“The One of Peace” Vance L. Toivonen
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.
READING H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture
(Jesus) was relevant to his time; he affirmed the laws of his society…He took issue with the political parties of his nation and time. Though he was more than a prophet, he…like Isaiah showed concern for the peace of his own city…Though he commanded his disciples to seek the kingdom above all else, he did not advise them to scorn other goods; nor was he indifferent to the institutions of the family, to order in the temple, to the freedom of the temporally oppressed, and to the fulfillment of duty by the powerful. The other-worldliness of Jesus is always mated with a this-worldly concern; his proclamation and demonstration of divine action is inseparable from commandments to…be active here and now; his future kingdom reaches into the present.
SERMON
The presidency in America is the closest thing we have to a monarchy. Think back on all of the presidencies that you have lived through in your lifetime, and some of you have lived through a considerable amount of presidencies. Focus on that one presidency that stands out to you, the one that is for you the model for all other presidencies, the gold standard for your vision of the leader of this nation.
Now, one at a time, call out that presidency. Give a shout out for your favorite president. And please, no snickering, no groaning or moaning. Let’s listen respectfully to one another. Every president has at one time or another been the butt of a comedian’s joke. I’m sure that, back in the day, there were George Washington jokes, something about the precarious nature of standing up in a moving boat, perhaps. Let’s understand this morning that this is not the occasion for roasting any president, especially not the current president, but rather honoring their courage for being willing to step in to what is the most difficult vocation in this country (allow for calling of president’s names)…
Each time we vote for a president there is a hope that swells within us; some elections more so than others, of course. Barack Obama is stirring hope in a lot of people across this country, and across party lines. I do not mention his name to endorse him, but simply to point to the phenomenon that surrounds him. There is an energy that radiates, and a hope that emanates from him. Even his book is titled The Audacity of Hope. In his famous keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention, Barack Obama asked,
Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?...Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead.
Some will think of Barack Obama as the one of peace. Some will let their hopes ride on this young man from Illinois. Some will call for his run at the White House. We are no different than ancient Israel in this respect, looking outside of ourselves for hope. It is perhaps the child in us all that wants some parent-like figure to champion our lives, to lead the way, to show us the path, and to save us when we are in peril.
This morning, on the cusp of Christmas Eve, we are reminded of the messianic themes that swirl around the birth of this famous child Jesus. He is linked by scripture to the house and lineage of David, one of Israel’s greatest kings, if not THE greatest. The one of peace heralded by Micah in today’s first reading was to be born in that Davidic line, and expected to grow up to provide peace and security for all of God’s people.
The child in us wants security. We want someone to tell us everything will be alright. We want someone to insure that we can go to bed at night and wake up in the morning. We want someone to keep at bay our enemies, and all that would seek to do us harm. We want health care when we are sick, elder care when we are feeble and frail, shelter and food, and all that would make for a basic sense of human dignity. And, like children, we want someone to provide this for us.
This is why I say that no matter who sits in the office of President, we must respect that person, because the expectations are in some ways messianic, and every human being will disappoint when such expectations are thrust upon him or her. Even Jesus has not satisfied the whole of humanity in this regard, as much as some would wish it so. Instead Jesus has shown the way, blazed a path for life in this world that would likely result in more peaceful living for all. Although he walked such a path, as Niebuhr reminds us, he cannot now walk such a path for us. No one can. Not George Bush, not Barack Obama, and not the incarnation of any presidents, living or dead, that we named earlier.
Even our greatest leaders will leave us wanting when our expectations are unabashedly superhuman. Like I said a few weeks ago, even Superman never saved the world. He only lives in a series of moments, moments that touch the lives of people on this little planet we call earth. The same was, and is true for Jesus. He touched lives, and I believe touches them still, your life and mine; but he does not save the world in any kind of magical way. He cannot stop people from dying in Iraq, or starving in Darfur. He cannot heal the millions of Americans who are without health care. He cannot shelter over a million homeless people in this country, much less the hundreds of millions throughout the world. His status as a miracle worker is in jeopardy, to say the least.
But the path that Jesus walked…if more human beings, especially well-to-do human beings here in these United States, would take an interest in walking a path similar to his, peace would increase exponentially, and hope would be in greater supply than ever before. For at the end of the day Jesus is not THE one of peace, but simply A one of peace; a spectacular one to say the least, but one just the same.
This evening we will sing the carol and ask again for this child to be born in us. We do so in order that we might grow to become the ones of peace, the many of peace. It is only our collective orientation toward peace and hope, toward justice and equity that will insure any kind of peace and security for humankind. If everyone is only trying to get their own piece of the pie, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, then we will never have peace and security – never.
Peace and security are mediated in moments; moments and choices that we make, the things we say and do, and the energies we hold in our hearts and minds. Jesus, George, Barack, Vance, Phil, Joan, the Dalai Lama, and any number of leaders and gurus who populate our lives cannot do for us what we are unwilling to do for ourselves. The birth of the Christ, the anointed one within us, the soul energy of our lives, is what will orient us toward this way of being and doing. The humility that flows from such a heart and mind is essential to the changes required in us in order to accommodate peace and security for all.
And it is for all. The angels will not sing tonight, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth for some” or “for a few.” They will announce to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth for all people.” Technically, I think the actual reading tonight will say, “peace among men with whom he is pleased.” But we do not have this peace, even on this morning. So the angels must still sing, still announce, and cajole, and encourage, and swell their voices in order to be heard over the cacophany of our world, and the busy-ness of our lives until there is truly peace and security for all peoples, everywhere. The angel’s song is global; even universal, insofar as there is other life in the universe, although this planet is certainly enough for us to work on.
I like to pull Ann Weems (Kneeling in Bethlehem) out at this time of year, so I will give her the first, middle, and last word in this service. Here, then, the middle word, titled Christmas Comes.
Christmas comes every time we see God in other persons.
The human and the holy meet in Bethlehem
or in Times Square,
for Christmas comes like a golden storm on its way
to Jerusalem –
determinedly, inevitably…
Even now it comes
in the face of hatred and warring –
no atrocity too terrible to stop it,
no Herod strong enough,
no hurt deep enough,
no curse shocking enough,
no disaster shattering enough.
For someone on earth will see the star,
someone will hear the angel voices,
someone will run to Bethlehem,
someone will know peace and goodwill:
the Christ will be born!