Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Peacemakers (08/15/24)
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TITLE: Making Peace at Appledore. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gloria Pierre Dean
08/22/24 -
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Her least favorite time of day was recess. In the open field playground fellow students used this time to have a two-group tribal war’.
“They seem to hate each other and fights break out frequently and teachers often have to intervene,” she told her mum and dad.
Thankfully for Petra, there was another small group.
She called them the peacemakers and they played harmoniously.
Mr Jim Bell, the school principal decided to speak to the students about the conflict going on.
He said “ This war is a reflection of what's going on in society. We are different yet we must not use this difference as a rationale for war. This has been going on in societies everywhere for many many years..”
“So,” he said after a pause, “what is the solution and how can we stop this hate?
Students, we want your opinion. The teachers and I are starting a project which we’ll call ‘Loving my neighbor and Who is my neighbor?. Write an essay about that topic. No names, please, and you have one week to hand them in”.
In one week, dozens of essays were handed in. The teachers were glad to assess them.
A focused assembly was held in which Mr Bell began by saying,
“Most of your essays agree regarding loving neighbors. A very wise man named Jesus told his followers that the law of loving your neighbor replaced many legal laws. He said to them,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..” {Matthew 5:43-44}.
“So, according to Jesus,” Mr Bell said, “if you love your neighbor, there will be no war, no hate, no killings, and no gangs devoted to hurting or destroying people who are different from them. If all people followed Jesus’s law of love, we would all be peacemakers”.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” {Matthew 5:9}.
We all live in or hear about multicultural neighborhoods, and in some of them, there is hatred and killings because of racial, religious and cultural differences. So, does anyone have any questions or opinions?”
“Even our churches are divided,” said Katie. “White churches, Black churches, and Hispanic churches, and then there are denominational differences.
“Then we have neighbors who do not talk to each other,” said Petra.
Sue Ann said “I love my neighbors and my church has people of all races. We get on well with each other and have great times in Sunday School classes...
Tim joined in the conversation
“Our governmental parties are not peacemakers!” he said emotionally.
They seem to hate each other and say hateful things about each other.”
No one spoke after that statement, the sadness in the room was tangible...
After that talk, conflict in the playground diminished. Incidences of fights decreased sharply, so the teachers and the kitchen staff gave out ice cream every Friday as a treat.
They called it PeacemakersTreats.
Mr Bell and the teachers knew that some changes had happened because truths about peacemaking and peacekeeping had been spoken and hopefully made impacts on young minds.
On the wall of his office, Mr Bell had a large poster which said,
“For HE himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..” {Ephesians 2:14}.
Christ is our Peace!
He brought peace to the earth. He united Jews and Gentiles when in His own body on the Roman cross, He broke down the wall of hostility and hate that divided people and separated them.
One day, according to the prophet Isaiah, Jesus
“ ….will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
One day there will be no wars…..
{Isaiah 2:4}.
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Blessings
Interesting setting for this topic.