A Word from Pastor Nathan

Dear Friends:

Wow! You all excelled with the new guide to worship and did so with enthusiasm and willingness. Way to go, Washington Avenue! I am so proud of you. We are now fully into the season of Advent. This week we move toward peace, a peace that hope informs and transforms, which will lead us to joy and ultimately to love. Peace has been on my mind recently, and I’m re-imagining what it means to anticipate peace through the babe of Bethlehem.

During my childhood, my brother and I would have skirmishes. As the older brother— though not necessarily stronger—I prevailed, though my brother tells the story differently. Both of us fought to win rather than work for a lasting peace. As the proverb goes, the victor gets the spoils, and Joseph and I both wanted the spoils; who doesn’t?

The same ethic of peace was true among brothers and nations in our sacred text. In wars between peoples, the victors would trounce and destroy the weapons of their adversaries. When Israel fell prey to Babylon, the people longed for when they would again be able to conquer their oppressors and subdue their capacity for war.

Peace that is imposed by a powerful nation (or an older brother) rather than cultivated through the work of reconciliation is not a lasting peace. Jeremiah, that prophetic irritant-in- residence, told the truth, saying, “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” Just because we talk about peace and theoretically want it does not mean that we are ready and eager to work for it.

The babe of Bethlehem, whom we often call the prince of peace, has no army and no weapons. Jesus is not the commander-in-chief of the world’s greatest military force, and yet we claim this powerless babe as God’s agent of peace that overcomes conflict, war, oppression, and sibling rivalry. I’d prefer Jesus to bring peace as I, the older brother, define it, but God has other plans to usher in a reign of peace for God’s creation. If I am honest with you, that is good news.

I’m going to call my brother now.

Advent peace,

Nathan