"A Hope for Peace"
Sermon Presented November 28, 2004
Advent I
Isaiah 2:1-5
These were some front-page headlines from the Journal Sentinel last week. Monday: 5 Hunters Killed, 3 Hurt in Rampage, NBA benches 9 players in brawl, and Iraq sets election date amid violence, threats of boycott. Tuesday: 6th victim dies from Sunday's shooting and Sunni cleric assassinated in Iraq. Wednesday: Accused shooter says he was fired at first, Homicide connection explored, and U.S.-led raids target area south of Baghdad. In each newspaper, these stories took from 3/4 to 7/8 of the front page. When we continue to read of war, violence and murder, our minds become anesthetized to the accumulating crises. We have no hope for peace.
But this isn't the way we want the world to be, is it? We would prefer a world of peace and goodwill, but we really don't expect to see it that way. We expect the news to be primarily of war and not peace, despair and not hope. We desire peace, but we believe it is as elusive as equality and justice. We blame a lack of peace on the diversity of our backgrounds, cultures and ideals and on power-hungry people. Most people don't even expect peace in their homes, with their extended families, at church and in the work place.
The prophet Isaiah spoke of a future time of peace when nations would
follow God and allow God to arbitrate their differences. He spoke to
the people of Judah - to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, its capitol.
He spoke of a time when God's people would learn God's ways, walk in
those ways, and turn weapons of war into agricultural tools. Could he
possibly mean in that part of the world - in the Middle East? He sounds
like a dreamer to me - someone who is divorced from reality! Let's look
at what the prophet wrote 2600 years ago. These words offer a hope for
peace that continues to elude us.
Isaiah 2:1-5 (read text)
The architects of the United Nations building were thinking of this text when they inscribed the words of Isaiah 2:4 on the walls of the U. N. Plaza in NY. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Even with rockets being launched and suicide bombers detonating their explosives, this text encourages us to hope and work for peace.
But, do you believe these words from Isaiah? I know you want to believe them, but do you really believe that all nations will stream to God so that God can teach us God's ways and we can walk in God's paths? When I entered that last sentence into my computer, I noticed that the word "paths" is plural. I think that sometimes we imagine that there is only one path, and everyone who belongs to God walks in lockstep together on that path. It's liberating to know that we don't walk in lockstep with anyone else and that following God will take different paths for different people. We can't judge the walk of another.
What can we glean from this text to help us move from despair to hope and to encourage others along God's way? We aren't government leaders and we have no influence on United Nations actions. However, each of us has a circle of influence and we can work to change our own lives. We can also maintain a hope for peace and pray for that end.
The prophet invites us to learn from God so that we can walk in the light of the Lord. When I read these words, my mind went immediately to the anthem the choir sang a couple of weeks ago: We Are Walking in the Light of God. The melody is lilting! The words are profound! But the journey for those who are called by Christ's name is difficult. It's difficult to be upbeat! It's difficult to maintain a sense of hope in a world of darkness and despair. It's difficult to walk in God's light.
When we walk in the light of God, what do we learn from the Lord's instruction? We learn that the way of God is one of peace and not war. The message of our text is to change weapons of war into farming tools. The light of God leads us toward peace. Then why don't we see peace?
One reason is that we don't want instruction, and we want peace on our own terms. We prefer to do things our own way. We want to win and not compromise. We enjoy the power that comes from being on top. We become angry with those who thwart our ambitions. We aren't open to God's arbitration and thus, we depart from the path of God's light.
Because we personally aren't responsible for peace on a national or global scale, I'm not going to speculate on the path our government takes. And we know there are crazies out there who shoot hunters and become suicide bombers. What I want to place before you are ways that we can bring peace to the world where we live.
Violence is the opposite of peace. By violence, I mean more than the physical savagery that makes the front page of the newspaper. Far more common are assaults on the human spirit that we may not even recognize as acts of violence. Violence is present when parents insult children; when teachers demean students; when supervisors treat employees as disposable means to economic ends; when physicians treat patients as objects; when people condemn gays and lesbians "in the name of God;" when racists live by the belief that people with a different skin color are less human than they; when spouses abuse their mates emotionally; when church people attack the closely held theology of another. And just as physical violence may lead to bodily harm or death, spiritual and emotional violence cause death in other forms--the death of a sense of self, of trust in others, of risk taking on behalf of creativity, of commitment to the common good. (Parker Palmer A Hidden Wholeness, p. 169) Learning the ways of God entails learning to model peace and not violence. We are responsible to bring peace where we live. This is an attainable goal. This is a reason to hope.
Most of us live our lives in the home or classroom or workplace and what we do here matters. Our choices, for better or for worse, contribute to what happens in the world at large. Even if we do no more than to acquiesce to small acts of violence, we become desensitized to it, embracing the popular insanity that violence is "only normal" and passively assenting to it. (Ibid. Palmer p. 168) The way of peace moves us to confront these acts of violence.
Why do we seek the presence of God? One reason is to learn God's ways as guidance for walking in God's paths. God won't teach us pointless facts, but God will teach us how to live. To receive a word from God necessitates continual listening. It requires time and effort and a trust in the process.
How do we find God? The instruction is to go up the mountain to the Lord's house. It takes effort to climb a mountain. It takes training and perseverance. But unless we make an effort to be in God's presence and receive God's instruction - unless we climb the mountain - we can't walk in God's paths. In order to live peacefully, we must receive instruction from God and then follow it.
We don't need to make a journey to a temple on Mt. Zion, but we are called to find those places where we can seek God's instruction. It may be a favorite chair in your home, your church sanctuary, or a Lake Michigan beach that brings you the best sense of God's presence. Wherever that place is for you, it is your responsibility to seek God's instruction, and to do that, we make a journey. We must find our own personal mountain of God and make regular sojourns there. We must receive help in order to live a life of peace.
We need light to move in safety. Even the blind woman who lives in the apartment next door to me needs some light to walk the halls in the evening or go outside to the parking area where she counts the yellow lines. She receives just enough light to move in safety.
God says: "House of Jacob, come let us walk in the light of the Lord." "Roundy Church, come let us walk in the light of the Lord." "Larry and Ed and Mary and Betty and Jo Ellen, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord."
If we have no expectation that things will ever be different, we lose hope. We don't give God credit for being able to change the persons we are in conflict with or us. Wishing something will change or even praying for change won't necessarily make it happen. But we won't see any change unless we imagine it and believe it is possible - unless we seek God's help. Peace doesn't come when we abandon relationships, even though that may be necessary at times.
As we walk in the light of God, God will show us ways of peace in our families, our neighborhood, our church, our clubs and our associations. When we model peace in our relationships, we become instruments of God's peace.
One way to peace is to allow God to arbitrate our differences. But for arbitration to work, both sides must come to the process in good faith and be willing to discern God's way. This can work in some families and churches, but it isn't feasible in most cases because people don't trust that God will be in control of the process.
On September 9, 1997, in Washington D. C., a sculpture titled "Guns into Plowshares" was installed. This 16-foot-high steel plow blade consists of 3000 handguns welded together to form the distinctive shape of the well-known farm implement. The artist and her son worked for two and a half years with the Metro Police Department to mold handguns that had been surrendered by local residents into instruments of peace. (Christian Century, November 16, 2004, p. 21.) This statement for peace is available for all to see.
I'm not artist or sculptor, but I can also make a statement for peace and so can you. The statement comes from how we live. Our prayer can be: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is despair, let me sow hope! Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord so we can learn the ways of peace from God. When you make that journey, your life and the lives of those around you will change. Let's try it and see!
