“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them…they will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.” Isaiah 11:6-9

Among the contrasts of this amazing season, none is more striking, nor more unsettling, than the biblical motif of peace – peace on earth, goodwill among all people, the Prince of Peace, the lion and the lamb together and the reality of the world where every day there is another report of death, destruction, war, terror, fear, insecurity and tribalism. Woody Allen once observed, “on the day the lion and the lamb lie down together, only the lion is going to get back up.” That may be and yet we hope and yearn and search for peace.

Our nation and world are crying out for leadership. Bold, determined, visionary, decisive, imaginative, gracious, generous, a non-anxious presence in our midst is the great need of our time. Leadership not driven by polls or popularity, but by principles. Leadership not based on mere charisma, but character. Leadership not driven by calculations, but by convictions.

And we have a whole host of people who are offering themselves to lead this nation of 300 million. We will elect one of them our President a year from now, but in the meantime we have George W. Bush as the leader of our nation and the free world.

This coming year is an opportunity for Mr. Bush and for us to model a new kind of leadership for the world. I sincerely believe that our President, George W. Bush had something good in mind when he used the phrase “compassionate conservatism” at the beginning of his administration. His father, George H.W. Bush had a similar phrase that he used at the beginning of his administration, “a kinder and gentler nation.” I like it better. It is less loaded with partisan connotations.

I think that was what George W. Bush was trying to get at with his term “compassionate conservatism.” But you know politicians are famous for making these kinds of phrases. They have professional speechwriters who sit around for hours trying to craft these catchy phrases, trying to find some immortal line that will last and last. They want to get elected, but after the election, they generally go with business as usual. Some keep their promises, but most of them forget them altogether.

Before the election there they are out on the farms with the people, milking cows, visiting school yards, chatting with people; on talk shows like Oprah, Jay Leno and David Letterman; in factories wearing over-alls and hard hats; at picnics eating watermelon and drinking beer; in hospitals comforting the sick and athletes who have been hurt on the field; at the train and bus stations shaking hands with the commuters.

It’s so false, and once it’s over you can’t find them on the farms, in the schools, at the factory gates or in the hospitals or at the train stations.

But suppose, however, we were to take Mr. Bush's original ideals seriously and suppose that he could still be moved by the same spirit that moved Isaiah: “the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the goat, the calf and the lion together and a little child leading them.” Maybe the vision of Isaiah that possessed him when he was a candidate for President could possess him again now. After all he has heard these words before. Suppose he could see anew the vision of the cow and the bear feeding together and their young ones lying down together and the lion eating straw like the ox.

And if he could, what ought he to do in his last year in office? For seven years, it has not gone so well. He got us into this war. We have had Katrina and wire taps. He has not been a uniter, but a divider. But we have got to live with him for another year and he is really concerned now about his legacy. What ought he be doing and what should we be doing?

Well, first of all, if he really means to build a compassionate, kinder and gentler nation, he ought to keep on saying it. He ought to get louder and louder with it. He ought to say it here and there and everywhere! He should not whisper it now and then, but let everybody know where he stands.

The police chiefs in Roanoke, Virginia, Long Beach, California, Flint, Michigan, New Haven, Connecticut ought to know that the president wants a compassionate kinder and gentler nation. In Miami, in Maine, in Memphis, in Washington, DC and Washington State we all ought to know that the president wants a compassionate, kinder and gentler nation. All the mayors of our cities, the governors of states, the heads of school systems, the president of banks, the heads of corporations, all the members of congress ought to know that the president goes to bed at night praying for a compassionate, kinder and gentler nation.

He ought to tell the composers to write some music about it. Tell the people who write marching songs for high school bands to write some marching music about a kinder and gentler nation. He ought to tell the congress to change the national anthem and rather than singing about bombs bursting in air, start singing about brotherhood and sisterhood from sea to shining sea… a kinder and a gentler nation!

The playwrights ought to write Broadway musicals about it. Don’t just whisper it in the Rose Garden every now and then, but go on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, CNN with it… a kinder and gentler nation.

If you mean it, tell everybody! After all Isaiah had a vision and Martin King had a dream and the whole world knows about it. Everybody ought to know about it. If that’s what you want Mr. President, tell it everywhere you go. When you show up…folks will have to say there’s that man… he doesn’t seem to have but one speech!

Let the whole world know…this is what we are doing in America building a compassionate, kinder and gentler nation! We need something to celebrate in this country. My God we need something to celebrate. We are in such a moral slump and stupor. We don’t have any great themes, no great causes. Our young people have nothing to light candles about anymore. They don’t get wax on their fingers anymore. They don’t climb any high hills anymore. What are we doing? Where are we going? Our colleges and universities with academic freedom, free to do whatever they want to do. Free to sing and shout about whatever engrosses the mind, but without anything to celebrate.

