In 1600, after a long period of war among various shoguns, the victorious Tokugawa Ieyasu established a shogunate that would rule Japan until the latter half of the 19th century. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, an enforced peace settled across the country, sort of a Japanese Pax Romana.
One of the methods Tokugawa used to establish peace seemed particularly inventive. In the Japanese society, where (like other societies of that time--including the one taking hold in America) extended families lived together and foged strong identities, Tokugawa forced clans which would otherwise be warring to exchange family members. A family would send a son or daughter to their neighbor and receive an aunt or uncle in return, and the exchanged persons would settle in as members of their new families. This was a way of saying, "I am establishing a lasting peace; you're family is mine; mine is yours. With my loved one residing with you and being nourished and supported by you, you know I will not attack, and I know you will not attack me."
I wonder if similar methods might not lead to a lasting peace among churches. Maybe it's happening already. As we intermarry and discover each other, our families become intertwined. How can we consign the other group to Hell if your son, our daughter, our neice, our nephew, is one of them now, just as he or she remains one of us.
If Christianity is all about what we've come to think of as "doctrine", of course this doesn't work. If we are defined by what we do, by our procedures and forms, then we will simply write off the family member as lost. But if Christianity is primarily relational, this stands a chance.
The next step to this is to intenionally exchange family members. Visit, fellowship, worship, move in spiritually with the neighbor we once warred with.
The idea may sound radical. To some it will even sound like heresy. But if we realize we are all really one family, it almost sounds natural.
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