Weekly Bulletin

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever…..      Isaiah 9:2-7

 

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!      Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)

 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.      John 14:27 

 

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…. Live in harmony with one another…. Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.      Romans 12:14-18

 

 

The world in 2024 seems to be in the midst of many months and years which fit Isaiah’s depiction of “people walking in darkness.”  Because of that, we have chosen to spend this Advent season encouraging one another to focus upon reasons to have hope despite the present “darkness,” and to act upon that hope every day as an investment in the future we wish to inhabit. 

 

On the first Sunday of Advent, we gave consideration to hoping for the key which can unlock that more hopeful future of Light.  It is hoping for a widespread new spiritual awakening (or reawakening) to the reality that God, the eternal Light of the world, is with us, and people can choose to walk in that Light even through the world’s darkness.  Such an awakening will need to begin in each one of us individually, then spread to others through our grateful witness and authentically transformed living.  On the second Sunday of Advent, we saw that if such a new spiritual awakening is genuine, it will of necessity lead to a hoped-for recovery and renewal of a deep sense of spiritual reverence for the Lord.   That reverence arises naturally from an authentic realization of God’s identity as the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists.  It is reverence not only for who he is, but also for his living Presence, for his limitless love, for everything he has already done, and for all he still promises and intends to do. 

 

As this Advent season approached, I asked the members of our Ministry & Oversight (the church’s elders) to tell me what they were hoping for in the upcoming months and years.  Nearly all of them who responded mentioned peace in its various expressions.  They hope for opportunities for ministry that can help people find common ground rather than division, and for an increase of peace and respect in society and the world.  One expressed hope for peace at all levels of relationships, from the interpersonal to the international.  Others hope for an end to violent, disrespectful, dishonest discourse and for increased kindness, generosity, and empathy in both private and public spheres, in order to prepare a more peaceful world for upcoming generations to inhabit.  It is quite clear that all of us in the M&O — and I’m fairly sure most in the church and the society around us — are hoping and longing for peace as we face the changes and challenges of a new year. 

 

King on the Mountain      During our years in Sudan and Uganda, Pam and I often witnessed goats fighting over which one got to stand atop a 4- or 5-foot tall mound of reddish clay that had been piled up by a colony of termites which lived beneath it.  The goats would butt heads, charge at and wallop each other, gang up on the one holding the top spot, then do it all over again when a new goat had seized the “peak.”  It was never clear what made that top spot worth fighting for – there was no food, water, or other reward up there, only a slightly elevated view of landscape that all looked the same anyway.  I know nothing about goat psychology, but those fights sure seemed to be as much about pride and domination as they were about any tangible good – almost human-like.
             For nearly all of our time in Africa, we lived in war zones.  Although there were resources (land, water, minerals) being fought over, at their roots those deadly conflicts were primarily ethnic and tribal in nature — all about pride, and power over those resources.  I remember thinking sometimes that God must see those wasteful, deadly human fights similarly to how we saw those goat battles for the top of the termite mound.  Then in 1994, while we were in the US on home leave to visit our families, genocide broke out in Rwanda, right next door to Uganda.  We remember sitting in the kitchen at my parents’ home two weeks later watching a news program about the horrific killing in Rwanda.  A panel of world-renowned experts – including the US ambassador, a State Department official, and an NGO head with years of experience in the region – discussed the disaster for 45 minutes before agreeing as the show ended that they had no idea how to end the genocide and begin to reestablish peace.  That sometimes sounds eerily similar to assessments of the current wars raging in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Sudan.  I can’t help wondering if it’s the way the Hebrew people felt at the time of Jesus’ birth, too.

The World Jesus Entered       When Jesus was born in Bethlehem (believed to be in about 6 BC by today’s calendars), the Jewish people in Palestine were ruled by military governors of the Roman Empire.  That was after roughly 150 years of exile and servitude at the hands of the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires, then around 400 years of occupation and control by Greek and Roman armies who drove out the Persians.  The prophets’ promises and hopes for the restoration of Jerusalem’s pre-Exile glory and power had not been realized.  Instead, Judea had become a crossroads and battleground for global powers seeking control over ever-larger tracts of Europe, Africa, and the East.  Periodically, groups of Palestinian insurgents formed to try driving out the occupiers, to no avail.  Battles and troop movements did not happen as quickly as in warfare today, but the Hebrew people lived with the constant awareness that they were powerless subjects.  There was no peace, and little hope that the prophets’ words would ever come true.

