I sit on a wooden barstool, sipping a glass of Prosecco, listening to local musicians play their songs, awaiting my turn. Tiny red lights line the liquor shelves, and a little, silver Christmas tree decorates the corner of the bar. White lights dangle vertically along glass windows where there’s a view of sidewalk tables. Burning candles and a variety of festive-colored, mini-Christmas trees stand atop a black cabinet. Matte and glitter pastel paper circles hang on strings from the ceiling tiles, floating with the spinning fan. Crimson-painted walls and matching curtains create a warm, cozy feel from the outside chill.
I chat with people around me, discussing dreams and plans and things we love. Life. There’s a low hum of conversation throughout the tiny bar, friends delighting in music and drinks and holiday spirit. The evening feels magical.
I pass a few minutes of alone time by scrolling the socials. I’m met with images of tears, anguish, violence, destruction, torment, death. . . and pleas for a ceasefire. It’s a stark contrast to my current experience, but I refuse to look away and pretend all is right in the world. Amidst photos and videos of an unequally-armed war with a raging humanitarian crisis, I consider this week’s advent topic: peace. I’m reminded of what I was taught in my religious upbringing.
In my nearly-forty years of Christianity, scriptures in red — Jesus’ words — were drilled in my head. Two keep coming to mind:
I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
The Jesus I learned about took the side of the oppressed and reprimanded oppressors. He fed the hungry and healed the sick. He dined with sinners and denounced pious, religious attitudes. I suspect if Jesus walked the earth today, he’d be disgusted with wars waged in his name on innocent people . . . wars that are really about money, land, greed, and power.
Somehow I think Jesus would rather sit in the bar with us, enjoying life, rather than standing with governments who invoke his name to dominate people who believe and behave differently from them. Isn’t that what the Bible says he did with his time on earth?
He kept the peace at a wedding by turning water into wine rather than allowing the guests to ridicule the host.
He defended the innocent by turning over tables in a religious institution where priests allowed merchants to steal from customers. He said the temple was a place of prayer. Isn’t prayer a peaceful act?
He kept the peace and took the side of a woman caught in bed with her lover when she was dragged to the city square to be stoned to death by religious leaders.
He indulged a “sinful” woman’s act of worship and had compassion for her while his religious dinner host gossiped about her and doubted him.
He allowed little children to come to him and blessed them when his own followers tried to turn them away.
It sure seems like Jesus frequently cared for women and children, for the innocent and oppressed, for those whom religious society deemed unfit and unworthy. I think he’d do the same thing today.
For argument’s sake, let’s also consider these words from Jesus: Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. Doesn’t that sound like a contradiction to everything we’ve pondered so far? After all, this is the verse I was taught justified wars in the name of Christianity. Maybe that’s not actually the case. If we look at Jesus’ actions, we recognize that he was a man of peace, and the only people angry with him were those who wanted power. It seems we can deduce that he created division for those who were power hungry, primarily, governments and religious institutions.
How do we (both Christians and non) foster peace since Jesus doesn’t walk among us today?
Maybe it’s our job to speak up when oppressors steal from, kill, and try to destroy an entire people group. Maybe it’s on us to welcome, embrace, and defend people the pious, religious community has determined are unfit and unwelcome. Maybe we should engage in and applaud peace rather than acts of suppression, division, and war.
Maybe a night of music and merrymaking with friends at the bar would be more beneficial than a Sunday morning church service. I know it is for me.
It’s my turn to play music, and I sing an original and a couple of Christmas songs. I feel small and unable to enact any real change in a world that seems like it’s spinning into oblivion, so this is my act of peaceful resistance on a Tuesday evening. This is my observance of Advent as I hope for peace.
Good thoughts! Thank you. I relate to a lot of what you said.