CPT Lectionary Reflections
for Advent, Year A
First
Sunday in Advent, December 2, 2007
Focus: Colombia
Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44
They Shall Beat Their Swords into Plowshares
by Sarah MacDonald
"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks."
These words from Isaiah have long been familiar to me, but I never before thought
of them as anything more than a poetic denunciation of war. Focusing on the
"swords" and "spears," I heard this line simply as a call
to do away with our weapons of violence. Certainly, that's part of the message.
However, after spending some months with CPT in Colombia, I've begun to attend
more to the "plowshares" and "pruning hooks" Isaiah mentions.
These are not just arbitrary images, I'm realizing, but rather symbols of the
social and economic development that are vital to a genuine peace-as my time
in Colombia has taught me to see.
Colombia is a country rich in natural resources yet troubled by vast economic
disparities. It is also a land tattered by decades of internal power struggles
and violent conflicts. Various armed groups-national military, rightwing paramilitaries,
left-leaning guerrillas-fight in Colombia. As a U.S. citizen, I particularly
grieve how my own country has furthered this violence by pouring into Colombia
millions of dollars of military aid.
When I first visited Colombia two years ago, the message I heard again and again
from Colombians was that U.S. aid through "Plan Colombia" might truly
be helpful were it redirected toward social and economic development. One human
rights worker, who promoted peace through agricultural cooperatives, expressed
his wish for changes in U.S. policy: "Because the money for just one Black
Hawk helicopter could finance two of our peace projects for ten years."
How movingly his plea echoes Isaiah's vision of transforming the blades of war
into productive tools.
Last summer-to the delight of many of us concerned for Colombia's well-bring-the
U.S. Congress passed a significantly revised version of Plan Colombia, which
features cuts in military spending and crop fumigations, while increasing funds
directed toward rural development, victim compensation and strengthening Colombia's
judicial system. Of course, this is only one step of the many needed for peace
to come. As Colombians continue their work for justice and human rights, those
of us from other countries must continue to support them through political advocacy,
attention and accompaniment.
And though I usually associate the season of Advent more with waiting and expectancy
than with political action, this week's lectionary readings have reminded me
that the two are, in fact, closely connected. The texts from Matthew and Romans
both urge listeners to wake up and be actively ready, to live as citizens of
the day rather than the night, confident that the light we glimpse faintly breaking
in the east is indeed the dawning of a new day. It is this hope-this vision
of a time when nations will no longer study (or pay) for war-that inspires and
sustains our work for justice and peace.
Prayer: God, hold Isaiah's vision before us throughout this Advent season and
beyond. Wake us up to ways you call us to join your movement for sustainable
justice and productive peace, grow our compassion and courage, and keep prodding
us into action. Amen.
Second Sunday in Advent, December 9, 2007
Focus: Chiapas, Mexico
Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew
3:1-12
"Why did you decide to be pacifist?"
by Rusty Curling
I'm not sure of the specifics of who we were talking with that day or even who
asked the question, but I found the simplicity of the answer stunning and even
profound. "Why did you decide to be pacifist?" a delegation member
asked one of the Abejas leaders as we were visiting Acteal, an indigenous village
in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico.
"We want the same things the Zapatistas do, but Jesus would not want us
to hurt anyone." was his answer. He went on to explain how paramilitaries
had entered Acteal on December 22, 1997 and killed 45 mostly women and children
who were beginning a three day period of fasting and praying for peace leading
up to Christmas Day. After that the Abejas (a group of approximately
3000 Christian pacifists in Chenahlo Municipality) met to seek consensus on
how to proceed considering what had happened. They asked whether they would
continue their ways of pacifism. They struggled but kept coming back to the
same simple, profound truth, "Jesus would not have us hurt anyone."
This seems to me to be the aim of the vision of Isaiah "The wolf shall
lie down with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid.they will not
hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain."
When Isaiah spoke the words describing the ideal King for Israel he spoke of
a King who would build a place where no hurt or destruction happened. On this
idyllic mountain the natural order would be suspended, eco systems would be
turned on their heads, "the lion shall eat straw like the ox."
"Jesus would not want us to hurt anyone." The simplicity of the statement
bothers me, it seems too simple, but I cannot get away from the truth of it.
