Prague: The Fruits of Peace
Prague is gorgeous–largely because it escaped bombing in the second world war!
Roy and I are taking a course in Medieval Continental Cathedrals at Oxford University this term. The lecturer, Hubert Pragnell, showed us some absolutely beautiful medieval stained glass windows in French cathedrals, and said it was one of the few instances of medieval stained glass which survived the devastation of the two World Wars.
That’s all that war and conflict does: destroys. And that is, sadly, the work of Satan–pulling down, destroying, undoing.
Creativity and beauty flourish in times of peace. In peace, humans can display some of God’s endless creativity.
War and conflict just leave wreckage–emotional, spiritual, and physical. The winners often are left with a hollow victory, and the losers lose, but get the best poetry and stories!!
What about righteous conflict? Is it an oxymoron? Of course not, because we live in a fallen world–of sin, greed and unrighteousness.
It is probably only to be embarked on when all else has failed, if mediation through righteous channels has not worked. I guess one needs patience and determination if one is to righteously challenge unrighteousness. And, thank goodness, not everyone is called to do this, all the time. I guess now and again, one has a Joan of Arc moment–when one has to confront what is wrong, as cannily as one can. But for the most part, God spreads the burden of seeing justice done around–so that generally one just has one Ahab or Pharaoh to confront in a lifetime–unless you are the wonderful Baroness Caroline Cox!
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