As I write (May 1994) Lebanon is settling down, but, says an eye-witness, the rubble of war is everywhere. More than 200,000 are war-disabled - 10 percent of the population. People called 'Christians' were involved in this war, as they are in Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, southern Sudan, and in many other places.

The 'Christian' record has in one column Crusades, the Inquisition, tribal warfare in some places, proselytization by the sword, and other forms of domination (as in Christendom). But, on the other hand, there has been a strong Christian peace movement too - the Anabaptists, Mennonites, Quakers, and others.

And I have just been counseling a teenage girl who, last Tuesday, hit her mother...

Let there be peace on earth, Lord, and let it begin in me! Amen.