An old adage suggests that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. But the Militarists who invented that mirror-image God who laughs at our plans, tell us their plans for us all the time. The plans of Militarists fill today’s readings. The Militarist Solomon asserting, “Lord, You have chosen me king over your people,” thus plans to “judge your people.” The Militarist Moses acknowledges his Militarist God’s plan to kill humanity. “Truly we are consumed by your anger, filled with terror by your wrath.” “Our life ebbs away under your wrath.” The Militarist Philemon plans his slave owning over Onesimus. Thus, the Militarist Paul plans on “sending” the escaped and now free Onesimus “back” to his slave owner Philemon. Militarists routinely make plans for all the rest of us.
Militarists make their plans primarily through the military. Trump’s recent decision to rename the military as the Department of War is entirely fitting. The U.S. is a Military Empire and in all ways it plans for war. Military planning for war starts at the top from ranked supremacists who plan the lives of all subordinates, true of Trump, Vance, Hegseth, Noem, et al. These Militarists are stocking the military with loyal Generals who plan the lives of all soldiers, with Colonels, Captains, 2nd Lieutenants and enlisted following those plans. The planning is all encompassing and methodical. Militarists plan for all subordinates – Soldiers and police at the ATF, Border Patrol, CIA, DEA, FBI, Homeland Security, ICE, Indian Affairs, local Law Enforcement, Marines, Marshalls, National Guard, NIA, Police, Prison Sheriffs… – in all categories of warfare – administration, intelligence, logistics, operations such as deployment and invasion, public affairs, and specialists like lawyers, medics… – to be unthinkingly obedient – inspections, repetitive close order drills, KP, command post exercises, chain of command accountability operations, war games to test strategies, refine tactics, hone decision making, assess warfighting capabilities, evaluate the lethality of military plans… – in all environments – tens of thousands of offices, training centers, bases, combat zones, geographic and global regions… – to wage all wars – cold, chemical, conventional, information, insurgency, nuclear… And yet, let one or two or even a dozen or a hundred peacemakers plan to accompany immigrants to their asylum hearings, and watch as those Militarists fulfill their obedience training and destroy peaceful plans. All the planning Militarists do – for all subordinates, in all categories of warfare, to be unthinkingly obedient, in all environments, to wage all wars – is precisely to make sure anybody who makes plans that interrupt Militarists plans are identified as the enemy and terminated. Is it really any wonder peacemakers have a difficult time of it in the U.S. Military Empire?
Peacemakers have a variety of resources to not only survive Militarism and its plans, but to create thriving communities to replace Militarism. One creative resource is Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox For Revolution edited by Andrew Boyd and Dave Oswald Mitchell. It is a resource for people’s “creative activism.” Relaying the authors’ ideas, the creative activism is organized into 5 categories: 1)Tactics focuses on specific forms of creative action, like flash mobs or occupation. 2)Principles focuses on insights to guide us in our creative action design. 3)Theories provides big picture concepts about how the world works and how we can change it. 4)Case Studies provides stories of instructive creative actions applied in practice. 5)Practitioners provides brief synopsis on people and groups making peaceful change in our world. The practitioners include veterans who did not plan on it but nevertheless converted from warmaking to peacemaking. Turns out some peacemaker had a plan for each soldier and got creative about peace with them. It’s time we peacemakers had a plan for converting the War Department and the whole of this U.S. Military Empire. We’ll need to get creative about peace with them.
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, guide us in making Beautiful Trouble for warmakers
Question: Paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ‘Those of us who love peace must plan as effectively as those who love war.” How am effectively planning for peace?
September 07, 2025 Luke 14:25-33 Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time