Another thing I learned from my Abejas sisters and brothers is that living out
simple truths can be very difficult, but it also changes the world.
The following is a song I have written about what happened at Acteal. It is
also a call to prayer.
December 22
by Rusty Curling
Refrain
Shall we pray, shall we pray?
Shall we pray for peace this Christmas, shall we pray for peace today?
With every breath we take, with all the angels as they sing,
Shall we pray for peace this Christmas, shall we pray for peace today?
1. On the morning of the 23rd the people met to pray.
Mostly women with their children, a few old men, met that day.
They fasted and they prayed to bring in the Christmas feast.
They fasted and they prayed the Christ Child would bring them peace.
Refrain
2. But, the generals from the army trained at the SOA
Trained the campesinos riding with the boarder police that day.
They trained them not in ways of peace, but violence so great.
They armed them not with prayers of peace, but guns and knives and hate.
Bridge
Maybe it was cultures clashing, maybe ways of peace and war,
But the dead in Acteal that day reach five and two score.
Some shot down with rifles, some hacked to death with blades,
The women and the children and the old men. as they prayed.
Final refrain
Let us pray, let us pray.
Let us pray for peace this Christmas, let us pray for peace today.
With every breath we take, with all the angels as they sing,
Let us pray for peace this Christmas, let us pray for peace today.
Let us pray for peace this Christmas, let us pray for peace today.
Third Sunday in Advent, 2007
Focus: Palestine
Readings: Isaiah 35: 1-6,10; Psalm 145:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
Hope under Occupation
by Paulette Schroeder
"The desert and the parched land will exult: the steppe will rejoice and
bloom."
"...say to those who are frightened; Be strong, fear not!"
"You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm..."
John
sent his disciples to Jesus with this question: "Are you the one who is
to come, or should we look for another?"
On this third Sunday of Advent, we in the Catholic tradition and in some other
Christian traditions robe our presiders in pink. We likewise light the pink
candle on the Advent wreathe. We announce "JOY and HOPE" in the midst
of waiting for God's dream to overtake our world, waiting for our Messiah to
usher in the Kingdom of God. Hope is sure. The Holy One does not disappoint.
The Long Awaited One knows our distress, our plight and will sustain us and
finally will come to us and will deliver us.
I traveled with CPT's Palestine/Israel delegation in November 2005. When I arrived
home in early December, I had a bit of a sense, I think, of what those folks
must have felt who for many many years before Jesus waited and waited for an
end to the Roman Occupation. They had experienced the oppressiveness of "no
voice", of huge taxes imposed upon them, of slave labor and little recompense,
of huge disparity in the economics of the land. They felt the heel of the oppressor.
They yearned for deliverance.
So too go the lives of many Palestinians today. They have little voice in world
politics. They have limited access to international media since the main news
services go through Jerusalem's censoring. The 3.5 million people bear the brand
of "terrorists" in the minds of so many people; yet, the families
I had the privilege to meet were perhaps the most hospitable people I have ever
met. Hospitality is a MUST in the Arab household.
While in the West Bank I heard the story of our guide who lives in the Deheisheh
Refugee Camp. He spoke of his work with Badil, a center which works for refugee
rights and refugee participation. One in three refugees worldwide is Palestinian
and approximately three-quarters of the Palestinian people are refugees or displaced.
Badil works to bring back freedom of movement and owdelnership of the land for
the refugees. For 60 years now Deheisheh and other camps have housed the refugees
who fled or were forced from their farms and dwellings in 1948 when the United
Nations invited the Jews to come back to Palestine. At this time life was snuffed
out of 675 towns and villages. The United Nations then formed the nation of
Israel with the Israelis owning one section of the country and the Palestinians
pushed into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Surrounded by his children and wife, our guide spoke likewise of the tremendous
fear built up in the children of the camp - whose education is interfered with
by house searches and by worries whether they'll get to school that day or whether
their older brothers and sisters will be allowed to go to college. The perpetual
fear of harassment from the Israeli military squelches many dreams. He and his
wife spoke of phone calls to their household which are worrisome. Military detainments
of the youth and men, unpredictable curfews in the camp which often result in
imprisonment for anyonce breaking the curfew, horrible camp infrastructure for
water, electricity, and garbage disposal, crowded conditions for families and
extended families all make camp conditions truly dismal, discouraging. "Oh
when will You deliver us, O Yahweh?"
