Isaiah 11.1-10; Matthew 3.1-12
The world’s a bit of a mess, I’d say …
But, then, it’s been that way, in varying degrees, ever since Cain killed Abel …
So, what do we do?
Do we wash our hands of it all? Circle the wagons and protect our own? Surrender our ideals? Hunker down in our little part of the world? Pray, and hope for the best?
Here in this place, and in churches all around the world … churches - great and small … we pray for peace, we preach and sing, Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
Last week, it was hope … hope grounded in the promises and love of God … centered in the crucifixion of Jesus, a reminder that life can be hard, really hard, even for God …
It’s no cakewalk for God … to be God.
To right the wrongs … and keep the light shining … and it’s our task, as well … in concert with God and all the angels of heaven, we sing:
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!
But no one ever says it’s easy to be people of peace …
Just before Thanksgiving, the Disney Chanel had the last episode of Andor … great series … people on the fringe of the Empire, trying their level-headed best to make a life, to make a living … but in the end, the Empire becomes so cruel, so evil, so desperate to rule, no one can rest easy; everyone is threatened … so the work begins, the resistance, the Rebellion, star wars, to find a better way.
It’s a big story, that fires our imagination … could we be so brave? Could we endure? Would we make it? That’s what big stories do: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, A Tale of Two Cities, The Night Before Christmas … stories that call us to goodness and greatness.
We have a story, too … a big story … stretching all the way back to the moment God said, Let there light.
Paul the Apostle tells us: We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
From the dawn of time, to the end of it … from the first words of creation, to the last trumpet … the story, the work, the love of God!
The prophet crying out: Prepare the way of the LORD … make his paths straight.
Our story is never just “my story,” or “your story” or the story of Westminster … our story belongs to the ages and reaches for the stars.
A huge story, deeply personal … in every generation, in every age, it comes to those just like us … heed the call of Christ, love the things of God, work for peace.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
And what is peace? Is peace merely the absence of conflict or war?
An absence of those things would be terrific …
But there’s more to the word peace …
The Hebrew word Shalom says it well: to make something whole, complete … everything in its place, and place for everything.
The flourishing of society … the welfare of all …
Life is not a game to played to the death - winner take all!
Life is a shared effort, to give and to receive.
To lift up the fallen, help the weary, carry those who cannot walk, bless all in their need - the lady at the well, the beggar by the Pool of Shalom … the lost sheep and the Prodigal Son.
We’re all in this together, with Christ … we weep with those who weep; we rejoice those who rejoice.
Peace is never an easy road … Jesus says, My peace I give unto you … and in the next breath, Jesus tells us of a cross to bear, a burden to carry, a tough road to travel.
Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Peace-makers … deeply personal … peace with God … Paul the Apostle says, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ …
So we can move on - forgetting the past, says Paul … forgetting the worst of it, and, yes, forgetting the best of it, too …
The worst is set aside so we don’t drown in a sea of regret …
But here’s a part we all too often ignore: setting aside the best of it.
The best of it? you ask!
Yes, to free the future … to free the future from our achievements.
From the backward look rather than future adventure.
A wise pundit once said: The greatest cause of failure? Success!
In business, in church, in government, personal life nothing worse than letting yesterday’s success set tomorrow’s agenda.
The writer, Ann Patchett, tells a good story about her and a friend, renting a room on the desolate coast of Scotland, watching “… in horror as the owner sat and pulled apart the most beautiful sweater I’d ever seen, winding the yarn back into balls. ‘I wanted a new sweater,’ she said while we sat their aghast, unable to save it. ‘I’ve had this one for years.’”
If we want something new, we may have to unravel the old - and maybe that’s what death is all about … God unravels the old, winds it up in a ball, and knits something new.
God is always the God of tomorrow … the past offer counsel, but the future demands new blueprints.
Peace-makers are badly needed.
The rising tides of:
anti-semitism …
Christian nationalism …
Racism …
Gun violence …
Climate change …
Homelessness …
Homophobia & Transphobia …
It’s not easy to build bridges when some folks are determined to blow ‘em up.
It’s not easy to offer peace, when some are eager to live by the fist.
It’s not easy to tell the truth when folks find comfort in lies.
It’s not easy to lean into the future if we’re strangled by the past.
And of our own shortcomings? … sometimes we’re the problem.
We talk amidst the devastation
of abandoned cites
the wrath of men
searching for peace.
The writer and comedian, Ruby Wax, says: “So this is the human condition: we’re living longer, getting taller, and are a push of a finger away from every other person on the planet and yet we do not know how to run ourselves.”
Peacemaking … it takes work, skill, patience, humor, humility, a willingness to be misunderstood, and a willingness to bear another’s pain, lots of forgiveness, honesty, starting all over again … and the capacity - to keep on dreaming!
Where are the peace-makers?
They’re right here … in these pews, down the street and around the corner, and all around the world …
Women and men of good conscience, who honor God.
Or maybe they have no religious sensibilities at all, but, by golly, they know right from wrong, they know the lie from the truth … they’re not deceived by glittery things; they’re not power hungry … they look for the gold, the real stuff, and they find it …
Where are the peace-makers?
A special call out to the story-tellers of our day … poets, novelists, script writers … costumers, set-designers & cinematographers; singers and musicians, location scouts and gaffers … on stage and screen, on the page and with the blog … those who help us understand ourselves, who show us the world, in ways both surprising and challenging …
Peace-makers are everywhere … and they’re hard at work.
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
Hallelujah and Amen!
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