Peace on Earth
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This one's a little late what with vacation and losing my administrator's password... :( I hope its worth the wait.
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In the U-2 song “Peace on Earth” Bono laments how difficult it can be to say the words “peace on earth” at Christmastime. I can sympathize with that. The news from Iraq, Israel, and many parts of Africa is grim. More and more I hear people talking about a clash of civilizations between the Islamic Middle East and the Western world. Some say it with horror, some with resignation, and some with a strange kind of glee. One man who drops into my church now and then looking for assistance told me that he believed the signs of Revelation were all coming true and that World War 3 would break out before Christmas.
It didn’t.
Like every other prediction I’ve heard based on Revelation, his forecast has fallen flat. Revelation was written as a message of hope for persecuted Christians in the early 2nd century, not as a blueprint for human history. It offers a promise that God is in control and that, somehow, someday this world will be transformed into a much better one. I take this promise very seriously, but I don’t take the forecasters seriously, not a one of them. Like the prophecies of the Old Testament, I doubt that anyone will ever be able to point to the visions of Revelation and say “this is how they were fulfilled” until sometime after the fact.
In the meanwhile we have an uneasy planet. I wish I were wise enough to offer a prediction of some kind. I don’t believe that the great war is as inevitable or necessary as so many armchair pundits seem to think. I wish I could offer a compelling solution to end terrorism. I’m not an expect on politics, military strategy, or economics so I’ll have to leave that to others.
What I can say with confidence is that violence is not the simple solution that many people think it is. We’re seeing that in Afghanistan and Iraq where the overwhelming power of the US military easily won the conflicts, but have been unable to end the violence.
I’m not saying that peaceful means are an easy answer to the problem of terrorism. I don’t believe there is easy answer, but I do think that peace is sorely underestimated. I also think that the myth that violence is always effective and peace is always useless is flatly wrong. The world isn’t that simple.
The reason I can say this is that about 2,000 years ago a child was born in Bethlehem. The region was troubled then too, though over a very different set of conflicts. The baby Jesus grew to be a charismatic young man who captured the hearts and minds of many of the people of his world. He could have rallied a military revolution against the Romans (there were several would-be Messiahs shortly before and after him who did exactly that) but he chose not to. Instead he healed and taught forgiveness. He reached out and accepted people who were considered unacceptable because they were foreigners, they worshipped the wrong way, they were considered spiritually, physically or morally “impure.” He taught his followers to love their neighbors and even their enemies, and he followed that principle himself right up to his own death on a cross.
I hope that will give pause even to those who don’t believe that he was the Son of God. For those of us who do, it should remind us that “an eye for an eye” isn’t the way we’re called to live, no matter how tempting it can be at times.
There is an old saying that “Peace is not the absence of violence, it is the presence of God.” Other versions say the presence of… justice, harmony, wholeness. In all cases it is not just that something has stopped, it is that something has started. There is a change in us that has crowded hate and fear out of our lives. In their place are things like: love, joy, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
I’ve gone on long enough. I really just wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas and God’s blessings for this day and all days. May the peace of God fill your hearts so full that it overflows and pours out, blessing all who you touch.
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“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’” (Luke 2:13-14)
***************************************
In the U-2 song “Peace on Earth” Bono laments how difficult it can be to say the words “peace on earth” at Christmastime. I can sympathize with that. The news from Iraq, Israel, and many parts of Africa is grim. More and more I hear people talking about a clash of civilizations between the Islamic Middle East and the Western world. Some say it with horror, some with resignation, and some with a strange kind of glee. One man who drops into my church now and then looking for assistance told me that he believed the signs of Revelation were all coming true and that World War 3 would break out before Christmas.
It didn’t.
Like every other prediction I’ve heard based on Revelation, his forecast has fallen flat. Revelation was written as a message of hope for persecuted Christians in the early 2nd century, not as a blueprint for human history. It offers a promise that God is in control and that, somehow, someday this world will be transformed into a much better one. I take this promise very seriously, but I don’t take the forecasters seriously, not a one of them. Like the prophecies of the Old Testament, I doubt that anyone will ever be able to point to the visions of Revelation and say “this is how they were fulfilled” until sometime after the fact.
In the meanwhile we have an uneasy planet. I wish I were wise enough to offer a prediction of some kind. I don’t believe that the great war is as inevitable or necessary as so many armchair pundits seem to think. I wish I could offer a compelling solution to end terrorism. I’m not an expect on politics, military strategy, or economics so I’ll have to leave that to others.
What I can say with confidence is that violence is not the simple solution that many people think it is. We’re seeing that in Afghanistan and Iraq where the overwhelming power of the US military easily won the conflicts, but have been unable to end the violence.
I’m not saying that peaceful means are an easy answer to the problem of terrorism. I don’t believe there is easy answer, but I do think that peace is sorely underestimated. I also think that the myth that violence is always effective and peace is always useless is flatly wrong. The world isn’t that simple.
The reason I can say this is that about 2,000 years ago a child was born in Bethlehem. The region was troubled then too, though over a very different set of conflicts. The baby Jesus grew to be a charismatic young man who captured the hearts and minds of many of the people of his world. He could have rallied a military revolution against the Romans (there were several would-be Messiahs shortly before and after him who did exactly that) but he chose not to. Instead he healed and taught forgiveness. He reached out and accepted people who were considered unacceptable because they were foreigners, they worshipped the wrong way, they were considered spiritually, physically or morally “impure.” He taught his followers to love their neighbors and even their enemies, and he followed that principle himself right up to his own death on a cross.
I hope that will give pause even to those who don’t believe that he was the Son of God. For those of us who do, it should remind us that “an eye for an eye” isn’t the way we’re called to live, no matter how tempting it can be at times.
There is an old saying that “Peace is not the absence of violence, it is the presence of God.” Other versions say the presence of… justice, harmony, wholeness. In all cases it is not just that something has stopped, it is that something has started. There is a change in us that has crowded hate and fear out of our lives. In their place are things like: love, joy, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
I’ve gone on long enough. I really just wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas and God’s blessings for this day and all days. May the peace of God fill your hearts so full that it overflows and pours out, blessing all who you touch.
-----------------------------------------------
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’” (Luke 2:13-14)
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