"TRADITION!!!"

My wife and I had a discussion (what our former pastor used to call "intense fellowship") yesterday about peace, war, non-resistance, Mennonites, and inclusive church. This discussion has been bugging me. Not because I think I'm right or she's right, but because this is a very pertinent problem in our congregation and I'm going to be speaking on it in a month or so...the idea of Core, Conviction, and Preferences when it comes to theological and doctrinal maturity for the Christian church.

And she made some very valid points. I checked the Mennonite Confession of Faith and, while it does not say so directly, it does imply involvement in war or military is contrary to the gospel and, therefore, sin. So, she's right, Mennonites do see it as sin.

And, honestly, to a point, so do I. But I'm starting to wonder and question. Is it really? Is this something that Christians should see as sin? Is this a "core" Christian doctrine or is this a "conviction"? The commentary on the Mennonite confession states that there is no easy answer to the OT presentation of war so even the writers of the confession have doubts and questions.

How do I reconcile my belief that to participate in violence is contrary to Christ and yet still be welcoming to people who do not share that conviction? I am strongly convicted of the former... but I do not want that to be a stumbling block for new believers or, for that matter, new attenders to Bally. I want to love, welcome, and fellowship with anyone who comes through our doors.

This is a fight in my mind and heart that God and the Spirit are obviously not finished with me yet. And I think what's going on in me is characteristic of the Mennonite church in general and Bally in specific. We have community convictions for peace and non-resistance, born out of years of theological study and discussion. But I confess that this theological study and discussion is not "pure" in that it may contain discussions born out of justification of long held traditions. I feel like Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof", honestly, when faced with Chava. For those who have not seen the movie or the musical, Chava, his daughter, broke with tradition and married a non-Jew, even more so without asking permission or blessing. Tevye drew the line and "disowned" her and shunned her from community. "She's dead to me." As Christian Mennonites, where do we draw the line between holding to values and truths that we hold dear and opening our arms in love to others? I don't WANT to cut off our Chava... I don't want to shun her and leave her in forlorn despair. But I also want to be faithful to my God and the convictions he's laid on my heart.

This is a VERY difficult thing for Mennonites to face and it will involve tears at all levels before it can be resolved... IF it can be resolved. Perhaps we're looking at it too black and white, right and wrong. As McClaren points out in his book, maybe we're too stuck in our line of a continuum:

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On the left, Peace is gospel core.
On the right, Peace is not essential gospel

Maybe there's something that is completely off that line that we are grasping at and just cannot comprehend. The Gospel seems to be that way... That it's a different way of looking at the world. We who live in the world see yes or no, right or wrong, black and white...is there something BEYOND that two-dimensional view that we just cannot see?