Susan D. Skoor has been a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles since the 2005 World Conference. Her apostolic field assignment is the Pacific Mission Field, which includes Australia, French Polynesia, Pacific islands, and the westernmost part of the United States of America.

Discernment Processes and Questions for Further Reflection and Discussion

Doctrine and Covenants 163 Commentary Series

Pursue Peace

by Susan D. Skoor

Above all else, strive to be faithful to Christ’s vision of the peaceable Kingdom of God on earth. Courageously challenge cultural, political, and religious trends that are contrary to the reconciling and restoring purposes of God. Pursue peace.—Doctrine and Covenants 163:3b

Strive.” “Challenge.” “Pursue.” Powerful action words claim our attention in Doctrine and Covenants 163:3b. This is not a scripture for the faint-hearted. When this portion of the inspired counsel was first discussed at the 2007 World Conference, Christian Skoorsmith of Seattle, Washington, made a memorable statement:

“This document is not only inspiring and challenging, it’s dangerous. If we, as a people, affirm this as inspired scripture for our church, we will be confronted in uncomfortable ways. The poor will ask us, ‘What matters most?’ The hungry will ask us, ‘What matters most?’ Those facing the end of a gun will ask us, ‘What matters most?’ Those holding the gun will ask us, ‘What matters most?’ And the way we answer those questions and the actions we take in response will set us against the cultural, political, and religious trends and institutions of our day. And that is what I call prophetic!”

The classical prophets of the Hebrew Testament were those who recognized injustice and challenged people to join God in creating justice. John Dominic Crosson in his book God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now wrote:

Biblical prophecy (from the Greek pro-ph -mi) was not just about ‘speaking before,’ about ‘fore-telling’ the future, but about ‘speaking for’ God, especially as an indictment against those who failed to observe the covenant of distributive justice at the heart of Israel’s Torah —p. 74

Isaiah told his people, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). Jeremiah’s oracle to the king of Judah included these words: “Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place” (Jeremiah 22:3). Amos said, “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:23–24). Micah is famous for his statement, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).

Jesus of Nazareth was familiar with the prophetic challenges of the ancient prophets. He taught justice and took positive action to transform society. Like all Jewish males, Jesus lived in the shadow of the laws that governed daily life. The original Torah, or law, fostered justice and healthy relationships among Israelites who had known oppression in the land of Egypt. Through the years, however, written and oral traditions accumulated around the Torah to create complex codes regulating sabbath, food, circumcision, sacrifices, and temple rituals. Jewish factions and leaders used those codes to increase their status and control the people.

In Jesus’ day, the resulting purity system united with a strong sense of ethnic identity to foster elitism on two levels: (1) a rampant nationalism that excluded people of other nations; and (2) a social hierarchy within Judaism that established who was clean and who was unclean, who was acceptable and who was unacceptable. Compliance to the purity codes defined where a man stood on the social ladder, which people could associate with him, and what his status was in the community.

The wealthy and zealous kept the letter of the law and hired servants to do any tasks that might result in ritual impurity. Tradesmen such as carpenters were in the middle of the purity ladder. Farmers and the people of the land were low on the purity scale. Shepherds, for instance, were judged unclean most of the time, because they dealt with birth, disease, and death among their flocks and did not have the luxury of obeying the washing rituals. Anyone diseased, lame, blind, or malformed was also ritually impure. Lepers, tax collectors, and sinners were shunned because contact with them made a person unclean. Women were not even considered, but took their status from their husbands.

Gentiles were automatically unclean, and a good Jew avoided eating or associating with non-Jews. Thus the purity codes also encouraged the separation of the people of Israel from other nationalities."

Already in the time of Jesus, the Zealot movement was gaining popular support for its holy war to drive Rome from the kingdom that rightfully belonged to the sons of David. Even the cautious Pharisees were openly questioning whether it was God’s will to support the Roman state (Mark 12:14). By the late fifties when the ministry of Paul reached its climax, Jerusalem was a powder keg of inflamed patriotism….—William Hull, Beyond the Barriers, p. 40

Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God as an alternative to the radical, exclusive nationalism of his day. Jesus’ critique was not aimed at the Roman oppressors, but at the powerful elite within his own nation who oppressed the poor. Jesus taught that God’s favor rested with the people of the land, the weak, and the marginalized. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry…” (Luke 6:20–21).

