12.8.24 "Peace!" - Advent 2 - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Malachi 3.1-4; Luke 3.1-6

Welcome to the Season of Advent … 

four Sundays to Christmas … 

four Sundays to remember the foundations of our faith.

Hope, peace, joy, and love.

Our word today: Peace.

What is peace? How can we human beings live together so that we can actually stop destroying one another, and build the better world?

Peace in the world, and peace within our own souls.

Blessed are the peacemakers, says Jesus, for they will be called children of God.

The Hebrew word for peace - Shalom -says it well: to make something whole, complete … everything in its place, and place for everything, working together, as God intended.

The flourishing of society …

The prophet Micah says: They shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.

Not just for some, but for everyone!

Life is a shared effort:

Lift up the fallen, 

Help the weary, 

Carry those who cannot walk.

Care, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, the second chance, the third chance … respect the needs of another … the physical needs so many have, the emotional needs all of us have … 

To pay close attention to those in need - the defenseless, the weak, the minorities … because every society has those who love to bully … and right now we have more than our share of bullies.

A prominent politician says: immigrants are poisoning the blood of our nation…. They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just to three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.

Poisoning our blood?

What does the Bible say? 

The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself …

“Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.”

Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.

Coming at it from another angle, Paul the Apostle writes: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ. 

In Christ, boundaries are erased … in Christ, borders are crossed … the dividing walls of hostility, says Paul, have been broken down.

If ever there has been a time for the church to turn to the foundations of our faith, it is now!

 We open the pages of Scripture and read with care … we consider what others have done in trying times, when faced with insurmountable odds … we search the pages of the past, to learn how we might cope with today’s challenges, and chart a way into the future. 

Ann Patchett, gifted writer, recalls a time when she and a friend rented a room on the coast of Scotland … gathered in the sitting room, one evening, watching “… in horror as the owner sat and pulled apart the most beautiful sweater [she’d] ever seen, winding the yarn back into balls. ‘I wanted a new sweater,’ she said…. ’I’ve had this one for years.’”

Another fine writer, Linda Hogan, a Chickasaw poet and essayist, in her book about the Osage Indian murders in Oklahoma at the turn of the 20th Century … 

One of her characters  says I’ve written another chapter for the Bible … it goes like this:

Honor father sky and mother earth. Look after everything. Life resides in all things, even the motionless stones. Take care of the insects for they have their place, and the plants and trees for they feed the people. Everything on earth, every creature and plant wants to live without pain, so do them no harm. Treat all people in creation with respect; all is sacred, especially the bats. 

Live gently with the land. We are one with the land. We are part of everything in our world, part of the roundness and cycles of life. The world does not belong to us. We belong to the world. And all life is sacred.

Pray to the earth. Restore your self and voice. Remake your spirit, so that it is in harmony with the rest of nature and the universe. Keep peace with all your sisters and brothers. Humans who minds are healthy desire such peace and justice.

I once knew a man who said about everything, “My daddy used to say …”

He had one smart daddy, no doubt … but I always wanted to say to him, “What do you say?”

Whatever your mothers and fathers may have said, the question remains: What do you say?

I think of the great Notre Dame of Paris … burned down and left in ruins … but the world pulled together … the world knows it need Notre Dame … so the money pours in, and today it’s open … not quite the same, but it’s Notre Dame … a place to remind us of the best things in life … a place to remind us: Look up, if you want to know how to live!

Who are those who rebuild the burned down cathedrals?

Who are those who unravel the old and knit the new?

Who are those who add fresh chapters to the Bible?

Who are the peacemakers?

They’re right here … in these pews, down the street, around the corner … if you look, you’ll see them … if you listen, you’ll hear them … when you look within your own soul, you will hear Christ calling you … your conscience will be stirred, your soul empowered … the Peace of God becomes your peace, my peace … it’s Jesus who says: 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Children of God.

And so it is, the Second Sunday of Advent, 2024.

Amen and Amen!

12.4.22 "Advent 2: Peace!"

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!

December 4, 2011 - "Don't Be Afraid" - Adent 2

Isaiah 40.1-11

A minister asked a little girl: “Do you know what's in the Bible?”

She replied: “Yes. I think I know everything that's in it.”

