Tom Fox, Peacemaker

I don't know too much about Tom Fox, but I read about his work in Iraq as a peacemaker and peace activist, ended by his death recently discovered. It was fresh on my mind as I was finishing my preparations for the sermon this week, which is from Mark 8:31-38. I was looking for some fresh insights on Jesus' words to the crowd and the disciples about denying themselves, taking up their crosses and following him. It seems this is what Tom Fox lived out--to the end. I found the following quote from Walter Wink's The Powers that Be (p.97) in my study today that also fits for a look at Fox's work as well as our work as disciples: "When Jesus said, 'Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it'(Luke 17:33), he drew a line in the sand and asked if we would step across--step out of one entire world, into another world, where the spiral of violence is finally broken by those willing to absorb its impact with their own flesh. That new approach to living is nonviolence, Jesus "third way." Tom Fox discipleship nonviolence peacemaker