One of my poignant Christmas memories is, sadly enough, the murder of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. Having died violently, some say it is ironic that he once said, “when it comes to having to use violence then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick you face, to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humour.”
I don’t think it is ironic that he died violently. I think it is part of the message. When the establishment don’t know how to deal with you, they will be violent, because violence is their operating system. Faced with someone, or a group who do not play their game of reciprocal violence they will walk away, or become even more violent; it’s like they are operating through the most ancient parts of the brain where we have one choice fight or flight. What Lennon, and others before him were saying was, use your brain; think, respond, don’t react, and look for other possibilities and choices.
And we need to be sure that we are standing up, facing the injustice, facing the terror head on with nonviolence and humour. Passive clicking away on Facebook and twitter makes us feel good, but does nothing to change the situation. It is the nonviolence stand of Jesus before Pilate, Ghandi before the British, Martin Luther King , before the white face of segregation, the Dakota Sioux before corporate power, that confuses and thwarts the establishment. It also sometimes results in death for the person standing up to the establishment, but moves everybody else forward a few inches.
Christians around the world are waiting this season of Advent. Each of us will have our own sense of what we are waiting for, what Christmas means to us spiritually. For me this year, it is about courage. The English word courage comes from the latin cor, heart. Cor is also the root of the word English word core. At our core, is our inner strength, our heart. It is from there that our courage emerges. One of the ways as a Christian that I see the birth of Jesus, is that God had a human heart; God became human and felt that core, that courage beating inside of his chest. You and I have that same rhythm, that same constant beat in our core. A beat that summons us to stand up and inspire, stand up and push towards justice for all people, stand up beside the marginalized against bullies, a beat that challenges us to leave the world a little better than we found it. A beat that pushes us to use the thinking part of our brain, and not the reactionary part. I hope you will join me to celebrate the birth of heart based courage this Christmas, and that courage fills your heart too.
Alisdair Smith is Deacon and Business Chaplain at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver BC.
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