We are Christ-centered Friends who equip and encourage all people
to respond to God's love and transforming Spirit.

Blessed are the Peacemakers…
John 13:34,35
January 22. 2012

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another.
In the same way I loved you you love one another.
This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—
When they see the love you have for each other.”
1 John 4:7,8,11,12

Beloved; let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Beloved, since God loved us so much, we ought also to love one another. if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

We have been reflecting on stories of peace this month. Last week we gave tribute to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Afterwards someone shared with me that what struck them most from the sermon I read was King’s focus on love. He called everyone back to love. He pointed people to the teachings of Jesus reminding them that the true path to peace is built with love, compassion and forgiveness…

To be peacemakers we must learn to love one another even when we hold different theological beliefs and have come to different conclusions in our listening to God. I am convinced that those who are skeptical of religion and Christianity, in particular, have written God off, in large part by how poorly we religious people treat one another and communicate with each other.

A community of faith, of all places, should be a safe place for every viewpoint to be heard, but often it is not. Our Friends peace testimony has been controversial in many “Christian circles” for the 350 plus years of our history. I’m afraid that nonviolent resistance as a means of peacemaking usually brings up lots of questions for people. It can seem cowardly, shortsighted, and ineffective to some. So shouldn’t this be a place where we can explore these and other questions, or state our convictions and still hold each other with deep respect and honor? This is never easy, especially when we feel our point of view, or a cherished belief, is being threatened in any way, or that others are just flat out wrong. How will we as Friends take on this challenge and grow deeper in our love and respect for one another?

One important issue facing the Church, at large, is what it means to be welcoming and inclusive of all people regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. Discourse around homosexuality has been the source of great divisiveness broadly in many religious circles. It is currently an issue of discussion in Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, as well. How will peacemaking happen here within this meeting and in the broader circle of NWYM and beyond as we seek to talk about these things openly? Will we be able to respect and love each other, even if and when we disagree? It is my sincere hope and prayer that we will rise to this challenge and create a safe environment to begin sharing our stories, as Cindy has done for us during first word.

This morning I would like to begin to tell you a touching story that Terry Morton relayed to me when she was home last month over the holidays. Many of you know that Terry is in Tanzania with MCC doing peace building among Africans. I asked Terry to put this story in writing so that it could be shared with others. I wish she were here to tell this story. It needs to be heard in her voice so I am going to read a small portion for you this morning. This story is about Sister Martha, or perhaps anyone out there who has been stigmatized, marginalized or abused by others for simply being who they are. . .

Terry writes, “I’ve been in Tanzania for a year now, and I’ve found the people to be friendly and welcoming. There is little violence, in stark contrast to so many other African countries that are embroiled in tribal conflicts and even civil wars. I recently saw Tanzania described as “The Warm Heart of Africa,” and it rang true. At the same time there is another, darker streak here, one that I started seeing in the newspapers not long after I arrived.

The articles described grotesque violence against albino people, those with the genetic condition that results in a lack of pigment in the hair, skin and eyes, people being mutilated or even murdered for their body parts, which are claimed by some traditional healers and fortune-tellers to have supernatural powers that attract great wealth. In the past several years there have been 62 documented murders, and some say the actual numbers are much higher. I don’t remember noticing many albinos in the US, but in Africa they’re strikingly different, and it’s about ten times as prevalent in Tanzania as it is in the US, 1 in every 2,000 births.

In the rural areas of Tanzania, the myths abound: albino babies are a curse from God or one’s ancestors . . . albinism is contagious, and touching an albino can “infect” you, or bring bad luck or even death . . . albinos never die, they just disappear.” While I have found the simplicity of rural villagers endearing, what’s also true is that poverty and lack of education have conspired to generate enormous fear, superstition, discrimination and violence.

Part of my job with the Mennonite Central Committee is “peacebuilding,” working within the Mennonite tradition of nonviolence and the active pursuit of a “just peace.” While in countries with tribal warfare the work is stark and compelling, it has been harder to discern ways to put that into practice in Tanzania. The violence against albinos caught my attention early in my stay here, but I was at a loss to know how to address something so huge and so horrific.

Throughout my first year in Tanzania, I passed Sister Martha several times a week as I walked across the compound of the Anglican Cathedral to my office, and we exchanged brief greetings. I appreciated her sweet demeanor, but we never spoke more than a few words until December. A Maasai guard in her neighborhood had recognized her albinism and been surprised at her ability to work tirelessly for others, and he had urged her—“You need to go speak to the people in my village—they don’t know that albinos are just people, if you would just speak to them, they would understand.” Martha agreed to go, on the condition that he would accompany and introduce her, and then she invited a dozen Albino friends to go along of all different ages, so each person could talk about their lives and show them albinos are just people.” “Knowing facts won’t change people’s hearts,” she said, “only knowing albino people will change hearts.”

Together they travelled five hours into the bush in a Dodge Caravan filled with 14 people, then hiked beyond the road to a little church made out of split wood and mud. While violence against albinos may or may not be part of their reality, she knew that, at the very least, albino children are usually ignored, rarely sent to school, and often malnourished as other children take priority for limited food. Sister Martha began speaking by saying that she understood there had probably been terrible things done to albinos in their village, but that she and the others were there to offer forgiveness, adding that of course God had forgiven them long ago.

One by one she introduced her friends—a carpenter from Arusha, a young woman attending university, a husband and father—all of whom must have seemed very strange to these villagers. They prayed and sang together, and afterward the villagers prepared a meal for them. One mother brought her albino daughter to them, suffering from malnutrition, and asked for help. Another sat with Sr Martha, asking how she could help people with albinism. I think it would be fair to say that the people were “converted” – I usually dislike the term, but the root meaning is, “together verifying the truth,” makes it seems like just the right word. Sr Martha was doing better peacebuilding than almost anyone I’d met, certainly better than us university-educated peacebuilders. And it struck me that this may indeed be a way MCC and I can work toward a “just peace” for Tanzanians with albinism, by finding a way to support her doing this kind of work.

I asked Martha if we could meet again, and told her I’d like to know “her story.” I shared it with Faith over Christmas, and now she will share it with you.” Sr. Martha’s entire story is too long for me to share here in meeting but I have a copy of it that I will pass out to you before you leave this morning. As we enter into our time of listening and response let’s consider this query in the silence. AM I, as a person of faith, a peace builder? How am I being called to stand up against hatred, prejudice, and injustice? How is love transforming my own heart? May we each listen to God and love each other well. Amen.

Peacemaking in action, Story by Terry Morton - January 22, 2010