Unfazed by a "wintry mix" of Washington weather on March 16, 3,000 Christians dedicated to peace packed the National Cathedral for worship, and then proceeded to a 3.5 mile night-time march to Lafayette Park in front of the White House.

I was able to verify the presence of fifteen Adventists in attendance; most likely more were present. Charles Sandefur, president of the Adventist Relief and Development Agency, took part in the soul-stirring service. He joined with Baptist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Quaker, Reformed, and United Church of Christ clergy in "A Prayer for Peace With Iraq."

The Hollywood Vigil

Meanwhile, in balmy southern California, a group of 35, including a contingent from Adventist Women for Peace based at La Sierra University, braved busy freeways to gather for a vigil at Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The Worship

The worship was wonderful all the way around—liturgy, songs, prayers, testimonies. The highlight, for me, though, was the preaching. Rafael Warnock, pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, issued a sober warning from the national pulpit: While we are caught up trying to figure out how not to lose the war, he said, the "real danger is that America will lose its soul."

To the U.S. president, Rev. Warnock said: "Mr. Bush, my Christian brother, we do need a surge in troops. We need a surge in the nonviolent army of the Lord. We need a surge in conscience and a surge in activism and a surge in truth-telling."

In his "call to action," Jim Wallis of Sojourners nailed the point that the Iraq war "from a Christian point of view, is morally wrong—and was from the very start. It cannot be justified with either the teaching of Jesus Christ or the criteria of St. Augustine’s just war. It simply doesn’t pass either test, and did not from its beginning."

Then, Wallis got me jumping with words that rang deeply Adventist in my ears:

So as people of faith, let us say tonight to our brothers and sisters around the world, and as clearly as we can—America is not the hope of the earth and the light of the world, Jesus Christ is! And it is his way that we follow, and not the flawed path of our nation’s leaders who prosecute this war.

Why did I have to go the National Cathedral, of all places, to hear that message?

The March

"Siyahamb’ Ekukhanyen’ Kwenkhos"—the Zulu hymn used for the recessional—sent us out singing into the night, "marching in the light of God." Wet snow was falling as we left the cathedral, for me a welcome change from the cold rain that had prevailed throughout the day, even though the latter, in the words of one of the event organizers "reminds us of our baptismal vows." Soon the snow stopped, and it was simply cold.

Nonetheless, a celebratory spirit prevailed. A certain exhilaration comes with the sense that one is marching the "nonviolent army of the Lord." I enjoyed stepping out of the line occasionally to marvel at how far the procession stretched in both directions. I was impressed with a very high proportion of young people who had devoted a Friday night to this kind of celebration.

After assembling at Lafayette Park, the marchers moved out to encircle the White House with light and song.

The Civil Disobedience

"You got arrested?!" Yes, I was one of the 222 CPWI participants arrested for "failure to obey a lawful order" to disperse from a "no stopping zone" on the sidewalk in front of the White House.

In brief, the purpose for taking this step beyond the march in general, for which a legal permit had been obtained, was to sound an alarm. The hope is that the extraordinary spectacle of hundreds of peaceful, praying Christians being arrested will help draw attention to the urgency and magnitude of the situation we face.

Something has to be said or done to shake up any sense of normalcy or indifference regarding the nation’s policies of messianic militarism that continue, day by day, to take precious lives unnecessarily and up the cycle of violence, all the while enabled and cheered by millions who claim to be followers of Jesus. Peaceful refusal to obey a regulation for the normal flow of pedestrian traffic, while making no resistance to the officers arresting us to enforce the law, is an attempt to put our witness in bold-face type, and throw in a couple of exclamation points, so that attention might be gained and consciences stirred that otherwise would not have been.

What was it like? Susan Mark Landis, peace advocate of the Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership, has described what I also experienced so succinctly and precisely that I will borrow her words: "Yes, I was hand-cuffed; no I didn’t ride in a paddy wagon; yes I was thumb-printed; no, I didn’t see the inside of a jail cell. I have no police record—our charge is legally similar to a parking ticket" ("Let Us Pray," PeaceSigns, March 20, 2007).

Those arrested were placed on a bus and driven to a police station, where we remained on the bus until the paperwork was processed and we were released. I enjoyed being on the same bus as leaders such as Jim Wallis and Bob Edgar of the National Council of Churches, and probably some others I didn’t recognize. I spotted Taylor Branch, the noted historian of the civil rights movement, at the cathedral and learned that he was among those arrested, as was Rev. Marion Bascom of Baltimore, an 82-year-old veteran of that struggle.

Reprinted with permission from the Peace Messenger

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