Journey Toward Nonviolence 3: Facing the Reality of Danger
Monday, December 7, 2009 at 4:14PM | in Fear, Journey Toward Nonviolence This post is part of a larger series. To learn more, click here.
I remember the moment I realized this journey could lead me to jail.
I was sitting in a session led by Tony Campolo during the January residency of my graduate program earlier this year in Philadelphia. He was talking about having been arrested several times and how frequently he encounters people who reject him for this. They often point to the Bible and say we are to be subject to the ruling authorities.
This is true, he said. But we can be subject to the ruling authorities in one of two ways.
First, we can obey them.
Second, we can resist but surrender to the consequences imposed as a result.
He reminded us that Martin Luther King was arrested several times. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, too, was arrested for vocalizing opposition to Hitler and eventually executed because of it. Even Paul wrote most of his letters to the churches from the confines of a jail cell.
I was startled by this notion. Was there anything I would deem worthy of arrest? Was I willing to count any person or cause more important than my own criminal record?
I tried to imagine a future forever dotted with ticking the “yes” box on any application that asks if I have ever been arrested. It was, I confess, hard to imagine.
That was the first but not the last time I faced the reality of danger along this nonviolent and peacemaking path. A couple months later, I wrote this:
For the past month and a half, I have been (slowly) making my way through John Dear’s A Persistent Peace …
Now I am in the middle of his book, and it feels exactly like being in the thick of things. He has identified his core solidarities: the Salvadorans and the nuclear arms race.
And here, in the thick of these causes, my heart becomes heavy. So many protests, so many arrests, so much danger, so much hostility, hatred, and violence. Sometimes he and his comrades take actions that seem a bit extreme to me. Sometimes it feels like it is all too big and beyond hope. There are so many deaths and martyrdoms.
— 6 March 2009, My Year with Gandhi Journal
Those whose lives I chose to study this year carved paths of love on behalf of causes for which they’d been willing to sacrifice everything. For John Dear, it became the nuclear arms race. For Martin Luther King, it was the civil rights movement. For Gandhi, it was the freedom and dignity of his Indian brothers and sisters. For Dorothy Day, it was pacifism and the homeless persons of Brooklyn. For Mother Teresa, it was the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. For Jesus, it was all of us.
These suffered arrest. Rejection. Violence. Poverty. Starvation. Death. For what cause would I be willing to do the same?
What about you: Is there any person, cause, or conviction for which you would be willing to suffer violence, arrest, or even death?
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Reader Comments (6)
There are certainly people... but I wish I could say it was a group that I had no reason to love but that it was right to do so. The people I would die for would die for me. There's nothing valiant or very sacrificial in that.
But I'm glad you brought this up... it's something I now want to think about more.
Response from Christianne: Glad this got you thinking, Christina. It got me thinking, too, when it first came on my radar. And I appreciate your candor.
Catholic social teaching is forming my conscience in so many ways, bringing me (I believe) into the fullness of who I was meant to be, forming my heart and mind to care for the things Christ cares for, the things He commanded of us. I want to give myself to every good and just cause, even though rationally I know I cannot.
For me, it is becoming advocating for the homeless and poor in the community. It is bitterly cold here now, and all I can think of is if they're warm enough. The Tent City community will be moving in January and I'm wondering if they have all the supplies they need. When I see a letter to the editor that maligns and spits upon these human beings, I want to put myself in that path. And yes, I think I would let a uniformed officer slap handcuffs on me for their sake.
Beautiful thoughts, dear friend.
Response from Christianne: It's neat to watch your awareness and burden grow for this group of people in proximity to you that you can serve and love in tangible ways. I hear your love for them in these words, my friend.
I've been thinking about this idea of danger and God's will and serving him, but in a different way. We ask for God's favor, for his blessing, but what does that really mean? We often mean, make things work, fix things, make them easy. But if we look at history, at the people on whom God's favor rested, it's a life of hardship, of pain, of suffering, of mundaneness. So do I really want God's favor?
Response from Christianne: Great, honest question, Heather. I love the way you think about things and aren't afraid to question the system or even your own intentions!
I was reading a book last night called Follow Me to Freedom. It's a book Shane Claiborne and John M. Perkins wrote together. (John Perkins was active in the civil rights movement.) They were talking about this very thing at the beginning of their book ... how the blessing of God is so often for others, not for ourselves. Are we desirous of that kind of blessing?
Also, what you said about our inclination being in favor of blessings that will fix things and make our lives work reminds me of something I've been learning a lot this semester at Spring Arbor: how easily we slip into relating to God for what he can give to us, thus making those things more important than simply being in relationship with him. We so easily begin to use God, even for ends that appear good for all intents and purposes.
Much as Kirsten, my heart has been opened and renewed for the homeless and economically disadvantaged. Reading The Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Rich Christians in an age of hunger have really opened my eyes, and pryed open my heart to go with it.
At Compassion it is easy for me to make the poverty in foreign lands into a statistic and something "over there" and then a few weeks ago Amy and I were on a walk and came face to face with a homeless camp where there was not one before... it sucked, in a heart wrenching, eye opening, God smack you over your noggin sort of way.
If you get thrown in Jail, I will send you bail money... that's cuz I love you. (he he)
Response from Christianne: Awww, Carl. Thanks for being willing to bail me out if I ever find myself in a bind. :)
I've heard of that book about rich Christians in an age of hunger. Been meaning to check it out. It's good to hear how God is turning your heart to help the homeless in need right in front of you.
My reader hasn't been picking up your news feed . . . sad. I would honestly suffer violence and arrest for quite a lot of causes (then again, I'm someone who once said I'd like to get arrested just to see what it's like, so I'm not sure I'm on the same page as anyone else with that ;) ). Death is the big one for me . . . who would I die for? Child prostitution comes to mind first . . . there's something about those little faces being so abused that makes me want to hit people. And do more, of course, to help and love and rehabilitate.
@Sarah: Yes, I can see you helping with love and rehabilitation ... but I didn't know you were interested in getting arrested! That's a fun new fact to learn about you. :)
Not sure why your reader's not picking up the feed. Do you use Google Reader? That's what I use but am not having issues. However, just last night I changed the titles on all these "Journey Toward Nonviolence" posts, and I noticed they republished as new in Google Reader afterward. Perhaps something similar is happening for you?