“You do?” said the minster, “Well tell me.”

“Okay,” she said. “There's a picture of my brother's girlfriend, a ticket from the dry cleaners, one of my curls, and a Pizza Hut coupon.”

Well, there is a lot in the Bible, that’s for sure.

Many years ago, a Sunday morning Bible Study - I recounted the story of King David’s adultery with Bathsheba … and David’s plot to murder Bathsheba’s husband so David could marry her.

One of the class members suddenly slammed her fist on the table and shouted at me, “Where did you get that filthy story?”

She had never heard it, either in Sunday School or in preaching … she was shaken when she learned that it’s in the Bible.

The Bible is a big book, big stories, big ideas … the story doesn’t get any bigger than that of Isaiah - a book of multiple writers spanning at least 200 years of rough and tumble history.

In the 40^th chapter, we hear the immortal words, Comfort, O comfort,my people, says your God.

Comfort - Israel’s time of suffering in Babylon has come to end … the days of exile are done … Israel is homeward bound.

Comfort, O comfort, my people.

The text begs the question, “Why comfort?”

So that Israel can be comfortable?

Kick back and relax?

At ease in Zion?

Comfort for the sake of courage! 

There’s a road to be built -

A world to be shaped.

God’s comfort give courage - press ahead, weather the storm, withstand criticism, and even face death.

Israel had been freed from Exile to continue the work it had formerly neglected.

Israel had failed … and paid a heavy price … the land ravaged, the temple destroyed … a hundred years in exile.

Comfort, O Comfort, my people … 

Now is the time to return home.

Pick up the pieces.

Regain your composure.

Take up the task given to your Father Abraham and your Mother Sarah a long time ago - build God’s Highway.

Raise up the valleys and flatten the mountains. 

Is Isaiah talking geography?

A real road, a freeway through Sepulveda Pass?

For commentary on Isaiah, turn to Mary’s song (Luke 1.46ff)

With Jesus in her womb, Mary sings to Elizabeth: God has shown strength with his arm … scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations … pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly … filled the hungry with good things … sent the rich away empty-handed.

Jesus spells out his ministry in his hometown sermon - from Isaiah 61: The Spirit of the LORD is upon me … to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, liberate the oppressed, proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor.

The year of the LORD’S favor is the clue … the Year of Jubilee [Leviticus 25]- every 50 years … the land remains fallow - no sowing or reaping; slaves set free, debts cancelled, land acquired as collateral in loans returned to the original families - the Year of the LORD’S favor, a fresh start for everyone …

When Jesus preaches about the poor, he truly means The Poor - those who have fallen on hard times; with his coming, the inauguration of Jubilee … Good News - a fresh start for everyone, a second chance at life - valleys lifted up; mountains brought down … thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.

Release to the prisoners, says Jesus … who are the prisoners? 

In the time of Jesus, prisons were full of revolutionaries, rebels, brigands and thieves - everyone Rome considered a potential theat - two of them were crucified with Jesus, and one of them, Barabas by name, was released by Pilate.

Prisons were also full of Debtors …  

Can we see why Jesus uses the word “debt” and “debtors” in his Prayer?

Some English traditions use the word “trespass,” but the Greek language of debt is clear … a double meaning for sure - the debt of  sin, of course, but also “financial debt” - incurred in the unjust systems of the day - when the income gap widened, folks on the bottom didn’t have a chance - debt grew rampant in Palenstine - the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

100 years after Jesus, a revolt against Rome and the Jewish establishment in Jerusalem; rebels stormed the temple, burned all the financial records of debt and ownership.

Because the temple was the center of Judah’s banking system - records of ownership and debt were kept in the Temple; commodities-trading - thousands of sheep, lambs, bulls, goats and doves and tons of grain - only a little was sacrificed - the rest was food for the thousands of Temple employees, and the rest was sold in the markets - the Temple was big business.

When Jesus overturns the money-changing tables, calls them a pack of thieves, he disrupts the financial system of the day - especially during the season of Passover - tens of thousands from all over the Mediterranean world - their money had to be exchanged for Temple currency, so that animals and grain offerings could be purchased.

