…A pastor local to me stated that when the MO State Police got involved one of their commanding officers helped calm the crowds by walking with them in a protest march.\u00c2\u00a0 If that is an accurate report, we see another example of face-to-face human interaction having a positive, peaceful effect over and above the use of gas and bullets.<\/p>\n
As the movie “The Five Element” observed, violence begets violence.<\/p>\n
Now I’m neither a peace- or war-monger.\u00c2\u00a0 I feel there are times when violence must be met with violence.\u00c2\u00a0 But it is never a long-term solution.<\/p>\n
I find it encouraging that clergy began to show a significant presence (over 100 as per the report) and that this has begun a positive shift.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems it might collectively give us something to think about.<\/p>\n
So too, the larger social issues are worth consideration.\u00c2\u00a0 These are national and even international problems, so our individual effective response is limited.\u00c2\u00a0 To my mind a popular bumper sticker summed this dilemma up nicely:\u00c2\u00a0 “Think Globally – Act Locally.”<\/p>\n
My gut instinct is that we are most effect close to home, where we can look someone in the eye.\u00c2\u00a0 Voting is important, and being active in our local communities is important.<\/p>\n
The following is a YouTube link to a sermon which addresses these points (I think it was the one that mentioned the MO State Police too).<\/p>\n
“Offending the Pious” Erik+<\/p>\n You can be one of the peacemakers.\u00c2\u00a0 There is work to be done in ministry.\u00c2\u00a0 If you have heard the Call to serve as a spiritual guide, a member of the clergy,\u00c2\u00a0to become an\u00c2\u00a0ordained minister, reverend, rabbi<\/a> — now might be your time to answer that Call.<\/p>\n Here is another article on the subject, Father Erik, an ordained priest of our church, posted to our seminary forum about the racial protests going on in Ferguson, Missouri after\u00c2\u00a0a white\u00c2\u00a0police officer fatally\u00c2\u00a0shot a young black man. Father Erik writes: …the presence of clergy amongst the protesters …[reportedly has had]\u00c2\u00a0a recent calming effect.\u00c2\u00a0 As the article says, where tear gas and rubber … Continue reading Ordained Clergy helped calm Ferguson unrest<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[218],"class_list":["post-1002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ordained-ministers-priests-rabbis-clergy","tag-ordainedminister"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1002"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1009,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions\/1009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhttp:\/\/youtu.be\/Ny3yajLR9zQ?list=UUeF1t9dro_UwXa5qO_FH7bg<\/a> (17-minutes long)<\/p>\nAnother reason to become an ordained minister, rabbi, or other clergy<\/h1>\n
\nClergy calm tension on the streets of Ferguson<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0— where you can see\u00c2\u00a0several photographs of ordained\u00c2\u00a0clergy\u00c2\u00a0in Ferguson, both men and women ministers, priests, black and white, all working together to bring peace.\u00c2\u00a0It’s worth remembering that the great\u00c2\u00a0Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an ordained minister, Doctor of Divinity,\u00c2\u00a0and a peacemaker with martyr-like stature surpassing Ghandi.<\/p>\n![\"Become](\"http:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ordainedministerMLKjr-300x168.jpg\")
<\/a>He never supported violence — and he went on a very famous protest march.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"