 

Peace From the Inside Out     Earthly peacemaking is outside in.  It usually involves restraining harmful behavior and negotiating compromises all parties can live with.  That usually involves both armies and diplomats, and it lasts only so long as conditions are honored and no harmful behavior resumes.  Paul wrote in Galatians 4:4-5 that to offer his people true peace, “in the fullness of time, God sent his Son.…” as a powerless infant born into a seemingly scandalous family situation, to be raised in relative poverty and obscurity.  He was Emmanuel, God incarnate in human flesh.  He was God whose very essence, according to I John 4:16, is agape, sacrificial, reconciling love.  The peace he offers begins in one’s heart and soul, then works its way out into transformed behavior.  Receiving Christ’s peace begins by allowing him to remove from us the reasons we resort to violence.  It requires spiritual humility and devotion, not generals and diplomats, and it is eternal rather than temporary.  Surely that is the reason Isaiah wrote that Messiah would be called the Prince of Peace, and the angels proclaimed “peace on earth” when they told the shepherds he had been born. 

 

Jesus’ Mission of Peace      As the Prince of Peace, one of Jesus’ roles was/is to represent the King by revealing to us the essence and nature of his love for us, and his gift of living at peace with God.  Colossians 1:19-20 states that “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”  Numerous Old Testament passages describe God as “forgiving, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love” (Nehemiah 9:17), all traits of our Creator who longs to welcome us into a relationship of peace with himself, if only we will seek him. 
             The Prince of Peace also seeks to teach us to live at peace with ourselves.  Those who have spiritually awakened to his love, and have begun to grow in reverence for the Lord, will begin to see themselves as God sees them, as his beloved child whom he loved enough to forgive and redeem through the cross.  Jesus meant it when he told the disciples (and us through them), “I have called you friends….” (John 15:14-16).  That is never an excuse for us to stop growing in faithful discipleship.  It’s just an assurance of his Spirit’s help to us in that quest, and of the eternal value he places on our lives. 
             Another crucial part of Jesus’ mission is to teach us to live in peace with one another.  Jesus made that a priority in his training of the disciples, reminding them often that they were to love one another just as he had loved them.  He emphasized the importance of the Old Testament instruction to love their neighbor with the same commitment with which they loved themselves.  When challenged on that, he told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) to make sure they understood that “their neighbor” included even their supposed enemy.  Paul emphasized that same point in Romans 12:9-21, quoting Proverbs 25’s instruction to provide food and drink even to one’s hungry and thirsty adversary.  Seeing that of God even in enemies is again part of the spiritual vision of the pure in heart.

 

Our Mission of Peace      Jesus’ seventh Beatitude states “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).  That is a call to help others to be reconciled with God and with themselves so they can begin living in peace with one another.  Jesus came to earth as the Prince of Peace, and he sends his followers out as his sisters and brothers to carry on that ministry in his name and in his love.  Only those who have truly awakened spiritually, and have reverently welcomed his Spirit to fill their lives, will be equipped to effectively express his love – his sacrificial, merciful, truthful and graceful, unconditional, compassionate agape — into the world’s polarized shooting wars, shouting wars, and culture wars in the months and years ahead.  If we observe this Advent season hoping for peace in the world, it is incumbent upon us also to work for peace in the world.  We can do that together by heeding George Fox’s 1651 challenge of “living in the virtue of that Life and power that takes away the occasion for all war.”  We can heed Peter’s advice to “turn from evil and do good….and seek peace and pursue it” (I Peter 3:11).  We can tell others of God’s desire for them to be reconciled with him, and live in ways that help them find that peace.  Let’s all be his ambassadors.

 

 

 Queries for Worship-Sharing and Reflection

1)  What is the work for peace which we should be doing as 2025 begins?  How can peace be pursued (in Peter’s words)?

2)  What are your greatest concerns regarding the lack of peace in our society?  In the world?

3)  What hopeful signs of peace and God’s love have you observed around you lately?

4)  Are Paul’s instructions and expectations in Romans 12:9-21 realistic, or even humanly possible?  Why, or why not?

5)  What is it about Christ’s presence that facilitates peace?  What is it about his perceived absence that enables chaos?