Jesus welcomed sinners and tax collectors in table fellowship (Luke 19:1–10) and reinterpreted sabbath laws (Luke 13:10–17). He turned the purity system upside down by affirming the worth of women, children, lepers, prostitutes, and gentiles. He touched the untouchable, loved the unlovable, and affirmed the invisible. In modeling inclusive, compassionate fellowship, Jesus reinterpreted the laws in the light of grace, generosity, the love of God for all nations, and the establishment of whole, healthy relationships.

But the Jewish religious authorities saw only that Jesus was acting against the cultural, religious, and political institutions they wanted to preserve. As his teachings gained adherents, those in power (both Jewish and Roman) could not let the threat go unchallenged. The Jewish authorities turned him over to the Romans, in a desperate attempt to stop this kingdom movement that overturned their social order and worked against their zealous, exclusive nationalism. Two thousand years later, the proclamation of the kingdom is alive and well. It rests at the heart of the identity, message, and mission of the Community of Christ.

From the beginning, our movement has centered on Jesus Christ and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. “Keep my commandments and seek to bring forth the cause of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:3). Early experiments in community attempted to establish Zion with city charters and prophetic rule that set this “peculiar people” against the cultural, religious, and political institutions of the day. But the people failed to live out the fundamental issues of justice and inclusiveness.

Today, the challenge remains. Jesus came not just to denounce the purity system of his day, but to denounce the purity system of every culture, in every age—including ours. Community of Christ congregations exist in countries where

• abject poverty is the norm;

• it is culturally acceptable for a man to physically abuse his wife and children;

• greed and consumerism lead to lives of comfort and complacency;

• conflict consumes faith, innocence, and family stability; and

• the engines of war are supported by vengeance, greed, and fear.

Wherever we reside, we are called to give our highest allegiance to God’s kingdom. It takes precedence over any nation or government in existence. When God’s kingdom collides with the accepted norms of culture, religion, or governments, we are challenged to be countercultural in dramatic, visible ways.

God lives among us and sheds grace on the impoverished and invisible, the outcasts and enemies, the perpetrators and terrorists. When we hear the message most deeply, it stirs in us questions—and concerns for the status quo. To believe and follow requires change and sacrifice.

Our task is “to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19 NRSV). We cannot bring such “good news” without challenging the cultural, political, and religious trends that dismiss the poor, oppress the powerless, and exclude the stranger. Do we dare to strive for the kingdom, challenge injustice, and pursue Christ’s peace?

Brad Shumate, pastor of the Portland, Oregon, congregation, participated in a nonviolent protest in Washington, D.C., against a proposed federal budget that was oppressive to the poor. Blair White, Bountiful Mission Center president, went to Washington, D.C., to talk to his congressman about the revocation of habeas corpus. Janet Irby and Andy Shelton of Novato, California, have joined other civic and religious organizations to challenge civil rights abuses among the immigrant population and to provide a welcoming place for immigrants to find compassion, dignity, and self-worth in the midst of a hostile, prejudiced society.

Sergio Juarez, of Los Angeles, negotiated housing for a Latino family unjustly evicted from their apartment. Seventy Frank Young initiated a halfway house in Billings, Montana, for paroled women transitioning back into society. Untold numbers of Community of Christ members around the world are speaking out for the worth of persons in Darfur, Sudan; elsewhere in Africa; Australia; and the Caribbean.

“Pursue peace.” “Find your voice.” “Strive for the kingdom of God.” “The Holy Spirit is moving ahead, preparing the way.”

The path will not always be easy, the choices will not always be clear, but the cause is sure and the Spirit will bear witness to the truth, and those who live the truth will know the hope and the joy of discipleship in the community of Christ. Amen. —Doctrine and Covenants 161:7