Fruitful Contemplations: Peace

The starfruit seems like a very peaceful fruit to me, with a pleasant, light flavor. And the star seems an appropriate symbol of peace.

The fruit of the Spirit is ... peace. Galatians 5:22

Peace. The word was the topic of my afternoon yesterday. We visited Amish country (Shipshewana, to be exact) in northern Indiana. Spending a few hours among the rolling fields and patches of forest, silos and large barns, people in simple dress, bicycles and buggies pulled by proud, high-stepping horses--it was a peaceful place to be.

The Amish, the Hutterites and the Mennonites all descended from the Anabaptists ("re-baptizers") of the 16th century.  Their beliefs were registered in 1527 in the Schleitheim Confession, which outlined their beliefs thus:

• Baptism is for those who have repented of their sins and wish to reform; therefore infant baptism (a practice followed by the Catholic church) is rejected by Anabaptists.
• Those who have called themselves followers of Christ but have fallen into sin shall be admonished privately twice, and then once publicly, and if they still don't repent, they shall be excommunicated (banned).
• Those who have been baptized are to celebrate the breaking of bread and drinking of wine together (communion) in remembering the sacrifice of Jesus.
• Those who have chosen to walk in obedience to Christ are to be separate from those who have not. 
• Pastors are appointed to be leaders in the church.
• Anabaptists are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by neither using weapons, nor holding public office.
• Anabaptists are not to swear an oath, and are to keep their speech simple.

The Anabaptists were sorely persecuted for their faith, since their beliefs were threatening to the practices of the Catholic church. Many, many of them were put in dungeons to starve, tortured, burned at the stake and drowned.  Over time, waves of these people emigrated to North America in search of a place where they could practice their faith freely, without threat to their lives and well-being.

We visited the Mennohof, a visitor center for getting acquainted with the Amish and Mennonite beliefs and practices.  It was fascinating and inspiring, seeing the commitment of the descendants of the Anabaptists (as different as the branches are from one another) to family and community, community service, and peacemaking.

There were two stories that especially stuck in my mind, illustrating the commitment of the Anabaptist descendants on Peace. One had story, actually about Quakers, was posted on a wall, with part of the story behind a door out of which was hanging a latchstring. From this website, you can read the same story:

One of the Friends moved westward to a little frontier settlement called Cincinnati. One time the rumor was spread that Indian bands were on the warpath. The settlers moved into the fort and armed themselves to fight the Indians. This particular Friend didn't go to the fort for he said he was a man of peace and wanted to follow after things which make for peace. He would simply trust in God and stay in his cabin with his wife, even though they had no gun with which to defend themselves. 

In those days the doors of log cabins were fastened on the inside with a latch. A string was attached to the latch and was pushed through a little hole in the door. From that comes the expression, "the latch-string is on the outside." 

One night the husband pulled the latch-string through the hole to the inside before retiring. He and his wife spent several sleepless hours and finally he said, "It just doesn't seem as if we are trusting God when we pull the latch-string in." So the man got up and pushed the latch-string through the hole again to the outside. 

Later in the night they heard the war whoops and savage cries of the Indians. Soon the Indians began to creep up to their cabin. One Indian tried the door and it came open. In his amazement he stopped and then withdrew and called all the other Indians to the edge of the woods for a conference. The man and his wife watched them from the window. The didn't know whether the Indians were deciding to take them as prisoners or to kill them. After a short time one of the Indians who appeared to be the chief arose and walked toward the cabin with a white feather in his hand. He fastened the feather to the door and the Indians left. 

The man and his wife allowed that feather to hang there for a number of years, and later a friendly Indian told them that the feather meant "This is the house of a man of peace, do not harm." He said the Indians knew that if a man would leave his door open to welcome the stranger in the night that he must be a man of peace and one who should not be harmed.

I loved that story! Not all the stories where someone committed to peace and Christlikeness, though, turned out so well.  The story of Dirk Willems has stuck vividly in my memory ever since I first visited the Mennohof about eight years ago (as told in The Martyrs' Mirror).

Willems, an Anabaptist, was captured and imprisoned in a residential palace belonging to the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands.  He escaped and was headed toward a pond with the palace guard in hot pursuit. Willems made it safely across the thin ice covering the pond, but the lead pursuer fell through. The hapless man's fellow guards, fearful, did not try to help save his life. The man's cries for help reached the ears of the fleeing Willems.

In that split second, Dirk Willems had to make a decision.  Should he keep running, or should he risk his life to save a man who intended to capture and kill him?  What would you have done?

Willems turned around and successfully pulled his pursuer out of the icy water, saving his life. The guard then seized Willems and delivered him to the authorities.  Dirk Willems was burned at the stake. One account I read said that the wind was blowing that day, which blew the flames away from the top of his body, leaving him to die a more excruciating death than most who died at the stake. The Martyr's Mirror says that "he was heard to exclaim over seventy times, 'Oh my Lord, my God!'"

I can't even imagine paying that kind of price for my beliefs, and for the decision to save a fellow human being's life!

This is where I think the fruit of living in the Spirit gets rather feisty. Love is a happy thing, Joy is a happy thing, but Peace? I think peace comes with courage, hardship, willingness to face the enemy and stay engaged in kindness, ... and I think it comes with fear, too. How could all of those Anabaptists not have experienced fear as they chose Peace? How do you face violence, intrusion, threat, bullying and all other kinds of ill treatment without feeling fear?  How do you stay so committed to peace that you refuse to take up arms--of whatever type--against the enemy? How do you summon some kind of understanding that allows you to make them welcome, to save them from the icy waters, even if they proceed to burn you to death?

I just have to shake my head. Only something as godly and miraculous as living in the Spirit can produce this kind of fruit.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  Luke 14:26-27