The Best Beat in the Bible...

⁴ God shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more.

I remember hearing this text many, many years ago as a teenager, sitting in the balcony of Grace United Methodist Church in Oil City, PA. I'm sure it had been read in previous Advent seasons, but I was at an age when the war in Vietnam was still raging, and one of my neighbors had been killed there. The highlighted section hit me like a brick between the eyes. I remember thinking, "Wow, how COOL, and it's in the BIBLE!" (As a teenager, I was more skeptical of the ancient wisdom of the scriptures than enraptured.) 

We read this passage, still, during Advent. It is a wonderful promise that many believe is an eschatological one. But does it have to be only a promise of some far-off future? What if God already gave us the ability to fulfill most of the promise--beat our swords into plowshares? 

Rocketry was invented to lob bombs into an enemy camp by the ancient Chinese; Germany perfected it in the V-1 and V-2 to devastate London during World War II. After that war, the U.S. and the Soviet Union divided up the German rocket scientists and used them to begin what we now know as the space program, including the race to the moon, ultimately "won" by the Americans. Years later, the two super powers would collaborate on the Apollo-Soyuz project and eventually the International Space Station. Rocket technology has launched humans and space probes to other worlds and beyond for the purpose of exploration instead of destruction. Swords into plowshares?

The brilliant minds of Einstein, Teller, and Oppenheimer collaborated in the Manhattan Project to build the world's largest bomb--a nuclear one. Only two of them have ever been exploded in war, but the outcomes for the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were cataclysmic. By harnessing nuclear energy for peace, massive amounts of electrical power have been generated to drive the technological revolution of many nations, medical uses of that same energy have saved millions of lives, and space probes (Voyager 1 and 2) and a Mars rover (Curiosity) will explore our near universe for decades more. Spears into pruning hooks?

ARPNET was a system of communication using computers, designed by the U.S. military to move information between battlefields and bases. ARPNET was turned over to the universities, where it morphed into what we know as the Internet, today. While the Internet has brought its share of issues to the human community, there is no doubt that it has revolutionized our communications, world-wide. We carry it in our pockets, shop with it, send photos of our grandchildren, take courses and engage serious academic research. Need information? Just "Google" it! Swords into plowshares?

Again, give credit to the U.S. military who launched and used the first Global Positioning Satellites (G.P.S.) to steer bombs and artillery accurately. Turned over to us, it guides our cars, planes, boats, and steps to specific addresses and coordinates. For those of us who get lost at the drop of a hat, GPS, whether through our car navigation systems, a Garmin, or a cell phone app, is a true godsend. Another spear into a pruning hook?

Why, even the military "Jeep" from World War II resulted in today's all-wheel drive Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) that most Americans drive today, making us safer in wintry weather and on wet, slippery roads.

Mikhail Gorbachev launched reform in the Soviet Union he called "Glasnost." Through his peace overtures to the U.S. and President Reagan, the Soviet Union eventually dissolved into its separate states, and the "Doomsday Clock" was dialed back several hours. My late brother-in-law, who was a corporate attorney, worked for a company that got contracts to go into the Soviet Union to help them hold up their end of a peace accord with the U.S.--the dismantling of a large number of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) with nuclear warheads. After the warheads were removed and their nuclear material re-purposed, the metal of these missiles was melted down and used to make tractors for the farming industry--LITERALLY swords into plowshares! When I suggested to my brother-in-law that he was helping fulfill a biblical prophecy, he was amazed.

After Glasnost and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States responded to this relaxed threat by using some of the dollars no longer needed for national defense for more benevolent purposes. Some went to education, some to research (medical and technological), and some to social programs to aid minorities and low income Americans. This was called the "Peace Dividend," and while it lasted only a few years before the attacks of 911 and the rise China and Putin's Russia as new threats, tremendous advances were recorded, especially in technology and medicine. This peace dividend gave us a small sample of what our world can look like when at peace. Unfortunately, we now have more enemies in the world than before Glasnost, and we are again pumping billions and billions of dollars into new ways to destroy. But we EXPERIENCED a sample of peace, and it was astounding!

While I would not suggest that the Divine did not have some part in these "swords into plowshares" endeavors, they were largely human efforts. God HAS given us the ability to create peace and to disarm our world. I told our congregation that if we don't work for peace, we will be overcome by war, as that is what will fill the vacuum. 

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus IS the Prince of Peace. If we believe in the presence of Jesus in the world today, we have the secret to both world peace AND inner peace. While not wanting to delay our efforts toward peace and justice in the larger sphere of our existence, I do believe that the popular hymn "Let There be Peace on Earth" is right--"...and let it begin with me." The message of the gospel focuses first on the human heart. What within you is at war with you? Are you facing challenges too great for you to conquer alone? Are you at war with your body? Your mind? Do you suffer from the kind of self-esteem that needs a ladder to kiss a snake's belly? Jesus touched INDIVIDUALS as he walked this earth, bringing healing and peace to their souls, even as he taught us how to bring peace to the wider community. Yielding to the "peace initiative" of God may yield a balm for the human heart and soul. Once we have built a bridge to peace WITHIN ourselves, we may have the heart--and method--to expand it outward.

As Advent begins, may this be for you a season of Peace, dear ones! And may we use the gifts God gave the human community to build a peaceful, just, and inclusive realm for ALL of God's people! Shalom!