Rev. Zach

Job 1:1, 2:1-10      Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 As I think on the scriptures we have read today, I am reminded of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoddard.   The two lead characters stumble upon a traveling band of actors that call themselves “ Tragedians, ” because they only perform tragedies.   When asked if these were works of antiquity, their leader replies: “ We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school.   Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive.   But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood.   Blood is compulsory.   They're all blood, you see. ” Blood is compulsory in the story of human history.   Even as we continue to search for our evolutionary roots we can ’ t help but ask questions about blood.   We spill it.   We keep it.   We honor i...

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God...Matthew 5:9 Peacemaking and peacekeeping are two terms that can often be confused with one another. The extremes of liberalism and conservatism each use these terms to benefit their own agendas, and often the meaning of peace making and peacekeeping become co-opted. Generally speaking, peacemaking tends to describe actions that bring about the condition of peace. Those who consider themselves peacemakers often use non-violent strategies that model and begin the implementation of peaceful resolutions. Peacekeeping, on the other hand, is generally understood as the means of enforcing the conditions that allow for others to co-exist peacefully. The irony of the situation is that peacekeepers often do so through the threat of violence. Ideally this seems antithetical, but in reality there is evil in this world that must be restrained with force. Weeds must be pulled to keep a garden healthy. Terrorists att...