Real Peace

In my depression after another Capitals playoff loss Sunday night, I began channel-surfing in hopes of finding a diversion. I didn't have to go far. News was breaking about the death of Osama bin Laden. I watched as the President gave details of the operation and spoke of the heroic efforts of those who carried out the mission. Analysts did what analysts do in the midst of breaking news with very little detail...they began to try and piece together from the President's speech, and their sources around the world and across the studio, the elements of this story that shocked the world. Details were few, yet opinions and hypotheses were plentiful. I was preparing to turn the story off and wait for the details on the morning news shows, when the broadcast suddenly shifted from the studio to the scene outside the White House where seemingly hundreds of people were gathering to celebrate. Chants of "U S A!", "U S A!" were gaining momentum as if the United States had just won a medal in an Olympic event. There was dancing, hugging, flag-waving, banner-waving, and more impassioned chants of "U S A!" with fist's pumping as more revelers joined the celebration. I could not remember anything like it on American soil in my lifetime...a government-sanctioned strike, carried out with surgical precision, to "take out" an enemy. Certainly military operations had been carried out before and the reports made to the American people. But I do not remember the kind of spontaneous response nor the degree of celebration that I witnessed Sunday evening, not because war had ended, or violence stopped, but because another human being was dead.

Now let me say at this point that Osama bin Laden's actions in setting in motion the 9/11 attacks, and other terrorist activities over the years, marked him as a criminal whose actions demanded justice. Many believe that justice was served in the early morning hours of Monday in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad as United States Navy Seals carried out their mission, ending the life of the most notorious terrorist of the modern era. I recognize the frustration and anger of many within this country who bear the burden of having lost loved ones over the past ten years who found release in news of bin Laden's death. I cannot know what such news means to families of New York City firefighters or police officers killed in the line of duty on that day, nor to the thousands of family members who lost loved ones in the twin towers, the Pentagon, or a rural Pennsylvania field, as well as family members of soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. But I am left to wonder, in the aftermath of raucous celebrations and the commentary of a those I heard interviewed in the last few days who claimed closure now for bin Laden's victims...has his death truly made us safer...does this closure that is spoken of suddenly end the grieving for those whose parent, child, spouse, sibling, or friend was lost on that dark day or in the years since?

In the 14th chapter of John's gospel, Jesus talks with his disciples about transition. His death is imminent and he is seeking to prepare them for what will follow. He promises them a gift unlike any other they might receive, the Holy Spirit. Then, in verse 27 he says, "I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don't let your hearts be troubled or afraid."

It occurred to me as I watched the celebrations in the streets of DC and at Ground Zero, that our American response was much like what we see in other parts of the world when an enemy leader dies. The anger, hatred, and retaliation that marks a warring world was certainly on display in our streets.

Jesus offers us something different. "My peace I give to you," he said..."I do not give it to you as the world does." It is tempting to be caught up in the chants of patriotic fervor when a long-sought enemy is destroyed...but the threats of this enemy still remain. There is release for the moment in believing that justice has been done in the aftermath of heinous crime. Families and friends awakened, however, on Monday morning, and this morning, and will for every morning that they live, with the realization that their friend or loved one is still gone, and the longing for their touch, voice, wisdom, and love will not be satisfied. Yet, in the midst of these continuing threats and grief, Jesus affirms, "...don't let your hearts be troubled or afraid." Genuine peace comes not because an enemy is killed, but because the Spirit of God brings change to the human heart that cannot be destroyed, no matter the threat.

The bad news of Sunday evening that drove me to channel-surf has been compounded with another Capitals loss. They stand on the brink of elimination tonight. The violence of this world seems to move us ever closer, some would say, to the brink of elimination. Our hope is not seen in the visual evidence of an enemy's death, nor heard in the chants of patriotic cries after momentary victory...Hope is found in the One who offers real peace...peace that cannot be duplicated by the world. May you and I share the peace of Christ with the world around us, and in doing so, may our hearts be neither troubled or afraid.

Jim Abernathy