I love Advent. It is the four Sundays before Christmas, and each week has a theme: hope, peace, joy, and love, in that order. This week, we are in the ‘peace’ week. There’s a lot about peace in the four Gospels, which is one reason why I was so horrified to read today that the Israeli army is using AI technology to determine where to drop bombs in Gaza, named “the Gospel.”1 I’m honestly speechless at that. Where to start? The coopting of religious language. The fact that we’re quickly descending to the worst possible use of technology (already there?!). The known problems with such technology and its use. It’s horrifying on every level.
Today is not only a Thursday in the second week of Advent, it’s also December 14th, eleven years after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. I remember because no one should forget. The families who lost their loved ones deserve to be surrounded by all of us this day and every day. We deserve legislation that will actually prevent this. Instead, we get a continued reign of gun violence. We are held hostage by rich corporations and the policymakers they buy out. We can’t forget what today is because we are still in the line of fire. Grief continues, and it shouldn’t be left alone.
When I start to get overwhelmed by the pain and suffering of this world, music is most often where I go to soothe myself. Artistry matters, of course, but so does the treatment of the feeling. There’s a longing that doesn’t shy away from both the vision-a world filled with peace and justice, but also is unflinching on the evil before us. “Swords of hate,” “warring,” “selfish schemes.” These things do not bring justice. They don’t bring peace. I think it’s a very good, concise explanation of a Christian peacemaking ethic. I am tired of trite messages, spiritual bypassing, and toothless proclamations. The sort of song I mean by this generally sings about how sad things are, how Jesus makes everything better, and then we get to go to heaven. Obviously, there are variations, but this is the sort of skin-deep message I am over and done with, whether it be in a community’s music, message/sermon, or general approach to difficult topics and situations. There are some things that Jesus doesn’t make all better. Children murdered in their classroom. Parents killed, leaving their children orphaned. Refugee camps and hospitals bombed in Gaza. Forced relocation of people in the Americas, Myanmar, and Palestine. I could go on. “Just having Jesus” isn’t a cure-all. It might be a salve, but that isn’t going to fix things. Yes, I do actually retreat into my faith and relationship with God when I am feeling this way. But I don’t walk away 20 minutes later chipper and ready to go, which so much messaging out there seems to suggest is what will happen. No, we have to drop our weapons and wade into the messiness of fixing what we have caused in our world. We have to protest the greed, selfishness, and cruelty behind the violence we see these days. Resistance is imperative.
Before I end, I just want to reiterate how absolutely evil I find naming an AI program that decides who to kill the “Gospel.” The Gospel is about a Prince of Peace who died by a violent, repressive, state who cared nothing for the people God cares for. Gospel means “good news” and there is nothing ‘good’ about fast-tracking the killing. 18,000 people and counting is the result of that sort of thinking. Automatic and semi-automatic style weapons fast-track the killing.
In Advent, after “peace” comes “joy,” but I don’t think I’m there. There are certainly moments of joy. Playing games with my kids. Wrapping presents. But the joy is going to be even more intermingled with the longing for that dimly shining day of peace. It doesn’t taint it, but it does set it apart as extra special when we have it. And it reminds me why I care about dismantling these systems of violence and oppression. The coming Prince of Peace came for this.
Actually an Artist 
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