Across the Pastor’s Desk: The Rev. James Young, Christ Episcopal Church

“A Vision for Christmas”

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. — Isaiah 11

All right, where are the shepherds and sheep, the star, the angels, the Magi? Where is Christmas? Haven’t we heard enough prophecy? Let’s get on with the familiar story of Joseph, Mary and the manger. After all, it is said that the vision from Isaiah is just that — a vision without much reality. We know that predators don’t act that way with domesticated animals. And as for Isaiah’s persistent themes of justice and peace, they remain elusive. That just isn’t the way of the world. But maybe that’s precisely the point! Who is to say that the collective wisdom of the world has any claim to what works? Just read the newspapers or listen to the news of wars, genocides, famine, poverty, pollution, climate change, toxic toys, intolerance, greed and the list goes on. How’s that “way of the world” thing working out for us?

Could it be that this infant Prince of Peace whom we anticipate heralds a vision of peace that is more than the absence of strife and violence? God’s peace — shalom — as we know it from Isaiah is a vision of the world as God intends for it to be, not the way that it is. Perhaps the world (we) are like the dysfunctional family system caught in the snare of inappropriate and unhealthy behavior for so long that we can no longer envision what healthy and appropriate living can be. We resist change even for the better because we don’t know what that better vision of shalom can be. Perhaps that is why the stories of John the Baptist make us so uncomfortable in the season of Advent. Could it be that John was staging an intervention to bring the people back to health in living God’s shalom?

Jesus is literally the incarnation (the embodiment) of God’s abiding love and faithfulness for us. Jesus and Christmas hold for us a promise of a new way of living into God’s shalom. But it requires that we be willing to risk transformation, not just for a day or a season but for a lifetime. Then we will begin to understand what Linus says in the much loved TV program, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” May we all begin to see the world a little differently, living into God’s shalom — and not merely for a day or a season but for our lifetimes. May God’s shalom be your gift this Christmas.