When Jesus overturns the tables, he makes a clear statement - Israel’s financial system is corrupt - and worse, it uses religion as a cover for its greed - the legal experts who cheat widows out of their homes parade around in long robes and say long prayers … they love to be greeted in the markets and have the best seats at synagogue and banquet [Luke 20.4ff].

Jesus seals his fate … no more tolerance from the authorities - they put up with his preaching and healing, but “don’t disrupt our financial systems.”

Were Jesus to overturn money-changing tables today, where would he do that?'

Would Jesus go to a church and overturn the rummage-sale tables? Would Jesus put the kibosh on a church raffle or a bingo game?

Where would Jesus go to overturn the tables of the money-changers? 

The local bank?

Wall Street?

Isaiah offers comfort; so does Jesus … not to put us to sleep, but to awaken us … comfort for the sake of courage.

The courage to walk with Jesus and build God’s Highway!

Who are the Highway Builders?

I think of England’s Wilberforce - in his conversion, he found the comfort of God, then he met a group abolitionists - and the comfort of God became the Courage of Christ.

Wilberforce took up the cross and began the good fight - great cost, much sorrow, but Wilberforce was a force to be reckoned with, because he had the comfort of God and the courage of Christ …  26 years it took, but in 1807 Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act - ending a brutal, horrible, sin against humanity.

In our own time, Bonhoeffer and Barth stood up against Nazi Germany and called it what it was - an idolatry of nationalism, and the corruption of the church … Nazi flags were raised high in congregations across the land; pastors ended worship with sieg heil and heil Hitler. 

Barth and Bonhoeffer said Nein! No!

We will have none of this.

Barth lost his university job and was sent home to Switzerland; Bonhoeffer lost his life.

Bishop Tutu of South Africa proclaimed the gospel to the high and the mighty, the rich and the powerful, to pastors who didn’t have courage, and to congregations who didn’t want their pastors to have courage … the Bishop proclaimed, and one-by-one, Christians became courageous, stood up tall, to challenge the government, call for justice … the price they paid was steep and serious, but the day finally came when Apartheid ended and a new day dawned for the nation of South Africa.

For decades, churches in the Soviet Bloc bided their time, preached the gospel, broke the bread, and then one day the light of Christ began to dawn powerfully, people picked up the dream of a better world, found their courage, and the Berlin Wall, like the walls of Jericho, came tumbling down.

Just recently, a note from our own Presbyterian World Mission - for 30 years, mission co-worker Doug Baker has been working in Northern Ireland to help local pastors build bridges between the pro-British and pro-Irish factions.

For all of us:

Choose the ways of Christ, a gentle word when tempers flair, yet we must never be afraid of overturning unjust tables.

An apology when we’ve misspoken ourselves … but we must never be afraid of the powers-that-be when they tell us to be quiet, to keep our faith private, and say our prayers like good little boys and girls.

A positive word in the face of negativity, but we must never be afraid to speak up for what’s right … and we learn what’s right when our lives are filled with Jesus.

Growing, learning, serving … to walk with Jesus intelligently, faithfully, truly.

If we’re not striving for the world of Jesus, we’re not living for Jesus - no matter what we believe; no matter what we say … sure, we’ll go to heaven, because God is generous, but here on earth, we’re of little value to the Kingdom of God! If we fail to live what we claim to believe.

The Christian faith is a walk of life, not a book of beliefs.

The Bible says, even Satan believes.

We speak of God, say our prayers, go to church, live a moral life, but unless we build God’s Highway, God says of us: your lips are moving, but your heart is far away from me … 

James writes: Faith without works is dead.

It is our task to prepare the way of the LORD; build God’s Highway - with prayers, personal piety, spiritual discipline, going to church, all of that and more; but what we do on Sunday has to be connected to what we do on Monday - letters written to our representatives, conversations with neighbors; study groups, social-action teams - fill our minds with Jesus, with Isaiah, with God’s call, raise up the valleys; lower the mountains, overturn the tables, name the thieves who steal widows’ homes and amass wealth at everyone’s expense …  the Bible in one hand; the newspaper in the other.

And that’s why God offers us comfort.

For the courage of Christ … the courage to build God’s Highway! 

Are you with me on this?

I know that you are!

Because you are Calvary on the Boulevard!

Amen and Amen!