Prince Of Peace
Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Ph.D.

For unto us a child is born…and the government will be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

This passage from Isaiah’s prophecy promises the arrival of one who will set right what is wrong in the world of God’s people. Before he writes of the promise, the text tells us that God’s people have been walking in darkness, but they are about to see a great light. They have been carrying a great burden, as oxen carry a bar across their shoulders. Now that rod is about to be broken. The boots of soldiers in war and their blood soaked garments are about to be burned as fuel for fire, the text says, now that this child is coming.

What kind of child is coming? This child is a king! He is one who holds the power to change the course of history; one who is divine in might. One who is eternally parental in love and care. One who brings peace and wholeness. This the promised one, the anointed one, will bring to God’s people the shalom/peace for which they yearn.

Here we are today, thousands of years after this prophecy was written. We can look around our world and see that much of our international community is walking in darkness and needs to see a great light. Many have been trampled under by the boots of oppression and war rages in many theaters. In Iraq alone, civilian executions are up from 50 to 1000 in the last 10 months—but let’s not call it a civil war. American casualties are up 32%. Our new secretary of defense Gates said, "Failure in Iraq . . . would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger Americans for decades to come.” It is a mess; but will he have the moral courage to make an exit strategy and pull our troops out and bring them home?

Much of our international community labors under the burden of poverty. Millions of children are unable to learn due to the lack of food and potable drinking water. When they are unable to learn, children are often confined to a life of poverty from which there is no escape even in adulthood.

Much of our international community labors under the fear of harm. Police and militia and armies seem to be capricious with the lives of the people they are charged to protect. Here in this city, an unarmed man is murdered in a hail of 50 bullets. In Atlanta , an 88 year old woman fires on police as they enter her house unannounced and is killed, tragically.

Who will break the yoke of poverty? Who will burn the tools of war and melt them into plowshares of peace? Who will make the streets safe, and keep us safe in our homes as well? Can a child do all of that? Can even an adult king do all of that?

Isaiah thought this child would come, and all authority would rest with him. A just government would rest upon his shoulders and he would be named Prince of Peace. A child was to come and grow and make it all right again. Peace, heavenly peace.

Why a child? Maybe it is because children can’t make it on their own. Why one from among the poor? Maybe it was to symbolize that when we care for the poor and vulnerable in the midst of us, we care also for God!

Like that vulnerable, poor child needed care, we need to care for each other. The just government for which we hope—we have to work together to make it happen. The breaking of the yoke of poverty--we have to work together to make that happen as well. Making a safe place for our children and most vulnerable citizens—we have to work as a community for that to come to fruition.

When you read this newsletter, Christmas day has come and gone. Gone with it is the pomp and circumstance of Christmas, the hustle and bustle of Christmas, the chaos and bumping and jostling of Christmas.

And still there is the need for peace. I am optimistic and I am hopeful. I pray you have hope, too.

I pray you have hope like expectant parents, who don’t know quite know what might happen in childbirth, but who in the midst of wondering and in the midst of uncertainty and after the labor pains have a joy that comes in the morning. I pray that hope for all of us. And I pray that we can, together, make it all right. That we can work, act, pray, march, write, teach, share, confer, confide, cajole, weep, sing and move our way to peace.

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