By Bernice Powell Jackson | SPECIAL TO SACOBSERVER.COM

Saddam Hussein has been captured. Surely many Iraqis feel safer and more secure. But do we? Do we now have peace on Earth and goodwill to men, women, boys and girls?

Bernice Powell Jackson

My only Christmas wish this year is for peace. Peace with justice. For surely we have figured it out - without justice in this world there will never be peace. We can arrest every tyrant and human rights violator, but without justice there will never be peace. We can even capture Osama bin Laden and break the world's network of terrorists, but without justice there will never be peace. Justice is our only guarantee for real security and our only route to true peace.

The World Council of Churches has designated this decade as one in which the churches around the world should work to overcome the violence which threatens to consume us all. And they have designated the year 2004 as a focus on the United States.

Many churches across the U.S. will be working intensively and praying intensively for an end to violence. We will be working and praying to end the violence of war. We will be working and praying to end the production of land mines and cluster banks. We will be working and praying to end the violence of systems of economic injustice and racism. We will be working and praying to end the violence of guns in our cities and in our homes. We will be working and praying to end the domestic violence experienced by millions of women and children. We will be working and praying to end the violence of our entertainment - of our music, movies and video games. We will be working and praying and preaching and marching and picketing to overcome violence in our nation and in our world.

Violence is at the root of many of the problems of the world. That was true 2,000 years ago and it is true today. Violence against those who are different from us - different in their religious beliefs, different in their political beliefs, different in race, and different in sexual orientation. Violence against those who are weaker than we are - women and children and nations alike.

The theme of the Decade to Overcome Violence's focus on the U.S. in 2004 is "The Power and Promise of Peace." For there is power in peace. It may not be the power of the world, but there is real power in peace which can transform people. At a peace rally last year, I saw a Pax Christi button which read, "Love your enemies, it messes with their minds." There is power in peace.

There is promise in peace. The promise of a more equitable world where none are poor and all live in dignity. The promise of a more just world where no child lives in war or hunger or abuse or fear. There is promise in peace.

If my Christmas wish for peace becomes your Christmas wish for peace, then together we can work to make it a reality. It can become a reality in our homes. It can become a reality in our communities. It can become a reality in our nation. It can become a reality in our world.

Together, let's make our Christmas wish for peace our New Year's resolution. May it be so.

Bernice Powell Jackson is executive minister for the United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries.