Advent brings the week of Peace. We turn our prayers and reflection on what peace means during this season of joyous waiting. What does peace mean to us personally, as people of faith, as members of a society, a culture or subculture, as global citizens? These weighty questions deserve our attention throughout the year, but we have the opportunity to examine what peace is deeply and intentionally during Advent.
Give Peace a Chance
On Peace Sunday this weekend, I found myself reflecting on why peace seems to be so fleeting. We talk about peace, especially this time of year. In 1969, John Lennon penned the song, “~All we are saying, is give peace a chance.~” I love this rendition captivating the memorable tune and hopeful words–they’ve stayed with me a long time. Today marks the 40th anniversary of Lennon’s assassination. It’s hard to believe this beacon of peace has been gone from us for so long.
Most of us want peace, which in America means having the freedom to live our lives as we choose, freedom to think, work, and have the home life we desire. Peace, by its nature, also requires an absence of violence.
Having a Live of Strife
Violence takes many forms, but our first thought of what violence means is causing physical injury to another. I submit that hunger has a component of violence; so does emotional abuse as it upsets our mental equilibrium and tranquility. We must think of sustained, systematic poverty as violence because it often causes the conditions that render physical and emotional harm and hunger.
Poverty Thwarts Peace
Since I have attended seminary, I’ve become much more aware of how poverty, usually fueled by racism, makes peace a scarce commodity. Low-income families must navigate an endless season of going-without. They have no safety net from living in dangerous and unsafe conditions, food deserts, and victimization by those who have yielded to drugs and drug trafficking.
Low-income workers lack meaningful work options; those options differ markedly from my opportunities because I am white and well-educated. Even though I am a woman and a lesbian, my white privilege and education have created a zone of safety that many people, especially of color, do not have.
War is not the Answer
Another obvious form of violence comes from warfare. Bombs, bullets, and bayonets all work to steal away our sanity. It maims us. It kills us. It causes us to experience physical, emotional, and spiritual carnage to such an extent that some of us must endure a lifetime of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Many of our veterans suffer grievously during the Fourth of July fireworks because the loud noise resurrects the horror of combat. Those of us not having served in combat also suffer in many ways when war is done in our name. War corrodes the soul of a nation.
White Privilege — an Unholy Path to Peace
My life is very peaceful. We live in a secure neighborhood in a secure home. We have enough money to follow our life’s passion. No one threatens us. We have plenty to eat, nice clothes, a late model car, and our families likewise enjoy these things. So I understand it is easy to say something like, “Give peace a chance,” when my life meets my needs as well as my wants. Sometimes I feel that saying “give peace a chance” to those who struggle works as veiled arrogance on my part. It’s certainly not my intention, so what do I do about it?
In reflecting on this, the Book of Isaiah always serves as a balm. Let’s look at how Isaiah helps us understand what a peaceful kingdom looks like. We read this passage for Peace Sunday in Advent. I love Isaiah’s eloquence. Isaiah has been described as the Bible’s Shakespeare due to its beautiful poetry and prose.
The passage projects the future of God’s reign stemming from the House of David, and for the Christian audience, we interpret this “shoot up from Jesse” as a prophecy of Jesus’ arrival. I’ve shortened the passage a bit for brevity and highlighted some key verses (with a bit of commentary sprinkled in).
1 But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
(The term “stump” evokes imagery suggesting the current moral bankruptcy of the monarchy along with the need for a new beginning. The “shoot” becomes the prophet who springs forth from the very origin from which David and his dynasty arose.)
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him:
a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
A spirit of counsel and of strength,
a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord,
3 and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord…
(These attributes of our leader are the seven gifts of the spirit of the Lord.)
But he shall judge the poor with justice,
and decide fairly for the land’s afflicted.
(God will care for the poor.)
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth…
5 Justice shall be the band around his waist,
and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.
(The afflicted shall know mercy from God, and justice will prevail.)
6 Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
together their young shall lie down;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
8 The baby shall play by the viper’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
9 They shall not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord,
as water covers the sea.
(These examples give us an idyllic vision of peace. The carnivores lie down with their prey, and all who are on God’s holy mountain are safe and have what they need.)
10 On that day, The root of Jesse,
set up as a signal for the peoples—
Him the nations will seek out;
his dwelling shall be glorious.
(Isaiah 11:1-10, New American Bible translation)
When we work for justice, we likewise work for peace. A familiar protest chant says, “No justice, no peace.” It’s true. Consequently, for as long as injustice reigns in our lives — and I mean all of our lives, the privileged and the non-privileged alike — we will have social strife. Inequity destroys peace.
So, I will work for peace, share what I have, and listen to those who have no peace.
When those who struggle do find peace, our faith enjoys rejuvenation, and our hope has a habit of showing up. It all works together.
Here’s another short section from our dreaming poet Isaiah that works as a prayer or a source of meditation.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
(Isaiah 2:4, NRSV)
Let us turn our hearts from tools of warcraft and make the AK-47 and torpedo into instruments of harvests of plenty for all to partake.
Blessings on your journey to peace where the lion lies down with the lamb.
Image: Swanson, John August. From Art in the Christian Tradition, Peaceable Kingdom is a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
