Marten van Valckenborch, The Tower of Babel, circa 1600

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold..."

A 2016 analysis by Factiva showed that these lines, written by the Irish Poet W. B. Yeats a century ago, were quoted more often in the first seven months of 2016 than in the previous 30 years put together. Our cultural and civic moment is fractured; we feel like we have less in common with our neighbors than ever before.

We have been here before, humankind. That first moment of fracture at the Tower of Babel (cf. Genesis 11:1-9) pitted neighbor against neighbor in a triumph of misunderstanding and mutual animosity, as each asserted himself as King. And "there was war in the night, and no man knoweth whom he strikes." But into that conflict, God called Abram, not to destroy his enemies, or (more difficult to resist, for anyone who has spent time on Nextdoor or Facebook) his neighbors, but to bless the nations with the same love that God had shown him. God's healing presence with His people would become God's healing love for the world. That healing presence, finding its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the King, the Prince of Peace.