hold on their resources, he tried to create a more equitable society.
Love God. Love your neighbor.
This is how it’s done.
Still, building peace by advocating for the dignity of every human, caring for all things created by God, the inclusion of anyone who has been excluded, establishing communities where all have equitable access to resources and opportunities . . . well, that sounds as overwhelming as moving to a war-torn country to single-handedly broker a peace agreement, doesn’t it?
But scroll back up; look at what my classmates are doing. After just six weeks of learning the basics about justice and reconciliation, they’ve found ways to implement peacebuilding practically, constructively, and immediately in their corners of the world.
How? By listening to the Holy Spirit. By discerning their call. And by letting go.
For many of us, it feels as though the world is burning, and we don’t have enough water to put out all the fires. Our hearts are burning in response, crying out to be allowed to speak, aching to fix the ruins they encounter.
Maybe, then, the first step is to let go of the desire to fix everything and everyone. Trust that others will join in to do this work, that many are already engaged in it. You’ll encounter them on your journey. You won’t be alone.
This gives you space to ask the question: what is sparking within me? What burns in my soul? What injustice can I fight, what oppression can I diminish, what harm can I repair?
Sit with that for a while. Open your heart to God. Listen for that still, soft voice. Feel around for a glow, an ember. Nourish it. What are you being called to transform? Don’t trouble yourself with practicalities, with questioning how you’ll find resources, how you’ll implement a project, how you’ll persuade others to join you. Yes, this is an urgent task, but putting together a plan will come soon enough. For now, just listen.
Listen to your burning heart. You’ll find a way to fight fire with fire.
Kirsten Schlewitz is Peace Catalyst Program Director in Belgrade, Serbia. She educates current and future pastors and church leaders on how peacebuilding can bridge their congregations’ spiritual practices, and she also engages in digital ministry to help Christians adopt peacebuilding as a way to live out their faith. Learn more about Kirsten here.
