Image Courtesy of Iowa Annual Conference
Isaiah 2:1-5. Psalm 122. Romans 13:11-14. Matthew 24:36-44
There is a pin that sits on the desk in my office that was gifted to me by Rev. Mike Biklen, who died last week. At his funeral, today’s lectionary passage from Isaiah was read, and I remembered how he tracked me down at annual conference and gave me that pin. He shared with it the story of Phil Riley, a city attorney in Des Moines, who tried to live out that scripture by turning a salvaged fighter jet into these pins shaped like plowshares.
I looked up a bit more about Mr. Riley and found a story from41 years ago in The Washington Post[1]. The pin that sits on my desk was created from a U.S. Air Force F-84 Thunderjet fighter. At the time, nearly four decades ago, area churches began to sell them with all proceeds going to local and national peace groups. Riley believed there was enough metal for half a million pins, although I don’t know if that many were ever created and distributed.
I read that it took nearly two and a half years to figure out the logistics for making these pins, from finding a smelter to discovering the right process for casting. Why would someone take on such a monumental and complicated task? Maybe the simple answer is that they were paying attention and felt a call to respond.
This is supposed to be the season of joy and light, peace on earth and good will toward all. There are lights in our neighborhoods and scattered across our rural landscapes and we want to burrow into the couch with hot chocolate and endless Christmas movies. We don’t want to talk about the despair and evil and suffering of the world, but then these apocalyptic and prophetic texts of the Advent season sneak in. They remind us that God’s work has begun, but it is not finished yet.
Rather than going through the motions of our daily lives, our texts from Romans and the gospel of Matthew call us to wake up and pay attention. Salvation is near, they say, but that is not a license to put our heads in the sand and ignore the world around us. Instead, it is a call to activate as disciples of Jesus Christ and live today as if the realm of God were already fully present. As we look at these scriptures in their contexts (Romans 12-14 and Matthew 24-25) we are called to keep alert and remain faithful, and to not let our love grow cold as we care for the sick, the stranger, and the hungry. We are called to live into Isaiah’s vision of all nations beating their swords into plowshares and teach war no more.
So we open our eyes and ears and hearts and pay attention to the world. We see a war that has stretched on for four years in Ukraine and rumors of deal, but perhaps little hope for actual peace. We know there is a ceasefire in Gaza and that lives continue to be lost. We see ourselves as a nation preparing for war with others in our hemisphere. These concerns are monumental, and like those of generations past, we long for Christ to come back and finally set the world right.
But as we wake up and pay attention, we also see all the places where God is with us and faithful disciples continue to show up. From prayer vigils for peace to boycotts of goods used to fund war, individuals are finding their own way to respond, much like Mr. Riley did forty years ago. But we are also responding through our connection as United Methodists. We are divesting from government bonds that help maintain illegal military occupations. We saw an outpouring of resources to UMCOR that have enabled United Methodists in Europe to provide support and safety for displaced Ukrainians. Grants you support through Global Ministries make a difference in places ravaged by war, such as a satellite hospital rehab unit that sees 70-75 children a week. One of these therapists shared, “When I see a child walk or even smile again after a therapy session, I feel like I am helping to restore a part of their humanity that was taken away by the war.”[2] You can read more about this story and other ways that United Methodists are responding at ThisMomentMatters.org. (This links to the peace page, rather than the main page.)
This Advent, as we light our candles and Christmas trees and wait for the coming of Christ, let us also walk in that light. Let us live and act as disciples who answer God’s call to be ready and alert for the ways we can share love and make a difference in this world.
[1] “Iowan Turns ‘Swords’ Into ‘Plowshares’” Colman McCarthy. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/12/11/iowan-turns-swords-into-plowshares/c4dabb3a-e656-4c29-8a16-3b354a4777c2/
[2] https://umcmission.org/giving/this-moment-matters-peace
Katie Z. Dawson
The Rev. Katie Z. Dawson
The Rev. Katie Z. Dawson is clergy assistant to Bishop Kennetha Bigham-Tsai of the Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.