In the midst of such conditions, while trying to provide as well as possible
for their families in the midst of these and so many other horrific conditions,
the Palestinian people in the camps and beyond the camps continue to hope for
better times for their children and for their country. Through marvelous organizations
like Wi'am, the Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center; through elementary schools
like Hope Flowers which educates Muslim and Christian together; and through
the tremendous help of Israeli organizations working with the Palestinian people
to stop the occupation of the Israeli government in Palestinian lands, the Palestinians
display the hope urged by Isaiah and James. Hope springs eternal. The results
perhaps appear minuscule in the midst of so much personal and familial suffering,
but families like the ones I stayed with for two of my ten nights show a tremendous
hope and resiliency. The lives of their children and justice for all their people
demand continued hard work, persistence in the struggle. They will work and
they will wait as long as they need to.
I saw much resistance of the people in little villages like Abud where the Palestinians
were protesting the confiscation of more of their farmland for the Israeli government
to build the separation barrier. I saw this same resistance and desire for justice
too in another small village close to Jerusalem. Here the villagers had found
it almost impossible to harvest their crops or to graze their sheep without
very great interference from the residents of the neighboring Israeli settlements.
These people show very active, faith-filled nonviolent resistance. They continually
put one step ahead of the other in persistence: with the settlers, with the
courts, with the military.
So great endurance and patience, active resistance to all injustice during the
waiting for a new order of justice, great prayer and solidarity with like minded
people of faith - the readings today encourage all these attitudes and characteristics
within us. Let us all go forward trusting, enduring in our efforts and struggle
for justice. We know we are on the way for and with God's people.
Prayer: Living God, God of All, strengthen us in Your Word this day. Help us
claim Your Spirit within ourselves. Buoy us up through the prayer and efforts
of each other. Toughen our resolve to stay in the struggle. Please teach us
how to relieve our brothers and sisters of their burdens in every way possible.
Teach us Your Way. Amen.
Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 23, 2007
Focus: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Readings: Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalms 80:1-7, 17-19; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew
1:18-25
Mother and Child
by Tracy Hughes
As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team 2006 delegation to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, I met a young mother and her child. We were visiting
the women who were patients at Panzi Hospital in Goma. Militia or government
soldiers brutally raped each of these women. The women at Panzi Hospital were
the women that survived these rapes but needed medical care for the healing
of extensive damage and destruction to their vaginas, uteruses, colons and other
parts of their bodies. They were at the hospital, sometimes waiting for over
one year, to be reconstructed, literally put back together by surgery to repair
obstetric fistulas.
The young mother we met was among these women waiting for surgery. She was holding
her tiny baby. The baby was limp in her arms, expressionless, undernourished.
We learned this baby was a result of rape and its mother was unable to produce
enough milk, perhaps for being undernourished herself or from the trauma she
experienced. We were told that there was a chance the baby would soon die if
the mother did not begin to produce milk.
We will never know if this baby lived or died. We will never know if the young
mother was able to receive the needed medical care and heal. We will never know.
Today we were introduced to the story of another young mother, Mary. The gospel
text tells the story of Mary and Joseph. We know the story well, they were engaged,
Mary got pregnant, Joseph was going to end the relationship, God intervened
via an angel and the wedding was still going to take place.
All of this to get us ready to hear the real story: the story of the birth of
Jesus. As we finalize our preparations for the birth of Jesus - the birth of
Peace -the birth of Hope - the Birth of Love into our lives once again let us
not forget the young mothers and newborns who live in places of war and under
systems of injustice and cruelty. May we find prayers that connect us to these
women and babies and that challenge us to take action in Christ's name for their
liberation from injustice, cruelty and war to systems of justice, compassion
and love.
Dear God of Advent Hope,
We give praise to your glorious name for the stories the Gospels tell, for the
preparation we have leading up to the birth of your Son-God with Us-Jesus. Give
us the strength and the courage to be actors for justice and peace and for love
and compassion. Amen.