Last year I was reading a book called ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ by Shane Claiborne, a book about living for each other in community within our intensely independent culture. In this one part he told a story about a trip he took to Iraq, right at the beginning of the US invasion. His reason for going was simple – to love our brothers and sisters there, even as his own government and army dropped bombs on their homes. Obviously he goes into more detail in the book, and if you haven’t read it I highly recommend it, but my reason for talking about it is this – as I read about Shane and his friends standing with their brothers and sisters in Christ through the bombings simply to let them know they were not alone, I began thinking about all the wars I’ve studied in books, seen news clips about, and heard 10 second updates for on the radio. I wondered about how the family of God responded in those times, if Christians on both sides ever sought each other out to stand together in hope in a similar way.
This week as I wander the streets of Belgrade and see the remains of a bombed building in the midst of a bustling, lively city that I’ve come to love, I wonder if anyone came here to stand with our brothers and sisters as NATO dropped that bomb (and many others) in its attempt to end the atrocities against Kosovo a decade ago. I know what the general consensus was on this side, I can see it in the monuments – ‘Dedicated to the children killed by NATO aggression’ pretty much says it all. And I know from text books and what I remember of news clips in ’99 that our consensus was we were fighting on the side of right, fighting for justice. But what I want to know, what actually matters to me in the body of Christ is this: did we step up as a family and ignore what the world was telling us to think about a people and instead remember that we have family members that are cut off, alone, and in danger for their lives? By what I’m told of missionary activity here in Serbia, I don’t think we did. At least not much. And I know we didn’t do much of that in either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars either.
So what is our response to be? We look at these conflicts and know there is nothing we can do to stop them. We also would argue that putting ourselves in harms way does nothing to stop the fighting, so what is the use of risking our lives? What I want us all (myself oh so included) to chew on is this: ‘…as I have loved you, so you must love one another. BY THIS all men will know you are my disciples…’ The point is not to save lives (not directly, anyway, and not so much the physical ones). Nor is it to end the conflict (though it would be nice). It is not even to preach, pray, or worship – these are all just things we do in the process. The point is to give such great love for one another that all men would know who it is we follow. That, as always, our love for God would be such a part of our every day lives that it would show in a love for each other that would drive us to such great lengths as risking our own lives just to bring our brothers and sisters a hope that comes in knowing you don’t stand alone. That we would love too much to leave them cut off in the midst of darkness.
I don’t know if there was anything that could’ve stopped the bombs from falling on this great city a decade ago, or to stop this government from doing what it did to Kosovo and its people. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is I know I would have forgotten that I have family here when I saw it all on the news and would’ve instead focused on who was right, who was wrong, and who I was most frustrated with. I want to love more than that. I want to love beyond borders and nations and sides and even beyond right and wrong. I want to love with a reckless abandon that puts others first and me last. I want to love as God loves. I need to love as God loves.
