The Prince of Peace

The recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Pres. Barack Obama conjures many feelings for any American follower of Christ. On the one hand, Pres. Obama claims to be a Christian, and though the evidence for that claim may be slim (his opportunistic joining of Trinity United Church of Christ, but his convenient absence from its pews when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright issued his jeremiads against the United States; the paucity of a spiritual life discernible from his published writings; his generalized appeals to "social justice" rather than salvation), I know of no evidence to the contrary. Christians worthy of the name must be persons of peace, yet peace must not be the end to itself. The end must be that God's will be done. Too many are the despots, the crackpots, the psychopaths who will exploit the Christian's preference for peace by subjugating those within their realms. Obama seems to get this: he opens up a dialogue with those who wish us ill, yet deliberates over the use of force. Jesus asked: what king with 10,000 men, who cannot withstand a rival coming with 20,000, will not sue for peace "while [the enemy] is still a long way off" (Luke 14: 31-2)? Curiously, that phrase "still a long way off" appears a chapter later in Luke's gospel in the parable of the Prodigal. After squandering his father's patrimony, the Prodigal resolved to seek his mercy by working as a field hand. But while the Prodigal was "still a long way off," his father recognized him "and was filled with compassion" (Luke 15: 20). Is there something to recognition of our plight from a distance that dictates the faith response? After all, there is nothing to make the king with 20,000 men accept or grant terms to his rival.

The problem of course, is that these other kings with whom Pres. Obama might treat have no interest in the lives of their army and are prepared to sacrifice any and all of them-even themselves if it means a holy martyrdom. In the 13 centuries of conflict between the Islamic world and the Christian West, Islamic leaders have been less concerned over the body count than over their claim to exclusive religious purity and their hegemony over discrete territory. May Nobel laureate and United States Pres. Barack Obama recognize from a holy distance that regardless of the size of his army, that which will prevail is the justness of his cause. In that will be found the peace of God, that passes human understanding.

Adam's Rib

The lectionary for this past Sunday (10/4/09) included the Old Testament account of the creation of woman, from Adam's rib, to provide a helpmate for the first man who had spent his days naming the animals over whom God had conferred man's dominion. Ironically, just that week news accounts had described a new track in our evolutionary ancestry, a 4' tall, long-armed hominid that did not show evidence of knuckle walking or tree-swinging. I am not a creationist (as that term is commonly used), nor an evolutionist: I believe that we live in a created order and that we humans will ultimately be called to account in a day of judgment set by the Creator. But how we humans came into that order has never really interested me as an object of my inquiry. I am more concerned about how we're getting out of it.

Jesus suggested that we focus on heaven. Since He alone has seen it and our meager existence (however it has evolved), I'm willing to accept His suggestion.

The Prodigal v. the Faithful Servant

It is hard to say how, as a Christian and near life-long Chicagoan, I feel about the Int'l Olympic Committee's in-your-face rejection of Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. (For those who have been asleep, Chicago was the 1st of 4 cities to be rejected.) Whether this is some cosmic justice being meted out for Chicago's well-deserved reputation for corruption (the parade of ex-city officials who have been convicted of serious crimes is long and growing) no one will ever know. But the city, though outwardly beautiful, has been rotten inwardly for as long as I can remember (and I go back to the 1950s). The Christian in me says that the parable that most applies is that of the talents: the faithful servants are rewarded with more; he who simply returns what he has been given is thrown into the place of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Left for another day is the parable of the Prodigal. Can anyone see Oprah, Daley and Obama telling the Father that they have sinned and are no longer worthy? Two of the three have re-election prospects, and the third is the unappointed PR director for the other two.