December 7, 2008 — 8:43 PM
The Word Made Flesh: PEACE
Text: Isaiah 40:1-11
Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. These are words given to each Sunday of Advent. They are, therefore, themes that are often explored during Advent. And, following suit, they are the themes that we are exploring together through our sermon series for this Advent season.
Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. These are small words with big meanings. They are words that get thrown around a lot in lofty rhetoric and in motivational speaking because they are positive words that are open-ended allowing the listeners to fill in meaning for themselves.
But what do these words really mean? Because they are small words pointing to big ideas, it’s hard to know exactly what they mean. They are more concepts than concrete ideas. They are rather fuzzy around the edges making it hard to pin them down.
Today we are going to try to do exactly that, at least somewhat, with the word peace. And we’re not going to stop there. We’re also going to explore a companion word given to us by our Scripture reading: comfort.
Let’s do a bit of group work on defining these two terms. Maybe by working together we’ll have more success at coming to some understanding of what these fuzzy words mean. Let’s deal first with the term “Peace.” How would you define it? What exactly is it? What makes up peace? What makes it exist for people?
[get comments from congregation]
According to Dictionary.com peace is:
1. the normal, non-warring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world
2. an agreement or treaty between warring or antagonistic nations, groups, etc. to end hostilities and abstain from further fighting
3. a state of mutual harmony
4. freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.
5. a state of tranquility or serenity
Often when we think of peace we think of it as the absence of war. But if we look at these definitions, it is so much more than that. The first three definitions here deal mainly in the realm of the absence of war or conflict. But look at the last two. Those both deal with inner peace. Something that is definitely made harder for people who are involved in wars but something that is not necessarily connected to war.
Those last two definitions can seem like a luxury to many who are struggling to meet the demands of living every day. Struggles like finding meaningful work, or keeping that work in these tough economic times. Or struggles like paying for the rising cost of health care and education. Or struggles like trying to save for the future while also providing for the costs of today.
When people are so preoccupied with these types of struggles, they often are far from the freedom of mind from annoyance, distraction, and anxiety. And, I’d say it’s fair to guess that when people are in the midst of such struggles they are not experiencing a sense of tranquility or serenity.
So, from our definitions, we see that peace is both external and internal. And while people have been able to find ways of having inner peace in the midst of situations that are anything but peaceful, I believe that both external and internal peace are needed to have the real peace – the shalom – that God wants for all of creation. And, I would also argue that external peace isn’t truly possible until inner peace is real for all parties involved.
Okay. Now let’s look at the term “comfort.” It is the opening word in our text for today. It is a command given twice by God who is looking out for God’s people. How would you define comfort? As we see from our passage for today it can be used as a verb. But can also be used as a noun. What actions constitute comfort? What do we do to comfort others? And what is comfort? What does it feel like? What makes us feel comforted or comfortable?
[get comments from the congregation]
Again drawing on Dictionary.com, comfort as a verb is described as:
1. to soothe, console, or reassure; to bring cheer to
2. to make physically comfortable
As a noun, comfort can mean:
1. relief in affliction; consolation, solace
2. feeling of relief or consolation
3. a state of ease and satisfaction of bodily wants with freedom from pain
These are mainly actions that one party does to or for another party. Or something that one gets from something external. Do you see overlap between a person having or feeling peace and the action of being or giving comfort? Have you experienced comforting from someone or something else that has given you a sense of peace? Can you think of a time when you were comforted? What was done or said to comfort you? Or was it just someone’s presence that gave you comfort?
[get comments from congregation]
It is entirely possible for people to experience peace without having been comforted by someone or something else. But peace is often brought about by an act of comforting. Some word or sound can still inner turmoil and leave a person free from annoyance, distraction, and anxiety.
For me, one of my favorite things to do when I am feeling anxious is to go and walk or run on the beach. Looking out over the seemingly unending expanse of the water and hearing the powerful crashing of waves reminds me that God is at work in this world although I may not be able to see how. I am reassured by this activity that God, who created the world in the beginning, continues to create it now. And will not quit creating it until the new heaven and the new earth have come and we are living with God for eternity. Being at the beach reminds me that God, who is so much bigger than anything I can imagine, is at work righting the wrongs of this life and working towards a day when all will live in true peace and harmony.
I will add this shell to our Advent Candle table to help us remember that our God is that God who creates and who rights injustices.
