Upcoming Seminar

The Good News of Christ Confronts a World of Violence
for pastors, church leaders, teachers, parents, young adults and students

facilitated by Jon Rudy

With violence fast becoming a universal framework for working out all sorts of disagreements, this seminar will explore how a missional church can overcome the violence which is a fundamental concern for people hearing the preaching of the gospel.

We will explore the violence of our culture, look to Jesus as the starting
point for engaging violence, examine Old Testament theology as it pertains to violence, and focus on assumptions of change. We will also explore how Christian nonviolence, relying on the Holy Spirit's transforming power, gives witness to the Kingdom of God here and now.

Change

greet the change
as the morning dew
something that wets the feet
and sparkles with iridescence
to delight the eyes
until the morning sun
with it’s persistent heat
and ageless arc
burns it away by noon
and we are left with bittersweet memory
anticipating its return
at the next crossing
of day to night
and night to day

Jon Rudy
30 July 2003
At the end of homeleave

Three Generations...

Three Generations of Death, Three Generations of Hope
Jon Rudy
January 22, 2004
Mae Sot, Thailand





A drab grey canon sits outside the high school
testament to the madness of a world at war
proud of her projectiles of death
symbol to our children might makes right

An windowless highschool built as a fallout shelter
proclaiming the lunacy of the world
form meets function in extreme efficiency
message to youth; “you have no future”

The video gaming sport of death
shoot the enemy, watch him explode
profit on playing with virtual weapons
subtle training for a warrior nation

* * *

Our grandfathers resisted the draft
meek opposition to the face of global conflagration
heritage that said no and yes to death and life
paving the way by their witness

Our fathers marched in the streets
speaking truth to insanity
hammering bombs as an act of creation
doing time in jail for protest; the crucible of hope

As a father will I resist?
the slow march of soldiering youth
toward the rigidity of thinking
that guns make peace?

Nairobi Traffic

20 years ago when Carolyn and I regularly traveled in and out of Nairobi from our assignment in Somalia, Nairobi traffic was a non-issue. There was plenty of space on the roads. The matatus (minivan public transport) raced each other up and down the Uhuru Highway then as they do now. Only now, there is bumper to bumper traffic from the airport to Westlands where the Mennonite Guest House is. Diesel smoke from engines too long in need of a tune up, clog the air. Bill boards on either side of the road hem in the round-abouts like some box canyon. Kenyans still ply the sidewalks in droves in a city that has long since exceeded its infrastructural carrying capacity.

I am here for just a few hours, catching up with MCC’s new regional directors. I have dashed into the city, from the airport, between my 3pm arrival from Juba and my 11pm flight to Amsterdam. My hope is for at least three hours of quality time with them and today, the traffic isn’t so bad. I only spend one hour total in the taxi. It’s not that way every day.

On my last trip, the flight crew got stuck in traffic on their way to the airport delaying the flight by 1½ hours. Their usual 45 minute trip from their hotel took more than 2.

Mega cities around the world face the same problem. I read in the paper of a woman who got in her car in Manila to go to a party. 18 hours later she was still stuck in traffic no further toward her destination. The car, while promising the freedom we most seek, often becomes a cage as millions of others seek the same.

Post War Rebuilding

Samuel is one face of the hope that is rebuilding Juba. He opened a hair salon while I was there and his business is thriving. He rented a small room, collected the necessary equipment and opened the doors for business. His family runs the day-to-day operation and he manages through constant attention to the details. (Jeremiah-left and Samuel-right)

While Darfur takes the spotlight these days, some leaders in Southern Sudan have noted that the world looked the other way when 3 million of its residents were killed in the 20 year civil war and countless others were displaced. The challenges to recovery, more than three years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement muzzled the cannons, are daunting.

Rebuilding in a post-war environment is more than using brick and mortar to replace destroyed buildings. It is reconstructing the sense of community, of faith in systems that are fair and protect its citizens and commerce. It is the psychological well-being that looks to the future and invests in the coming generations. For too many years the war here has dashed hopes for anything even the next meal. Planting for the future was futile because some military action might smash plans for betterment as quickly as bombs explode.

While the ceasefire currently being enjoyed gives a window of opportunity, will the guns stay silent? Will economic development overtake ‘force of arms’ as the primary engine of change? Samuel is banking on that.

The ICC and Sudan

In the halls around the office I heard the head of another organization speaking into her cell phone; “I am just calling you as a test for the NGO (non-governmental organization) security network.” The aid community in Sudan is noticeably jumpy this week as the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court (ICC), is asking for the arrest of the Sudanese President, Omar Al-Beshir (picture). Prosecutors at the ICC heard arguments that the Sudanese president was actively involved in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity “by masterminding a campaign of murder, torture and rape by government troops and Arab militias in the Darfur region.” UN estimates are that 300,000 persons have been killed in Darfur and 2.7 million persons are displaced. (Mail and Guardian 3 March 2009) While the UN and African Union has a 13,000 strong peace keeping contingent in Sudan it is vulnerable to both government and public reaction to the ICC edict.

Accusing an acting head of state of war crimes and issuing a warrant for his arrest is unprecedented. For northern Sudanese this is seen as outside Western interference in internal matters. The West sees the genocide in Darfur as something that transcends national sovereignty and must be called to justice. Khartoum says they will ignore the warrant. The UN has no mandate to carry out Beshir's arrest.

So as all this drama unfolds today, the 4th of March, we will keep our heads low in southern Sudan where there isn’t expected to be much backlash from the court’s ruling.