tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011509021933113035.post8634930345391509937..comments2023-05-24T09:31:17.904-04:00Comments on Pastor's Puddle: Do Mennonites have a Peace Theology?Phil Waitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05014739212970479518noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011509021933113035.post-76029337039327141082013-02-21T10:39:08.742-05:002013-02-21T10:39:08.742-05:00Phil, we as Mennonites already have our peace theo...Phil, we as Mennonites already have our peace theology in place. It is part and parcel of a much broader and deeper, umbrella theology. In every generation we need to rediscover it – right here at College Mennonite Church. And here is what it is:<br /> It is the Jesus of Galilee (Mark 16:7) whom we model, individually, as his followers, and whom we model, together, as disciples, as the living Body of Christ, “walking in the resurrection” and thus, empowered by the Holy Spirit. This grants us the power to live as Jesus lived, continuing where he left off around A.D. 30.<br /> This living witness to Jesus is not mere ecclesiology, is not mere ethics (ethics, rightly understood, in the sense of emulating Jesus) – both, essential elements within our overarching theology. Emulating Jesus is indeed also our theology of peace. Did not Jesus live a life of forgiving, suffering, nonviolent love, and then so die a forgiving, loving, suffering, nonviolent death, telling us to live likewise?<br />We are speaking of a living relationship with a person, which is far, far more than even a peace theology. It comprises the totality of Jesus, including his peace motif, whom we always loop back to and in a very real sense become, who as LORD is our living canon within the canon.<br /> This accords with our earliest Anabaptist statements of 1524 (Zurich) and 1527 (Schleitheim), and the same truth is found throughout the five centuries of our existence in many a document.<br /> It has carried us well over the centuries. May we also rediscover it here at College Mennonite Church, in 2013!<br /> -- Leonard GrossAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com