But imagine what could happen if Mr. Bush really did devote his final legacy-making year in office building these United States into a compassionate, a kinder and gentler nation. Indigent elderly in their illness would be cared for in clean places with warmth and compassion. Young criminal offenders would be put into the hands of competent guardians and counselors to give them a lasting new beginning in life.

The working poor would be enabled to buy modest apartments and to begin to acquire equity in homes of their own. All little children would be provided patient understanding and creative teaching to illuminate their young minds with imagination and curiosity to grow into compassionate, kinder and gentler adults.

Suppose that Mr. Bush, even as he talks about the doctrine of pre-emptive strikes and the imminent possibility of World War III, really does want to get us out of Iraq. Funds now committed to over-kill would be redirected to the enhancement of life in our small rural communities and in our desperate cities. This compassionate, kinder and gentler nation would divert some of the funds now dedicated to the destruction of the planet to the healing of the nations… clean water for thirsty people in those dry, parched and barren lands so familiar to us.

This nation would build new roads, bridges and power plants for those countries that were drained of their resources by 300 years of occupation by western powers. This nation would support reforestation of mountains and hillsides, burned and charred by tribal wars and depleted by misuse.

As the leader of this compassionate, kinder and gentler nation, Mr. Bush would invite the people of the world who fear us and who suspect us, who distrust us, who hate us... he would invite them to sit down at the table and to study war no more. He would lead the world in beating spears into pruning hooks and swords into plow shares. And that would be a remarkable legacy.

So, Mr. Bush, you are right on time. You have a whole year to make the world a different place a more compassionate place. Just get yourself a megaphone and shout Eureka! I have found it! A compassionate, kinder and gentler nation, a new national slogan. Let school children draw posters about it and put it on our postage stamps…the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. A compassionate, kinder and gentler nation.

We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do. We’ve got a lot of praying to do. We’ve got a lot of repenting to do. We’ve got a lot of working to do. And Mr. Bush, you need to know that you have a lot of company. You need to know that you are not alone.

You need to know that we too want a compassionate, kinder and gentler nation, non-violence, peace and prosperity at home and abroad. We are with you. We are your allies. We are going to hold you accountable. We haven’t held you accountable for seven years, but we are going to hold you accountable for this last year and what a legacy to leave the world – a compassionate, kinder gentler, nation and world.

What do you say, Mr. President? 

Many of you have asked me what do I prefer to be called. I have usually responded with “please feel free to call me Alvin,” but in public settings my preference would be Pastor J or Pastor Jackson.

This no doubt feels awkward and maybe even archaic for some of you here in a small close-knit community like ours, where we greatly value intimacy, familiarity and collegiality. And of course one of the signs of these values is that we are all on a first name basis with each other. It is really one of the attractive and appealing characteristics of our community. I like it as well, but it could also be one of the things that impede our community from becoming the growing thriving multi-cultural community that I think we all desire.

Now I am sure on the surface that sounds preposterous, for how could a little thing like what the minister is called impede our growth? Well, consider this we all come to this community with different experiences and backgrounds.

As a child growing up in the Delta of Mississippi, I never called my minister who served the little church that I grew up in for 54 years by his first name, though he became a very dear, close and personal friend. He was always Elder Harris to me. Even as I delivered the eulogy at his funeral this past October, Tommy Harris remained Elder Harris for me.

I guess one never quite gets over growing up in the 50's and 60's in the days of raw racism, segregation and Jim Crowism where sport was often made of calling older Black people by their first names, even by young white children as a way of disrespecting them and “keeping them in their place.” My father and other professionals like him often used only their initials to keep people from calling them by their first names. In my father’s case it was C.C. I was a teenager before I knew that my father's name was actually Clyde Cullen. That was how tightly it was held!

We certainly shouldn’t let names, titles and positions get in the way of our building the kind of community we all desire here at the PARK. But what I would ask of us is that we would at least have sensitivity to the histories, backgrounds and experiences others bring to our community -- particularly people of color.

But more than putting a salve on the wounds of past slights and rejections, what I am really calling for is not my personal elevation, but the elevation of the office of Pastor. We are all ministers! Every member of this congregation is a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But from among many ministers some are called to serve as Pastors to teach, to lead, to love, to care, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith (Ephesians 4:12a).

So, call me what you will. I will answer to most things. There is an old African proverb that says, “I am now what you call me, but I am what I answer to.” Yes, call me Alvin and I will gladly answer to it, but I want to also be your Pastor. 

Welcome to my blog. I am very excited to be able to share the wisdom of our faith with you, along with some of my own thoughts and experiences.

Reverend Dr. Alvin O'Neal Jackson