Peace Part One

And he will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

There is a competition in my mind over which of the first two Advent words: "hope" or "peace" really is more elusive and odd for the church to proclaim in our current world.  On the one hand, hope is fleeting and fading.  The nightly news seems bent on sharing story after story that awaken hopelessness within our hearts.  On the other, peace might as well reside on Pluto for it feels that distant from our world.  There is too much violence and reliance on the military out of fear for us to really embody/live peace.

Part of the Advent paradox is that what the church is proclaiming is the already and not yet.  Hope is here because of God's willingness to slip into skin and walk among us.  We feel peace in moments when we encounter an unceasing grace and unconditional love in hugs of others.  But the reality is that hope and peace are not full time residents in our world...although I believe God is.  Our faith lives on the corner of already and not yet: God has already broken into our world...God has already conquered death through life....God has already showed us how to live with love and kindness and walk humbly with God in the life of Jesus.  Yet...things are not all rosy and merry and bright. There is a "not yet" when we honestly name there is too much brokenness.  There is too much treating people as less than beloved children of God.  We live on the corner between the truth of these two realities.

What ends us happening...especially this time of year...is in the hustle and bustle of trying to do too much and cram life into these dwindling days of 2013, we end up feeling distant from either hope or peace.  Rather than trying to slow down, breathe, and truly stay awake to God, we want to take matters into our own hands.  We will show Christmas this year who is really in charge.  I will make my gifts or buy them from fair trade organizations.  I will finally read that devotional I bought.  At moments like that I remember the truth of Dr. Suess, because the Grinch thought he could control Christmas too!

Perhaps Christmas is about surrender to God's presence in our lives.  Christmas is our humble acknowledgement of Emmanuel, God with us here.  Here!  In this beautiful and broken world.  Here!  In this kitchen filled with dirty dishes and burnt cookies.  Here!  In the exhaustion you might feel almost half way through December.  

I could say more...but maybe listening to the carol, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is even better.   I love The Piano Guys and this might just be my favorite rendition!  May this open you to a trace of God's grace! Click here to listen and see them offer this beautiful carol!

Blessings ~

Click here to read Isaiah 2

If Isaiah 1 shines a light on places where our relationship with God has broken down and invites us into a conversation or an engaged dialogue with God, then Isaiah 2 is the rationale and hope for such a conversation.  The truth is because Isaiah 1 is so in-your-face honest, it might be easy to feel a bit glum after reading it.  The deeper truth is that it is quite easy to get discouraged, especially now.  The holidays are over, Christmas has come and gone, it is a new year and yet it seems like some of the problems we thought would get left behind when we put up the new calendar followed us right into 2013.  For us living in the upper Midwest we know the truth of what it means to live in the midst of the "Bleak Midwinter" and that midwinter lingers...and lingers...and lingers sometimes longer than what we want.  And so, when Isaiah shines a light on the brokenness of our connections with God, I get why sometimes people want to throw their hands up in the air, exasperated and wonder if there is anything we can do?

Isaiah promises that there is something we can do.  Isaiah hints at a theme he will pick up again in chapter 11 about the "Peaceable Kingdom".  A place where violence is no more, where all are equal.  And what I appreciate about Isaiah is that the response of the people to this vision is not, "Golly-gee this is swell".  But people run and hide!  Talk about being honest and knowing humanity well. For all that we talk about an end to violence and wanting peace and equality, the reality is we are all pretty invested and comfortable with the status quo.  And so there is a tension within us.

I remember sitting in a sociology class in college and the professor asked, "How many of you would give up what you have so that the poor would be brought to an equal economic and social standing with you?"  To be clear, I went to a private college and we were all fairly well off in that classroom.  Only a few hands went up in the air.  In the conversation that followed most people were glad to help those in need as long as it did not hinder or infringe too much on their way of life.  This is why Jesus' response to the rich ruler is so difficult for us (Luke 18:18-30).  We want to share, we want to be generous, but we also like to be in control and know that at the end of the day we can take care of ourselves.  There is a tension within us.

Yet, there is hope in Isaiah 2, because he honestly asks us to notice where in our lives are we hiding right now from God's realm in our midst?  Where have I stuck my head in the ground or fled from God's call to live in peace?  Sometimes it is in my relationships with others, sometimes it is how I use the financial resources entrusted to my care, and sometimes it is that I still prefer the hierarchy of the world than the truth that in God's eyes all are equal.  Those truths challenge me.  At the same time, Isaiah 2 with its hopeful tone reminds me things can be different and I want to talk more about that.  Talk to God, talk to you about this tension, about the realities of today and our hopes for tomorrow.

And one finally place of hope I hear in Isaiah 2 is a reminder that it is not all up to me.  Isaiah does not say it is up to humanity to establish this holy mountain, that is up to God.  Our task is to notice the mountain, heed the invitation to go.  And how do we notice the mountain and respond to the God's invitation?  We go back to Isaiah 1 and look at the way we worship and the way our worship extends into every aspect of our lives.

May you notice the traces of God's grace and may those traces infuse and immerse you this day in the One who sees you and every person you brush up against today as "Beloved."

Blessings and peace!