Jesus Followers,
My prayer, every year for Advent and Christmas,
for as long as I can remember—even back when I was a child—has been for peace
on earth and good will among people. Disappointed
isn’t the right word for how I feel about the seeming failure of God’s gift of
Jesus to accomplish this …but my life somehow feels like a perpetual advent—waiting.
There is a moment in this season, every year,
in which I often feel that “all the world is hushed.” There’s an experience I have of timeless
holiness where the world itself appears to me to stop being a whirling dervish
and I feel a moment of sweet relief—a familiar hushed-ness, as if I can hear
the whole world take a collective breath in a pause that lasts …never long
enough.
Unlike some other years, this year, there’s war again in the Middle East, in Israel,
with Palestine. I took this photograph 14 years ago while visiting Bethlehem—so it’s never lost on me these days that Bethlehem is physically located in Palestinian territory, is perpetually being fought over, while separated from Israel by a huge wall. The place where Jesus—the Prince of Peace—was born, now is seemingly forever at the heart of a conflict between human beings, where the Church of the Nativity stands in the shadow of another part of this wall, with a similar turret not far away. It’s shocking.
While the world screams for peace, we’re often
still building walls by which to accomplish that peace rather than building the
relationships that could lead to peace.
Maybe we come by this naturally.
One of the popular seasonal additions to the Food Network on television
is called, “Holiday Wars.” …Holiday WARS. Let that sink in a little bit!
For years, we’ve been used to the idea of armed
conflict among shoppers for Black Friday deals.
More recently, stores have used our inability to avoid conflict with
relatives at Thanksgiving dinner, to provide an “escape” by staying open on
Thanksgiving Day—as if somehow, that’s a needed service (now there are even
incentives NOT to behave?!?). “My kid
has to have that toy,” or, “my family needs that even bigger TV”, so I’m
justified if I come to blows for it, right?
AND, it’s even acceptable to abandon every Thanksgiving decorum in order
to ensure we get it!
…So I come to treat every Advent as a time in
which to begin again toward peace. To
try and slow down, to breathe deep, to step into the subtle messages from
stories of long ago. I try to remember
what love incarnate is supposed to look like …and feel like. Both to be loved and to love.
It’s too easy of an “out” to simply blame it on
“the world’s gone mad.” The world being
mad is maybe the primary reason that God sends Jesus to us. It was into a mad, mad world that God put
Jesus. A savior, a king, born to an
unwed peasant girl in a stable; someone without power, who would transform the
world, who could help the world be a little less mad, transfiguring the lives
of people, one at a time and entrusting others to see and believe in a
different kingdom, a different order, in which LOVE reigns. …So, I light my candles. I wait in expectant hope of this Advent and Christmas
being the one of true peace.
It is my privilege to remind you that Jesus
loves you. So do I. God wants the best
for us and is inviting us to fulfill our calling. Out of chaos, into hope and love and light
and joy!
