Prince of Peace and Division

Micah 5:2 – 5a

For the past few years I have identified most, if not all, of the ministry work I do as peace work. This peace work takes many forms.

• Being an interim pastor
• Being an activist for LGBT rights within Christian denominations
• Co-facilitating workshops on sustaining your spirit
• Blogging
• Leading discussions on the intersectionality of oppressions

All of these things I do for the sake of peacemaking.

I struggle, though, with the notion of peace. What is it? I use the word to sign off emails, in workshops, in prayer, in sermons … but what is it. Is peace an it ... a thing. Is it an event? A state of mind and spirit? A community experience?

Webster has a few definitions.
1 : a state of tranquility or quiet: as a : freedom from civil disturbance b : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom
2 : freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3 : harmony in personal relations
4 a : a state or period of mutual concord between governments b : a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity
5 used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell

If these are the definitions of peace, then they are the definitions of what I hope my work, and our work, will accomplish. I think about the lion eating grass like the ox and laying down with the lamb to cuddle. That is the Christian picture of peace that I carry around with me. That is the promise that I heard over and over as a child and a young adult.

I think about the lion and the lamb; what they represent. The lion is a predator. The lamb is the prey. Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Jesus is also the Lamb of God.

In the book of Micah, little Bethlehem of Judah is promised to be the birthplace of the one of peace. According to the text, this peace comes in the form of Israel as a flock being fed and protected; the people of Israel living securely and being able to rest. Sweet rest. Isn't it nice to be able to rest securely?

Resting is different than being idle. One might be idle ... having nothing to do ... bored ... jobless … but that one probably isn't resting. Most likely that one is agitated and anxious. Just as rest isn't simply not doing work, peace is more than not fighting. Peace is more than being quiet. Peace is more than a pact between governments. Peace is more than the dictionary definition. The dictionary definition is a starting place. But peace includes all the spheres of being. It is a resting, I think, in one's thoughts, emotions, spirit, and body. Peace also includes communities and the planet. Chaos, unrest, and violence are inflicted across the board of creation. Peace, I think, is resting securely in wholeness.

Passing laws does not require someone's position to change on matters of racism, heterosexism, classism, violence, privilege and the like. But they are a starting point. A peace pact isn't peace, but it's a starting point. Learning how to sit or walk in mindful quietness is not peace, but it's a way to start.

Jesus as the Prince of Peace, says that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword. He himself is not going to enact peace in the land. His actions and his teaching will more likely cause unrest and division as people sort out how they think and feel about how this Messiah is going about being Messiah. This baby whose birth ... whose embodiment we celebrate because of the promise of who he is and what he will accomplish ... this baby whose mother was unwed yet the angels heralded his birth to her, to her fiance, to shepherds ... this baby as a man says – no, that's not what I'm doing. I'm here to heal people on the Sabbath in front of religious authorities; to feed way too many people with way too little food; and to give power to many so they too can heal and feed and stand up to those who are greedy in the name of God.

Being a peacemaker doesn't tend to involve much that looks or feels like peace.

Peace itself may look like a tranquil winter scene with a horse pulling a wagon, the snow on either side remaining undisturbed. But peacemaking looks more like standing in the way of non-peace for the sake of future rest, probably for someone else. Peacemaking means stepping in the way of violence; domestic violence, military violence, legalized violence, religious violence, environmental violence ...

Jesus as the Prince of Peace walked in the middle of harm's way and he provoked his followers to do the same.

We are not unlike little Bethlehem ... a small community in the midst of a larger one, insignificant by many standards. But from us the Prince of Peace is born ... is embodied. Peace still has not arrived. We are still in the midst of much struggle and little secure resting.

Jesus provided healing, food, and spiritual shelter for so many, as well as causing much distress as families were divided over whether or not to follow him. We are to carry on his legacy of peacemaking, which means that we are sometimes to be the source of division. We are to stand in harm's way. We are to offer the secure resting place of acceptance.

We are not here to simply be nice and smooth the wrinkles. I think we are here to ruffle feathers. We are here to make a statement that there are choices available. We are not to swim along in the stream of convention, being complicit with our own oppression or the oppression of others. We are to build dams to stop that stream.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, so threatening as a baby that one of the narratives says he had to be whisked away to Egypt because Herod was on the hunt for him. Herod was so determined to kill him that he mimics the story of Pharaoh in Egypt on the hunt for Moses. In both accounts, there is a massacre of babies 2 years old and under. In the Gospel story, it is Egypt which is the refuge.

For those in power, peace is very threatening. Peacemaking is dangerous. But it's our call, as the followers of Jesus the Christ.

As we approach the day where we celebrate the birth of our Christ on this earth and the subsequent birth of our own selves as christs as we are filled with the essence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, I ask you to consider this: how shall we stand in harm's way for the future securing of rest? How do we continue the work of the Prince of Peace? Individually, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action? Communally, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action?

This radical reaching out of acceptance where all who come may be healed and fed causes division. Do we have the strength to be that radical? Do we have the vision to endure the criticism that comes with that kind of peacemaking?

As you adore the baby Jesus, and adore him I hope you do, I beseech you to say yes to his calling of peacemaking toward a future secure rest in wholeness.