Today is the second
Sunday of Advent. It is the Sunday of Peace. Ironically today also marks
the 84th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. That day was also Sunday.
However, it most definitely was not a Sunday of peace.
The attack on Pearl Harbor
plunged us into war. (From the Imperial Warm Museum's website:
"Before the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States had been
supporting Allied forces with weapons and supplies, under the Lend-Lease
Agreement, but many in the country were reluctant to enter the war. The day
after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a speech to the
United States Congress urging for a formal declaration of war against Japan.
War was declared an hour later, bringing the United States into the Second
World War and unifying the country behind the war effort.”) We joined the
Allies in fighting off fascism. (Just to be clear fascism as defined by the
Merriam-Webster dictionary is: a populist political philosophy,
movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual,
that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a
dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social
regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition. I hope that we
can agree that fascism is NOT a good thing.)
Like today, December 7,
1941 would have been the second Sunday of Advent. The words of Isaiah,
which would have been read that morning in churches would have been full of
hope: "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie
down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together; and a
little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young
will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The
infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand
into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy
mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea." Did those words seem cruel later that day
or in the days that come? Clearly peace was not in our immediate future.
Eighty four years later,
peace still seems so far away. There is much fighting in the world.
There is much division within the country. Have we forgotten peace?
Peace is not a word to be said without meaning. To have peace is to have
harmony; to have tranquility. To have peace, we need to work for
it. We need to act in peace and in love. We need to recognize the
similarities of all people, instead of seeking divisiveness.
We can find peace this
2nd Sunday Advent if we create it. If we refuse to give in to hate and
anger. If we ignore those who spew it and do not allow the ugliness of
their words and/or actions, propel us into their world of bitter darkness.
There will always be
those who will not allow peace into their lives. Sadly, that means if we
want peace, we must cut them out of our lives or at the very least ignore them
and their antics. We need to surround ourselves with what we want and need for peace.
Peace CAN prevail.
It is up to us to make it so.
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