We see from our Scripture passage for today that that was something that the Israelite people needed to be reminded of as well. They were struggling to understand how they were still God’s people when Jerusalem, God’s holy city, had been destroyed and they had been scattered throughout the Babylonian empire. They were left wondering if there was any source of comfort left for a people stripped of self-defense, vulnerable before their captors, and left bitter as they mourned in a foreign land.
So God sent a prophet to give the people words of comfort. Words that reminded them that God is at work in the world to right the injustices and bring shalom – a deep and abiding peace – to all of creation.
Listen again to the words in verses 3 and 4 that brought that comfort to the people.
[read verses 3 and 4]
The way for the people had gotten all off course. Difficulties of all sorts had gotten in their way of being God’s people. They were scattered throughout the Babylonian kingdom and they were suffering oppression as servants and slaves. The way seemed anything but straight or smooth. And it seemed that God was no where to be seen.
But these words from the prophet tell the people that God is coming and the way will be straightened back out and things will be put right once again. No mountain would be too big for God to overcome. No valley too deep for God to climb out of. Not even rough or rugged ground would hold God back.
The prophet was telling the people these things because they were beginning to lose their faith in the God of Abraham , Isaac, and Jacob, the God of their ancestors. In the chaos of their new living situation, they were slipping into cynicism and despair, believing that life was driven by arbitrary forces rather than by a loving God who remains true to a universal plan of justice.
God, speaking through the prophet, counters those beliefs. God reminds the people that God works in and through human history. God cares. God does not abandon God’s own beloved creation. And with these words, God invites all who hear to join in the restoration of the world to a realm of universal justice and shalom.
It is God who brings about peace and justice for all of creation, but we are called, as the Israelite people also were called, to be co-creators with God in that restorative work of justice. Our call comes in verse 9. Listen to it again.
[read verse 9]
God wants deep and abiding peace for all of creation. And we are to shout that from the mountain tops. These are comforting words. But they need to more than just words. For this deep external and internal peace to exist, there must be justice in this world. And that does not come easily. If it did, we wouldn’t have the problems that we do today. Nor would the world have had the problems it has had throughout its history.
I was recently pointed to an excellent article by the Christian philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff entitled “How Social Justice Got to Me and Why It Never Left.” In it, Wolterstorff gets to the heart of why struggles continue to arise around the globe. He says:
"… each party has a narrative that it tells, and in that narrative, each party is always the righteous victim, never the victimizer. Each party first downplays the violence that it has perpetrated, and then insists that such modest violence as it has perpetrated was nothing more than just recompence for an injustice done to it. Each party responds justly to breaches of primary justice but never itself perpetrates any such breaches…. I have come to believe [says Wolterstorff] that, in cases of conflict, until the narratives begin to converge, until each party admits that it has wronged the other and not just administered appropriate retributive punishment, there can be no peace."
It’s always easier to point the finger at another, to point out their faults and their violent acts, than to point the finger at ourselves. But that is not how we reach true peace with one another. That is not how we find true peace for ourselves. We have to come together and understand each other’s pain and how we have contributed to it before real peace can be attained.
God calls us to be co-creators in bringing peace to God’s world. God commands us to bring comfort to God’s people. How will we respond?
I’d like to mix things up a bit in the service tonight. I want to incorporate our prayers of the people in the sermon time. I have placed slips of paper around the sanctuary on which I encourage you to write down prayer requests that you hear lifted up. I encourage you to then take this paper with you and keep it close during the week. Re-read it often. Remember these requests and the person making it, and lift them both to God asking God hold them and care for them.
I will be leading us in a bidding prayer. I will start at the global level and gradually narrow the focus until we are offering prayers for ourselves. Please call out names or places or tell of situations that you would like us to hold in prayer during this week. This will be an eyes wide open prayer so that we can see one another and see the paper on which we write the petitions.
Let us pray. God we have gathered here today and have heard your words of comfort and peace from the prophet Isaiah. We have heard your invitation to join you in being co-creators of this peace. And so, we lift to you now names of people and places that are in need of your love and your comfort and those who have joys that we offer to you in gratitude.
First, God, we are aware of places in this world that are in deep need of your love and peace. We pray for them now….
And we also bring you prayers for our nation…
Please hear our prayers of concern for our state of California…
And we lift to you the concerns that we have for the Bay Area…
We also pray for the neighborhoods where we live…
And we lift to you the joys and concerns of our family and friends…
And finally, God, we offer prayers of joy and concern for ourselves…
All these prayers we lift to you, O God, creator, comforter, and sustainer of all of creation, knowing that you hear us when we pray. For that we are truly grateful. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught his disciples to pray saying...
Lord’s Prayer
