Wednesday, December 6, 2023 – Advent Two

“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” (Luke 2:14, New Living Translation)

        War! Hunh!
        What is it good for?
        Nothin'!

        War! Hunh!
        What is it good for?
        Absolutely (nothin')

 So goes the song sung by Bruce Springsteen. And although I would much prefer to write about angels, shepherds and a babe in manger, I was appalled by a comment from an Israeli general yesterday. He said that two civilian deaths for every one Hamas’ death amounted to “tolerable consequences.” Not unfortunate, not regrettable, not tragic, not lamentable but tolerable. That seems to me to say that the thousands of deaths of Palestinian women and children are acceptable, a cost-effective measure of military success, a statistic that applauds the idea that it could be a lot worse.

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

Now I am no expert on Middle East politics. I believe the Hamas are every bit as evil as portrayed by the media. I also believe that Israel has every right to defend itself against such evil. But those are pretty simplistic ideas in a very complex situation. Naively perhaps, I hope for a ceasefire, a negotiated permanent peace, an end to all hostilities.

But tolerable?  The deaths of women and children in this war (both sides), any war, all wars.  Nope. I draw the line here. These are not tolerable.  They are deplorable. The general got the adjective wrong. They are innocent victims, like the children Herod slaughtered, searching for the baby Jesus. They are not statistical fatalities, just a harsh tally of war’s madness. These civilians had no choice but to be caught in the crossfire of war’s violence. I highly doubt there will be any war memorials to remember them by; only their grieving families will recall their names.

It is hard to hear the refrain of angels when bombs are falling. But we must.  We must strain our ears to catch the voices of angels who dare to sing through the din of unpeaceful times. “And on earth peace, goodwill toward all!” (New King James Version)

It sounds almost ridiculous. Unlikely, if not impossible.  But it is a far better, more hopeful message than “tolerable consequences.”

It reminds us that God has promised a day when the nations will be at peace. “The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him.” (Psalm 22: 27, NLT) A family of nations – what a radical idea! “Let the whole world sing for joy, because you govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world.” (Psalm 67:4, NLT) There can be no real joy without real peace.

“The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4, NLT)

The angels sang for the shepherds. Perhaps, they were Palestinian hired hands. It doesn’t matter. They sang to the poor, the powerless, the weak, the least of these, the vulnerable, the meagre humanity of so-called tolerable consequences. “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

Jesus said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NLT)

Let there be peace and let it begin with me! Give peace a chance!

Dale