A Call for Peace

All his life Harry Kiely has worked for peace. As a pastor, civil rights activist and author, he has galvanized action and stimulated conversation on peace-and-justice issues

At our adult education session on Oct. 9, Kiely discussed his latest book, co-authored with the late Ira G. Zepp Jr. , called One Nation, Many Gods: Confronting the Idols of American Empire.

Adult ed chair Roger Gilkeson told Dumbartonians that a Harvard Divinity School reviewer has called Kiely's and Zepp's book "a rare combination of intellectual insight and prophetic anger, stinging critique, and a loving call to justice."

Here is an excerpt from the book:<--break->

Our world today is in crisis mode. Who of us is not aware of the wars and rumors of war, the threatening consequences of global warming, the misfeasance and malfeasance of official governance, rampant racism, and the tragic consequences of radically unfair wealth distribution?
These words from the prophet Joel form the message the church has been anointed to proclaim, yet we have mostly ignored:
 
"Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near."
--Joel 2:1
 
There are times when we need to reaffirm openly, courageously, and resolutely our ultimate allegiance to God. We feel the present in such a God-filled significant time, a kairos moment.
 
We have written on this occasion to sound an alarm within the Church and to invite us to open ourselves to God's judgment that we may respond as faithfully in a time of widespread injustice and human suffering. Our concerns are three-fold:
  • We are disturbed by the deafening silence of the churches, which have been used as an ideological tool for the U.S. government, a silence that has tacitly endorsed our baptized nationalism.We want to reclaim the clarity of the church's Christian identity.
  • How does God judge our nation, the United States of America, and its use of wealth and power in influencing and controlling much that is occurring in global affairs? We want to view this nation through the lens of the reign of God.
  • The Church in true biblical tradition has been ordained as a peculiar people with a "strange," unfamiliar, counter-cultural voice that speaks from the wilderness. We want the church to regain and speak anew in the prophetic voice of judgment and hope.
We are inviting dialogue on how to love American and how to be a patriotic Christian. What kind of citizen should a Christian be? Since God is the ultimate political word, how will we relate to the political reality of the nation?
 
Nevertheless, our Christian consciences compel us to speak in the face of national idolatry and the Church's apathy. And so we speak out in faith, by the grace of God, who calls us to confession, repentance and action.
The book can be ordered through Amazon. Published by Resurgence Publishing Corp