Prayer – what a naive notion, you say, when we are still reeling from the thwarted plans to blow up airplanes heading for the U.S. from London, courtesy of whom we are not sure this day, August 11, 2006.

What we need, some will assert, are high-powered conferences, with generals poring over advanced plans for bigger, mightier weapons, to spread fear of our prowess, via Israel’s army and air force.

Not to worry, my friends. We have the weapons, ready and waiting, civilized people that we are in this twenty-first century. Christian, too. We go to church, send our kids to Sunday school, read them Bible stories at night, especially the ones like the Good Samaritan and Jesus feeding hundreds of people when they were hungry, and giving life back to the girl who died, and Lazarus. Lazarus is always a big hit, coming out of the tomb wrapped in white sheets. So, when it comes to religion, we lead the pack.

Weapons, the same. No one can touch us. Enough atomic bombs to destroy the entire earth many times over. The thing is, if we set them off, there might not be anyone around to tell us how smart we are, and we might disappear in the puffs of smoke, as well.

Israel isn’t asking for atom bombs; she has plenty of them. Israel’s asking for something more modest – a rush order for short-range anti-personnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which she could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, according to two American officials, reported for The New York Times by David S.Cloud.

The thing is, short-range anti-personnel rockets aren’t too smart. These are M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area. According to the writer, the request is likely to be approved. Even as I write this, they may be on their way...

However, some State Department officials are asking for a delay because of concern for civilian casualties and diplomatic repercussions. If sent, Israel will be cautioned not to drop the bombs into populated areas. Right. We can count on Israel to do just that. Always careful against demolishing homes, killing people, maiming others. That’s our little nation, God’s own, and ours.

Cloud tells us that in the 1980's, the United States maintained a moratorium on selling cluster munitions to Israel, following disclosures that civilians in Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion. So, why should we trust her today, and put Lebanon’s people in harm’s way, greater than they are at present?. Israel may lack the evil weapons; we will certainly lack the backbone if we sell them to her.

A novel idea: How about talking? Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah, all with one another? Without such communication, will the UN succeed in its work toward peace?

Not only that, today’s scare of exploding planes over the ocean should force us to pause on our knees. I know. I know. The blonde TV girl-women with their ironed hair and perky personalities make war appear exciting, breathlessly repeating over and over again instructions about forbidden liquids, no carry-on luggage, cell phones, lap-tops, etc. Where is the gravitas of an Edward R. Murrow, an Eric Severeid, a Peter Jennings, Tom Brokow, or Dan Rather? Where the words of a quiet measure of the situation?

Prayer can help...but how should we pray? The Lord gave us a pretty good guideline, about acknowledging His presence in His world and our lives, asking for what we need, not for the two BMW’s in the garage, the tenth trip to Europe, names in the society pages, or corner offices with keys to a private washroom. Christ spoke about forgiveness: Wars are about unforgiveness, over-the-top vengeance, the kind that locks itself into nations, big and small, entangling generation after generation until no one remembers what made them enemies, only that they are.

Temptation: Whatever seeks to robs us of the ability to be God-centered in the hours of our days: Not trusting Him enough to rest in His presence after we’ve done whatever we could to follow His way. To worry less, to listen more. To love more, to give more, to be who we were made to be more.

With prayer, let us get straight about what war is really about. In his book, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges quotes Michael Herr’s insights from his book on the Vietnam War, Dispatches:

...never found a way to report meaningfully about death, which of course was really what it was all about. The most repulsive, transparent gropes for sanctity in the midst of the killing received serious treatment in the papers and on the air. The jargon of the Process got blown into your head like bullets, and by the time you waded through the Washington stories and all the Saigon stories , all the Other War stories and the corruption stories about brisk new gains in ARVN effectiveness, the suffering was somehow unimpressive.

And that’s why we need to pray, so that we will understand war from God’s perspective, and the victims’ perspective, that suffering will somehow be impressive, sufficiently impressive that we will not send cluster munitions to Israel to kill babies in their cribs, mothers at their wash tubs, fathers on their way to war. If you are too heartsick for words at prayer, it’s all right. God understands broken hearts well. No words are necessary. Just remember how greatly you are loved, how loved we all are, which is why we should find ways to live in peace.

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