Thought for Today
Genesis 14:1 In the days of King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim, 2 these kings made war with King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
Mark 13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.
James 4:1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
There is a parade today in our nation’s capital celebrating the 250th birthday of our nation’s army. It is a military spectacle, showcasing those in uniform and a wide range of our military hardware. My first thought this morning is to suspect that all of our nation’s allies and all of our enemies will have observers there, carefully taking notes on those soldiers and that hardware. It seems to me that we are offering them a front row seat on things we might better keep secret. It would have been much cheaper and maybe more inducive to national security to celebrate by serving birthday cake and ice cream to everyone in uniform today.
In case you have been off the grid and have gone silent recently, there has been another outbreak of armed conflict in our world. Evidently, destruction and desolation in Ukraine and Gaza were not enough for humanity. There will be no parades today in Tehran, Isfahan, Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. There will only be God’s children huddled in bomb shelters, taking refuge from renewed destruction and desolation. How can anyone not be alarmed?
I was amazed this morning to do a word search in the Bible and find that humanity made it through 13 chapters before the word ‘war’ raised its ugly head. Of course, in its most basic sense, the whole story of Cain and Abel could be considered a war. Was James correct? Are all of our conflicts and disputes outward manifestations of the “cravings that are at war within you?”
I’m not sure any of us will ever fully understand why warfare, conflict, devastation, destruction and desolation seem such an integral aspect of humanity. There seems to be an inevitability to it all. As I reflect on my own life, wars seem to be an almost constant background to it all. I was born during WWII. My early years were during the Korean ‘Police Action.’ During college and my early adult years the Viet Nam Conflict raged. To appropriate a line from Sonny & Cher, “and the beat goes on.” Generation after generation consumed by conflict.
We sometimes become inured to it all. War is so ubiquitous we even have verses in the Bible like, “2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, . . .” Some of the hardware on display in that parade today in our nation’s capital will proudly (?) demonstrate that we are no longer constrained in our waring madness by seasons or weather. I am a great fan of technology. After all, I was trained as a mechanical engineer. I love machines. I ‘enjoy’ (?) all of my electronic toys: my computer, my smartphone, even all the ‘bells and whistles’ on our cars. But, I am deeply saddened by all the advancements (?) we have created in new and more effective ways to kill each other.
I do think it is appropriate to celebrate the 250 years of our army. I am thankful every day for all of the patriots who have willingly put their own lives in harm’s way to protect my own life and the lives of my ancestors and my descendants. “Thank you for your service” is and should be more than a casual phrase offered to all military veterans.
It has been estimated that the parade today in Washington, D.C. will cost $25-40 million. That’s a lot of money that could be used for other combat arenas: food insecurity, housing insecurity, medical care for the elderly and disadvantaged. Our congregation will pray tomorrow during worship, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I pray for our prayer to be answered. We have much better uses for our resources of people and of materials than to be used against each other.
Stay safe, pray today and tomorrow, trust God,
Pastor Ray