Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, December 8, 1941

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:20b, NRSVUE

October 7th has become a Day of Infamy, with the anniversary marked by services and hopefully, the nearing end of a conflict in Gaza.

But who can say? And what should we say about it anyway, as Christians?

Do we even deserve a voice?

Certainly we can note the horror of the Hamas actions that day and call for an end to such violence. We can also note the cycle of violence it spawned: October 7th saw the loss of 1,195 Isreali civilians and security force personnel, and 251 Israeli hostages captured, some of whom have died. In the two years following, the Palestinians have taken even more losses. Current estimates are at over 67,000 dead, and over 160,000 injuries.

A proper Christian response should be simple: STOP. Stop the harm and the violence, and return all hostages, living or dead, to their families. It should be simple. But clearly it’s not.

The path to peace requires compromise, and there has been little willingness on either side for that to happen.

But is the this the moment? Is this the time when they can finally come together? It would take a lot of forgiveness, and a lot of relinquishing the rights of retribution. On both sides of the Gaza divide.

As part of a production of Annie, I’ve been invited to play the part of FDR, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I’m a fan. I like the way he preserved and came up with inventive solutions to tremendous problems. I like the way he created a cabinet of advisors with varying opinions to help challenge him and come up with audacious and far-reaching plans. He wasn’t a perfect, not by a long shot. But he worked hard to bring people together.

He was also deeply challenged: in his personal life with his health, in his relationships with Eleanor and others, and in living through the rise of the Third Reich and the start of World War II. If you’d like to know how the famous Day of Infamy speech was crafted, you can read about it here in our National Archives. You can also read the entire transcript of the speech here at Time Magazine.

Iconic moments often bring forth iconic speeches like this. Of course, the speech itself isn’t the point.

The point is how we move forward together after pain and violence. Jesus has a unique approach to this in his final words to the Disciples in the Gospel of Matthew. Instead of telling then what to do, or how or who to do it for, he simply reminds them: I will be with you. His presence in the face of tension and hurt was his greatest gift, and you are the recipient of the same.