Preventing Grace
Well, Friday, there you are.
One
Caught up for the last half hour watching a riveting France 24 news story about the incredible work of Denis Mukwege, who was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Nadia Murad. What a fascinating person. France 24 interviewed him in depth, following him all the way into his surgery, around his now abandoned home where he survived an assassination attempt, and into church. They spent time at the hospital crèche where the children of rape victims are cared for. They interviewed women in the hospital. They followed the police woman in charge of the prison where violators are incarcerated. Was held spellbound by an interview with a young woman holding her child who, she says, she could not love, but now, after being at the hospital and receiving healing, she has been able to learn to love. Everyone gets psychological care, medical care, and it looks like, from the reporting, the gospel. Mukwege, the helper of many thousands of women out of unspeakable trauma, more than deserves this award.
Two
So then I googled Nobel Prize 2018 and the first three American stories were about how Mr. Trump did not get the Peace Prize. Retreated into a baffled silence.
Three
And then wandered back to France 24 to hear more about Nadia Murad who is honored for bringing the systematic violation and destruction of Yazidi women to international attention. She is similarly fascinating to read about.
Four
But then, for a little whiplash, France 24 spent seven minutes on the Kavanaugh hearings as they do every morning. The best thing, if your French isn’t very strong, is to pay special attention to reporting on America, especially presidential tweets. Simple, easy to understand, spoken clearly and slowly, they are perfect for the person who never properly memorized all those verbs forms. But then the commentary afterwards goes by a million miles an hour and you slump back in frustration.
Five
Truly, I find myself bemused and horrified by the increasing chatter about how divided our politics are—so divided, in fact, that some, too many for me, have used the term “civil war,” warning, or is it insisting, that irrevocable conflict is just around the corner. My half hour reminder of the years’ long horror in the DRC, and of other conflicts across Africa and the world, makes me draw in a long thoughtful breath. Violence is not a good answer. This young person, for instance, has no idea how foolish that path is.
Six
The Babylon Bee really has, though tongue in cheek, the best word. Every culture and nation and people and language need the common restraining grace of God to soothe and heal the rage and foolishness of the human heart. Without his perfect peace, we cannot but go to war. It is a curious custom that we give ourselves awards for Peace, when really it is a divine miracle, given by a gracious and forbearing God.
Seven
My psalm this morning began this way, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed.” It’s what I ask myself, hoping for some trick of an answer, like, ‘Well, they just needed more information, and the men needed to respect the women, and they needed to think about it and behave this other way,’ as if there is anything that I can do, or you can do to suppress or cut away at the deep rebellion at the root of the human heart. The psalmist carries on, describing the laughter of God in the face of his enemies. But then he ends this way, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” The kiss of peace perhaps? That surrending gesture whereby you lay aside your weapons of war and ask God to do what you cannot do, to bring his true and everlasting peace into the world.
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