Yesterday's Feast
On Labor Day, over a casual table of bison burgers and American Amber, we briefly spoke of three persons who are given feasts on September 4th. The Orthodox commemorate the Holy Martyr Babylas and an obscure Old Testament figure named Moses (sarcasm). But the Episcopal calendar mentions a Paul Jones. Jones' apparent honor is that he was outspoken in his pacifist views during World War One, something which was so isolated and unpopular that it resulted in his resignation as a bishop! Does it ever disturb anyone else that the "Church" so often throughout history has eagerly demonized the voice of peace in his or her own time, but then, when the challenge of the situation is long over, made these same people into saints and heroes? Can 't we find the courage to affirm peacemakers precisely when such a view is risky and subversive?
