Peace Beyond Understanding
“Peace Beyond Understanding”
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C, December 23, 2018
Micah 5:2-5a Luke 1:39-55
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Pastor Andy Kennaly
Jose Luis Casal is the Director for the World Mission department of the Presbyterian Mission Agency for our denomination. The offices of General Assembly are located in Louisville, KY. The work of this important part of our connection church is highlighted in the denomination’s magazine, Presbyterians Today from the December 20, 2018 issue. The article is called, “‘Blessed are the peacemakers’, Mission co-workers persevere in troubled world.” It’s written by Kathy Melvin, who reminds us that Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Very rarely, though, do we stop and think of who these men and women are, let alone the challenges that they face, as they work to bring peace to the most turbulent places around the world.” She writes about various places, sharing stories, for example, of pain from South Sudan, saying a young boy named “Joseph lost his prized goats when he was forced to flee South Sudan. These children participated in a trauma-healing workshop with mission co-worker Nancy Smith-Mather. Mission co-workers Shelvis and Nancy Smith-Mather accompany global partners in several refugee camps, offering spiritual support and trauma healing to those displaced by the violence in South Sudan. As parents [themselves] of three young children, the couple find the stories of pain told by the children particularly difficult to hear. Nancy Smith-Mather talks about Joseph, 10 years old but not much bigger than her 5-year-old son. Participating in her workshop at Bidi Bidi refugee camp, in Uganda where many South Sudanese were displaced, Joseph became teary-eyed as he talked about leaving behind his most prized possessions, three goats that he had carefully cared for and loved. Many others have experienced far worse — watching parents and other relatives die, houses and crops being burned and women being sexually assaulted. The children yearn for school, church and playing with friends. The adults want to go back home, raise their children, grow food and live in peace.
A peace agreement signed in June 2018 remains fragile. The South Sudanese are hopeful but cautious in believing this will be a lasting peace. In March 2016, the United Nations estimated that more than 50,000 people had been killed in the ongoing civil war, but in September 2018, a State Department-funded study estimated the number at 382,000. This new estimate put the proportionate number of deaths on par with the civil war in Syria, where more than 500,000 are estimated to have died in a significantly larger population.
In the final session of a trauma-healing workshop at Bidi Bidi, the children were asked to think about their dreams and what their happy lives might look like. In a testimony to newfound hope, Joseph, the little boy who had cried over the loss of his beloved goats, was enthusiastic.
“I want to work hard to finish school, make money and buy more goats and then I want to become a teacher,” he said. Before departing, Nancy Smith-Mather told the children that they were part of something much larger. [She told them,] ‘Each of you has a unique purpose in the body. God allows me to play the role of a messenger, to carry stories from one part of the church to another. I will tell churches in the U.S. about you, about a group of children who have gone through many difficulties, yet they are helping each other to heal, and allowing God to give them hope. Your testimonies will inspire the followers of Christ in my country to listen to each other and to help each other heal,’ she said.
“Although South Sudan is considered one of the most dangerous places on earth, it is just one of many. Despite the danger, Presbyterian mission co-workers around the world work with global partners to foster peace and healing. Jose Luis Casal, the Director of World Mission, says “To build peace and advocate for justice to achieve that peace are what we work for daily. Our partners are the actors and protagonists of those efforts, and many of our mission co-workers, through their prayers and actions, are humble and silent accompaniers,”
“Another Mission co-worker, Sarah Henken, serves as a peace initiative promoter with the Presbyterian Church of Colombia and as the site coordinator for the Young Adult Volunteer program in Colombia. Her deep concern for injustices began in grade school. She clearly remembers spending her allowance in second and third grade on books about slavery in the U.S. and about victims of the Holocaust.
She says, “Working with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship taught me to understand myself as a practitioner of nonviolent action. I began to see myself as part of a deep and tenacious tradition in our church. It was an invitation to continual self-reflection and growth, and to put my beliefs into concrete action.”
Henken’s been involved with Colombia’s peace process since she moved there five years ago. “A peace agreement signed in 2016 ended the 50-year armed conflict between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). […] The process now is focused on the former FARC guerrillas’ making restitution to victims and forging a path without weapons. “My friend and colleague the Rev. Diego Higuita spoke in a public ceremony of reconciliation and restitution last July in his hometown of Dabeiba. At the ceremony, a former commander of FARC asked forgiveness from a woman named Yolanda Pinto, the director of Colombia’s victim reparations program and a victim herself, whose husband was killed by FARC,” she said. More than 900 victims of the conflict attended the ceremony and received long-awaited compensation from the government. But the path to peace is rarely a smooth one. […] Within hours [of the ceremony, Mission co-worker, Sarah Henken] received a copy of a letter being circulated by right-wing militias naming individuals and organizations, including close allies of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia, who were being threatened because of their work for peace and reconciliation. Assassinations of human-rights workers and community leaders who are working toward justice and land rights have increased since the peace agreement was signed in 2016. Henken says, “But what else can we do but continue to follow the path of peace and work for reconciliation? It’s a bit like walking a labyrinth: The path may seem to carry us where we don’t want to go, but if we continue to follow, it will take us where we need to be.” https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/pt-0119-peace/
We don’t live in an African refugee camp in Uganda. We don’t live in a South American country like Columbia. But through our connectional church, Presbyterians are partnering with the larger Church to share a message of peace beyond understanding.
