The longest game

 

2 Peter 3: 8-15a
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
December 10, 2023

B&W photo of a young person of color holding a protest sign that reads: "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

Afrofuturist and author Octavia Butler was a more accurate prophet than the author of 2 Peter. In her 1998 book Parable of the Talents, she predicted that by 2025, 2030 the United States would be experiencing an affordable housing crisis, climate collapse, the threat of Christian nationalism, and a pervasive gun culture. But then the certainty of Christ’s return expressed in 2 Peter isn’t a prediction but really an expression of fervent hope. Biblical scholars say that 2 Peter probably wasn’t written until sometime after 100 CE. The hope of Christ’s return was becoming something of a joke, people scoffing at the promise of God’s delivery from oppression and instead indulging themselves and their fear, their despair.

Not much has changed in two millennia. Every so often a prediction of Christ’s return, of the rapture and the end of the world will get trotted out as a literal date rather than a hope, a call for authentic change. The last one predicted was in 2021. A few others have been projected for 2026 and 2028. Tragically a few desperate people lose their savings or end their lives or both and the world keeps on turning with nary a bump in the road.



Ironically, biblical literalism—the idea that we should adhere to the exact letter or literal sense—did not arise as a problem until the mid-18th century in response to the scientific revolution, as part of the search for literal, factual truth. Over and over again, human beings have been impatient for truth. We would rather force the answers rather than sit with our questions. Greed, violence, hatred and so much evil comes from this, and it feeds the long game for control and dominance that we see being played out right before us.



Again, you may be thinking to yourself, this is pretty depressing, this is not why I came to church today, but Advent is about waiting and not the easy kind but the really hard kind. Waiting for test results. Waiting for chemo to be over. Waiting for an organ transplant. Waiting for a phone call, a text, for someone to care. Waiting for a living wage. Waiting for people to not only use your pronouns but for them to really see you, know you. Waiting for the Americans with Disabilities Act to actually be followed and enforced. Waiting for the patriarchy to be smashed. Waiting for land to be returned. Waiting for the hungry to be filled with good things and the rich sent away empty. Waiting for the incarcerated and the oppressed to be set free. Waiting for justice and mercy. Waiting for wholeness. Waiting for peace.



But waiting sounds so passive, and evil, greed, violence, and hatred are anything but passive. For decades now, there are those who have been playing the long game to undermine democracy so they can change the rules: to dismantle the right to a safe and legal abortion, to eradicate transgender and non-binary people, to marginalize people of color and those who identify as LGBTQ, to suppress voting rights, to end social safety nets and increase wealth inequality, to polarize any national debate into “us” and “them” and kneecap our government and institutions, to establish their brand of Christianity as the only religion of this country, all paid for with billions of dollars of secret and not-so-secret money.



A democracy works when we believe that most people are reasonably decent and are willing to compromise and negotiate in good faith with those they disagree with. Aristotle called it “political friendship”. Here in Delaware, it’s called the “Delaware Way”. But lately there has been no such thing as “both sides”. Those with power are working to enshrine it and acting out of their own self-interest. Corporations are price-gouging to increase their profits which go to their shareholders. Child poverty skyrocketed after the expanded child tax credit was allowed to expire. Even though the Pentagon failed its audit for the sixth year in a row, still the U.S. government funds their budget request every year. As the Roman Empire used to say, “If you want peace, prepare for war”.



On Friday, the UN Security Council held a vote to adopt a resolution that would have called for an immediate humanitarian unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. was the only nation to vote against it and heavily criticized for doing so. Ambassador Robert Wood thought the resolution was rushed and did not go far enough toward a durable peace. As Dr. King said, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice.”



And yet more bombs, more deaths, more violence, more pain does nothing toward a durable peace either. We will do anything to save lives but not sustain lives into a livable future. We will do anything to secure our own future at the expense of the future of those we oppose. We will dehumanize whoever we need to in order to justify our actions. Over 7,000 children dead is a monstrous injustice. Hamas has said that they will repeat the horrors of October 7th again and again but that will not give them the justice they seek. The Israeli Defense Force thinks that it can eradicate Hamas but every day of continued violence and occupation ensures that Hamas will continue.



Dr. Peter Makari, UCC executive and the current Global Relations Minister for the Middle East, on the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, said, “Only when all people of the region are properly respected and humanely treated—with their rights, equality, and dignity—can peace with justice prevail.” As Pope Paul VI reminded us, “If you want peace, work for justice”.



Jesus has been coming soon and the time has been near for peace with justice for so long it is like a dream that fades when we wake. Again, there are those who are trying to force God’s hand by taking him, yes him, at his literal word and this war plays right into it. In order for Christ to come again, Israel must be whole and complete, and Christ will then initiate God’s apocalypse and the end times. We have taken land that is not ours to own and human lives and stories of humanity’s relationship with the divine and turned them into justification for violence.



And yet this second letter of Peter says that with God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. God is playing the longest game of all, that of peace through justice, because God doesn’t want to lose anyone. God doesn’t want to lose anyone so that maybe, just maybe, we won’t want to lose anyone. God wants to give everyone space and time to change.



This isn’t revolution but evolution. There are times like these, when humanity resembles more the opening sequence to 2001: A Space Odyssey, when one group of primates asserts its dominance with violence. And so Peter exhorts his readers to lead lives that show the way to holiness, to wholeness; that as we wait for that new heaven and new earth, where righteousness is at home, that we be at peace.



And what gives peace but seeking the peace and justice of others in our lives and in our communities? Showing up in friendship, protesting for peace through justice for both Palestine and Israel, advocating for things like inclusionary zoning and affordable housing, speaking out in favor of things like gun violence prevention and the restoration of abortion rights, divesting ourselves of wealth and privilege and de-centering Whiteness, being generous with our lives and with ourselves in rest and self-care, community care.



I don’t want us to burn it all down. I want us to give it all away. Every day let us do what we can for peace and for justice, then we pass it on. In this way, Christmas isn’t one day, but every day.

Benediction – adapted from I Choose Love by Mark A. Miller


In the midst of war, let’s choose peace
In the midst of war, let’s choose peace
In the midst of war, hate and anger keeping score
We will seek the good once more
We choose peace 

We choose peace