Advent 2015 Power To Forgive

Today we have much to remember. Many American's remember today as the day that will live in infamy. However, because horrible history teachers/curriculum/students/parents a surprising amount of children don't know that December 7th is the anniversary of one of the United States worst military defeats in history. A surprise attack by the empire of Japan left a dozen naval vessels unfit for service and several thousand servicemen out of commission. We entered World War II shortly after and proceeded to out produce, out gun and outwit the Japanese for the next three years resulting in bomb craters from Hokkaido to Kyushu and pain on so many levels. The story of WWII is a lesson for today. From Japan we learn how destructive a powerful nation can become when it ignores the education of its youth and prioritize progress over virtue. From the United States we can learn how a divided people can be motivated by a common cause to accomplish unprecedented feats of self-sacrifice and technological ingenuity.

What most people don't remember about today is the event that took place in 1965. At about 239 years old the United States is not exactly an antique civilization.  We aren't familiar with many historical events that happened before the birth of our own nation. The year 1054 was a sad year for Christendom. In the summer of that year, formal declarations of excommunication were declared between the Latin church in the west (Catholic) and the Ecumenical Churches of the east, (Orthodox). Over the ensuing nine decades, misunderstandings happened, hatred was vented, love was shown,  violence occurred, basically everything that happens between two competing nations that don't understand and are filled with sinful humans, happened. Religious terminology was used to justify atrocious acts of violence. Cities were burned and churches were desecrated.  The name of Christ was dragged through the mud of religious power grabs. The days were dark and the end of the world was often predicted. 

Nine centuries of rivalry usually reveal a winner and a loser. The Church of Christ breaks the rules though and does not lose, ever. After the human elements of both churches were spent in ceaseless warfare the Christian elements of the Church were able to gain control. To our shame it is often only after we have tried every other option that we will turn to Christ and trust in His power to work things out. Nine centuries after a formal war was declared the war was ended. It didn’t require an awful massacre that broke the enemy’s military. It didn’t require an atomic bomb that broke the will of the enemy. On December 7, 1965 an apology was issued that turned the enemy into a friend. Pope John Paul II (Catholic) and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I (Orthodox) ended the greatest schism in church history by annulling the documents of excommunication issued nearly a thousand years before. Never underestimate what a honest, humble apology can do to a relationship on the brink of demise.

The calm voice of Christ whispers in the storms of life that call for our attention, "be at peace, this too shall pass."  We who belong to Christ belong to something far older, far wiser, far more powerful than all the collected wisdom and power embodied in the ideas and military that make the United States what it is, the good and the bad. So we may rest easy, not cultivating ignorance that leads to death but having confidence in the weapons of heavenly warfare that never become obsolete. 

Pax Vobiscum until tomorrow