Echoes of the century past, a recollection of the Social Gospel movement of the early 20th century:
Walter Rauschenbusch was the primary theologian of the Social Gospel movement of the first two decades of the twentieth century. While a number of prominent ministers of the day became involved in the movement's mission to meet social needs through the ministrations of the institutional Church, Rauschenbusch gave this special emphasis a theology, legitimizing it in mainstream American Protestantism.
Central to that was the hope for an end to warfare, futile to be sure, in the wake of the two world wars to follow and the continued empire-building of our own nation.
Nevertheless, below the fold, by Walter Rauschenbusch, and my wish for this Thanksgiving that his prayer contains::
O Lord, since first the blood of Abel cried to thee from the ground that drank it,
this earth of thine has been defiled with the blood man shed by his brother’s hand,
and the centuries sob with the ceaseless horror of war.
Ever the mind of kings and the covetousness of the strong
has driven peaceful nations to slaughter.
Ever the songs of the past and the pomp of armies
have been used to inflame the passions of the people.
Our spirit cries out to thee in revolt against it,
and we know our righteous anger is answered by thy holy wrath.
Break thou the spell of the enchantments that makes the nations drunk
with the lust of battle and draw them on as willing tools of death.
Grant us a quiet and steadfast mind when our own nation clamors for vengeance or aggression.
Strengthen our sense of justice and our regard for the equal worth of other peoples and races.
Grant to the rulers of nations faith in the possibilities of peace through justice,
and grant to the common people a new and stern enthusiasm for the cause of peace.
Bless our soldiers and sailors for their swift obedience
and their willingness to answer the call of duty,
but inspire them, nonetheless, with a hatred of war,
and may they never for love of private glory or advancement provoke its coming.
May our young men rejoice to die for their country with the valor of their fathers,
but teach our age nobler methods of matching our strength
and more effective ways of giving our life for the flag.
O thou strong Father of all nations, draw all thy great family together
with an increasing sense of our common blood and destiny,
that peace may come to the earth at last,
and that the sun may shed its light rejoicing on a holy brotherhood of people.