Nonviolence educator Kazu Haga writes that a commitment to nonviolence requires us to heal any division between ourselves and those we consider “other”:
When we talk about building a world where all people can achieve justice and fulfill our potential as human beings, we really mean all people. That is Dr. [Martin Luther] King’s vision of “Beloved Community,” where all people can live in peace. Beloved Community is an acknowledgment that the only way for a peace to ever be sustainable, the only way that our people can always be safe, is if all people are free.…
Building Beloved Community is not about loving the people who are easy to love. It is about cultivating love for those that are difficult to love. Those people over there. The others. Those who root for the Los Angeles Lakers [DM team: Haga is a passionate Boston Celtics fan]. The people who voted for that guy. The people who work in the very systems that are destroying our communities. The corrupt corporate CEO. The foreign dictator responsible for countless deaths.
If you are not struggling to love people, if you are not trying to build understanding with those you disagree with, then you are not really doing the work of building Beloved Community. The work of building Beloved Community is understanding that we’re not trying to win over people, but to win people over. Historically, winning a war has meant defeating the opponent. There is a clear winner and a clear loser…. But in nonviolence, there is no real victory until everyone is on the same side.
Dr. King once wrote, “The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.” [1] While violence may be effective in temporarily keeping us safe from harm, it can never create relationships. Violence can never heal the harm that has been done. Violence can never bring about reconciliation. Violence can never create Beloved Community. Only love can do that. [2]
Father Thomas Keating (1923–2018) saw love and peacemaking as inextricable from one another and from God.
We’re all like localized vibrations of the infinite goodness of God’s presence. Love is our very nature. Love is our first, middle, and last name. Love is all; not [love as] sentimentality, but love that is self-forgetful and free of self-interest. This is also marvelously exemplified in Gandhi’s life and work. He never tried to win anything. He just tried to show love, and that’s what ahimsa really means. It’s not just a negative. Nonviolence doesn’t capture its meaning. It means to show love tirelessly, no matter what happens. That’s the meaning of turning the other cheek. Once in a while you have to defend somebody, but it means you’re always willing to suffer first for the cause—that is to say, for communion with your enemies. If you overcome your enemies, you’ve failed. If you make your enemies your partners, God has succeeded.
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Sarah Young Jesus Listens
Precious Savior, You’ve been helping me understand that Joy is a choice. I don’t have much control over my circumstances, but I can still choose to be joyful. You created me a little lower than the heavenly beings, and You gave me an amazing mind—with the ability to think things through and make decisions. I’ve learned that my thoughts are extremely important because they strongly influence my emotions and behavior. So endeavoring to make good thought-choices is well worth my efforts. Whenever I’m feeling joyless, I need to pause and remember that You are with me—watching over me continuously. Thank You, Lord, for loving me with unfailing Love and for giving me Your Spirit. This Holy One within me helps me line up my thinking with the glorious truths of Scripture. Your continual Presence is a biblical promise, and I long to find You in the midst of my circumstances. As I’m seeking You, at first I can see only my problems. But if I keep on looking, eventually I’ll see the Light of Your Presence shining upon my difficulties—reflecting sparkles of Joy back to me! In Your brilliant, joyful Name, Jesus, Amen
PSALM 8:5 ESV; 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[ a] and crowned him with glory and honor.
GENESIS 28:15; I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”.
PSALM 107:8; Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men. Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!
ROMANS 15:13; May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 226). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
