"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair, I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men."

By Henry Longfellow


Advent is a time of anticipation. We wait and long for a new birth. We know that hope is on the horizon; that we will soon be transformed in a manner which we cannot currently comprehend. And yet, we are now at our darkest. Without Christmas, December becomes a time of defeat as the bitter cold and the dark remind us of our own pending deaths. Yet it is now that we choose to celebrate with wonder and awe the glorious appearing we experienced once from a humble stranger, and long to see again.
For those of us in the peace community, anxiety and anticipation has been heightened. Two weeks ago, on the first Sunday of Advent, four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams were abducted while working in Iraq for that same transformation we await with longing hearts. These four men left their homes in New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and England in order to make real the vision given to us by Jesus Christ of a world of peace and justice.
Yet, their presence was misinterpreted and they were seen as a threat by those who did not understand their real meaning. And so, these four men were taken captive by an Iraqi vigilante group named "Swords of Righteousness." Yesterday was the deadline given by these insurgents; if an agreement was not come to about the release of Iraqi prisoners, the Peacemakers would be executed. News of their fate has not been broadcast; we long to know that these men of true righteousness will be set free by their captors and given the ability to continue their witness to the message of love they have lived out.
The CPT members went to Iraq, knowing the threat to their own lives, in order to live among and minister to the villagers with their presence. They went to bear witness to the brutality and speak out against it. They went to work with all of us, in order to change our structural, social, psychological, emotional, and physical patterns of violence. They went to accompany. Christ also became incarnate in order to accompany us; to liberate us from our own self-destruction and sin; to teach a new and better way to live. As we remember the birth of Christ our Accompanier, we must remember those who are living out his call today. Christ triumphed over the systems that attempted to destroy him without using their own methods; we can only hope that the same success is waiting for those who follow Christ by accompanying the Iraqi people.
Though I am also tempted to hang my head as I await notice about the lives of these followers of Christ, I must remember that this Christmas, like all Christmases, that "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep," despite the bleakness of our situation. Rather, peace on earth can be established through the imitation of Christ, and our hope continues as we wait His and our rebirth this December.