And so the War Goes On And On and On

It is very hard to look at these faces. But I hope you will look very closely at them. These are some children from Afghanistan that are hungry and in danger of life-threatening diseases as they sit in a refugee camp displaced by the war in Afghanistan. These children need food. They need health care. They need their families. They need hope. They do not need more war.
But that is what we are going to give them. Here's the latest from NBC, which echoes what many other news outlets have been saying the last few days:

"KABUL – While many Americans have been led to believe the war in Afghanistan will soon be over, a draft of a key U.S.-Afghan security deal obtained by NBC News shows the United States is prepared to maintain military outposts in Afghanistan for many years to come, and pay to support hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces. The wide-ranging document, still unsigned by the United States and Afghanistan, has the potential to commit thousands of American troops to Afghanistan and spend billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. The document outlines what appears to be the start of a new, open-ended military commitment in Afghanistan in the name of training and continuing to fight al-Qaeda. The war in Afghanistan doesn’t seem to be ending, but renewed under new, scaled-down U.S.-Afghan terms."

What a surprise. Countries that claim to be Christian are not countries that wage endless war seeking domination of peoples in distant lands. Empires that worship wealth, weapons and war do that. And so the Empire wants to continue to fight an unending war, committing thousands of troops and billions of taxpayer dollars to that effort. And to what end? More refugees. More death. More terrorists. More children sitting with empty soup bowls in their hands. 

God offers us tender compassion and calls us to live in tender compassion with one another. The proposed endlessness of this war is offered in your name if you are a citizen of the United States. Our service members are going to be in Afghanistan endlessly getting maimed and killed. Our service members are going to be in Afghanistan endlessly maiming and killing. Our treasure is going to be used to destroy lives and countries and children with soup bowls. 

Why don't we organize ourselves into a band of actual Christians calling our leaders to stop endless war and to  use all those billions of dollars to feed hungry children and to offer health care to them and to us. That type of Empire is called the Kingdom of God. That's the kind of reign we should be working for. So how do we want to do this? Start by looking long and hard at those faces. God have mercy on us. 

Peace be upon you.