Today the choir captured one of the moods of the Christmas Season; the gentle, quiet feeling of God’s tender love shared through the baby, Jesus. Come Softly, Christmas is the title of that song as it shares a melody that highlights the bond of mother and baby, the stillness of a classic manger scene, as Jesus is serenely laid in the hay to sleep. This goes along with another song the choir sings this Advent that quietly sings of God’s peace.
In that song we hear, Peace, peace, peace on earth and good will toward all. This is the time for joy, this is the time for love, so now lets all sing together of peace, peace, peace on earth. This anthem will be shared at the Christmas Eve service, and for part of that one the entire congregation joins in, singing, Silent Night. As words like these are sung during this Advent, one of the main aspects focused on during this season comes ringing through; the same thing Mission co-workers are helping to achieve in places of strife among people suffering trauma: peace.
It’s the Gospel of Luke that tells of angelic announcements of the Lord’s birth, showing up out in the fields, appearing to shepherds who are camping out with the flocks. First one angel, then a whole multitude, a heavenly army of messengers singing God’s glory and announcing peace “to all men and women on earth who please [God]” – which means all. Usually an army doesn’t sing about peace. Armies are trained to do other things, as conflict in our world too often reminds us. But not God’s army!
Peace, then, has multiple aspects to it. It also affects and invites us to change our limited assumptions of how life is and perceptions on how things work. Even what an army is, for example. In terms of qualities, we see Peace is a gift. It’s given, offered, shared. It’s important, coming as the very next thing, connected to the Glory of God in the heavenly heights. Mention of God’s glory, then mention peace: these go together.
The Old Testament reading from Micah echoes this dynamic. The passage we read comes from a context of violence and destruction as the world goes about predictable conflict as people struggle for power and control, seeing others as objects to dominate or exploit. The people of Israel are under siege and Israel’s king is humiliated by the Assyrians. In the midst of this trying time is when this message of hope, promise, redemption, and peace comes from God through the voice of this prophet to help the underdog. Though Bethlehem is the “runt of the litter,” this is where “the leader who will shepherd-rule Israel” will come from.
As Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message puts it,
“He will stand tall in his shepherd-rule by GOD’s strength, centered in the majesty of GOD-Revealed. And the people will have a good and safe home, for the whole world will hold him in respect – Peacemaker of the world!”
Again, God’s strength and majesty are linked with peace, and this peace is a person, the “Peacemaker of the world!” This peace involves goodness and safety, the respect of everyone, and is held together not by force or coercion or bullying, but guided in the style of a shepherd who leads, cares, provides, and grounds their strength in GOD Almighty.
Stories like those shared earlier remind us that so often we equate peace with non-violence, or the absence of strife or war. That is one form of peace, but a peace beyond understanding is not dependent on circumstances, for this peace resides in the heart, established in the depths of our soul, connected to the Living Christ through the Spirit of God.
This is the type of peace Elizabeth, Mother of John, and Mary, Mother of Jesus sing about in their greeting to each other. This peace rests on the actions of God, the Saving Presence of the Merciful One who does great things even for people who are oppressed, which is a prominent theme in Luke as outsiders are brought in because boundaries simply dissolve through the holiness of God.
Mary sings and her spirit rejoices and even as she claims this special gift, she expands God’s Mercy to all who are in reverence and awe of God. God “scatters the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. [God] has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” This highlights God’s preferential treatment of the poor, even as it reminds us of the importance of those thoughts of the heart. Hungering for God, in the depths of the heart, this shall be filled. The path of self-emptying is honored by the very God who promises a Presence that comes to the humble.
This Advent is coming to a close. Tomorrow night we gather for Christmas Eve worship singing songs, reading scripture, sharing peaceful moments in candlelight as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the fullness of Christ’s Incarnation. To claim peace as we prepare and wait, clearing out room in our hearts to receive this gift is an important spiritual discipline. As a discipline, it can be practiced as peace is put into action even in the midst of a world that struggles and the proud still rule while millions suffer. The voice of the prophet, the Good News of the Gospel, echo into our Advent Season the message of Christ’s coming, revealing, restoring as life renews and regenerates goodness, love, non-violence, healing, and Mercy.
As we come alongside Mission co-workers of our day, and participation in the biblical story continues, may we have eyes to see and ears to hear as God’s glory rings out and peace ushers in eternal life and love through Christ. And may God be glorified, now and forever, Amen.